A major constraint on our perspectives is that our individual timescale is limited to one lifetime; no matter how long our lives are, they are nowhere near as expansive as life itself or cosmological happenings.
Digitalization #
You’re reading this on the Internet on a computer or mobile device. Digitalization has swept up the world, enthralling many to stare at screens, watch videos, share updates, post pictures, and more. It seems like life itself happens on the web, but this experience has been short-lived indeed. The iPhone was released in 2007 (not even a full two decades ago), and people were only beginning to “surf the web” en masse circa 1990s. This gives digitalization an approximate lifespan of 35 years.
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digitalization ╢██████████████████████████████████████████████████╟ 35
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Modernity #
Let’s start with our modern world. Definitions may vary as to what “modern” means, but for us Americans, the post-WW2 order ushered in a massive boom in standard of living. With it came a new wave of industrial manufacturing and technological advances.
While our perspective may be warped to believe that things have always been this way, this modern world has only existed for some 75 years.
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digitalization ╢███████████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 35
modernity ╢██████████████████████████████████████████████████╟ 75
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Industrialization #
Of course, some amount of modernity had been underway even before World War 2. Electricity, some appliances, machinery and weapons are some things that come to mind. At around the beginning of the 19th century, beginning in Great Britain and spreading elsewhere, the use of coal as an energy source provided the impetus for mechanization and a wave of industrialization. Thus, the industrialized world has existed for approximately 200 years.
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digitalization ╢█████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 35
modernity ╢███████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 75
industrial'n ╢██████████████████████████████████████████████████╟ 200
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Agriculture #
With industrialization a few hundred years ago marking a significant turning stone in the human lived experience, we’re pressed to keep going further back. At this point, we may, especially from a lens biased by modernity, see the preceding hundreds or even thousands of years as a blur. Succeeding generations would expect to live mostly like how their parents’ generation did.
And the basis for that life is rooted in agriculture. Societies had mouths to feed. The larger the population, the more productive capacity that society had. Rivalry with neighbors might select (or “reward”) for the country that had a greater fighting force. Nature would not have the carrying capacity for human populations to reach into the hundreds of millions, so breaking the land was a necessary and fateful milestone.
Our current estimate for the agricultural revolution puts us at about 10,000 years ago.
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digitalization ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 35
modernity ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 75
industrial'n ╢█░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 200
agriculture ╢██████████████████████████████████████████████████╟ 10000
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(Notice how the three prior “eras” we covered are now dwarfed in this new perspective?)
Homo Sapiens #
We tend to ascribe a profound sense of meaning in the agricultural revolution, as if we as individuals are personally connected to the first farmers. But most of our species’ existence has been in the hunter-gatherer mode. Given that Homo Sapiens have existed for about 200,000 years, it’s odd that we wave away this portion of human history as if their lives were insignificant. Modern schooling almost ignores our species’ roots, and instead emphasizes the agricultural revolution as a sort of “birth” of our species.
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digitalization ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 35
modernity ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 75
industrial'n ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 200
agriculture ╢██░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 10000
homo sapiens ╢██████████████████████████████████████████████████╟ 200000
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Sharks #
We humans think we’re at the center of it all, but the vast majority of life predates us. Most life forms on this planet have far more experience with and resilience to the adversity life brings, and have thus adapted to a sustainable way of living. Contrast that with human agriculture, which was an embarkation that has effectively removed humans from the community of life (more on that later).
Well now it’s the sharks’ turn for the spotlight! (It’s shark week on Greg’s blog!) Sharks have existed for ~450 million years, longer than dinosaurs and trees!
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digitalization ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 35
modernity ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 75
industrial'n ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 200
agriculture ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 10000
homo sapiens ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 200000
sharks ╢██████████████████████████████████████████████████╟ 450000000
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Earth #
The blue marble. The only known planet to harbor life exists in an otherwise mundane star system. Formation occurred approximately 4.5 billion years ago.
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digitalization ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 35
modernity ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 75
industrial'n ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 200
agriculture ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 10000
homo sapiens ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 200000
sharks ╢█████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 450000000
earth ╢██████████████████████████████████████████████████╟ 4500000000
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
Universe #
In the beginning the Universe was created. This had made many people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
- Douglas Adams
Our current understanding of the universe is that it began with a Big Bang. This model itself is only about 100 years old (to give you more perspective). All of space and time has existed for an estimated 13.8 billion years.
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digitalization ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 35
modernity ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 75
industrial'n ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 200
agriculture ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 10000
homo sapiens ╢░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 200000
sharks ╢██░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 450000000
earth ╢████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╟ 4500000000
universe ╢██████████████████████████████████████████████████╟ 13800000000
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A bigger perspective #
I have a few reasons for writing this particular piece.
One of the main motivators was a growing frustration with modernity’s tendency to produce deceptive and dogmatic ideas that we hear repeated as if fact, notably “the stock market always goes up”, and “a house is an investment”. These are not facts, but mere observations on a time scale so incredibly small that not too soon in the future people will look back and laugh at why anyone believed these things.
A second reason is that as a software engineer, my financial livelihood (and passion!) is tied to a technological invention that has existed in only a fraction of one life span. The older generations, without a doubt, come to see the Internet, World Wide Web, etc. as magic, but who’s to say they’re wrong?
Finally, civilization itself has only existed for 5% of our entire species’ time on this planet. Even civilization is a blink of an eye given the right perspective, and many signs point to this system failing (I’ll have much more to say in the future on this topic). It makes one think more about sharks, and how impressive it is that they’ve managed to survive about 10% of the Earth’s existence. So the real winners are the sharks.
🔼 Now unwrap history by scrolling up and watching the bars re-appear!
Thoughts or comments on this post? Send me an email at greg@greglang.me!