This file is 20thcent -- Notes on the 20th Century

http://home.attbi.com/~tolkin/20thcent.html

Written by Steven Tolkin

Thoughts on the 20th Century

This brief history of the 20th century written from the perspective of the year 2050. Subject to constant revision

(See also file millenia -- a brief history of the second millenium.)

Ideas, Inventions, Discoveries

Remembered primarily for Science and technology, and especially weaponry

successes (and excesses)

nuclear power, computers, mass media, space exploration, biochemistry

Probably the most dramatic example was E=mc2 -> Hydrogen bomb.

DNA (Crick and Watson)

Moonwalk.

An ideal example of a "paradigm shift" occurred in geology, where the "conventional wisdom" had long rejected the theory of "Continental Drift", until plate tectonics....; Also then planetary bombardment by comets and asteroids

Vast confirmation of theory of evolution -- punctuated equilibrium

Birth control -- Margaret Sanger, Birth control pill

End of colonialism; self-determination

In U.S. Liberation Movements of Women, and Blacks, and Homosexuals

Automobiles, Henry Ford, assembly line; highways, oil as fuel.

"Consumerism" - ultimately may be seen as an environment disaster, but for a time Americans had the highest average standard of living of anyone populace in history.

commericialization of entertainment and sports.

Use of tech in sports -- pole vault, steroids casting doubt on the validity of records.

Babe Ruth, Muhammed Ali, Pele, Wayne Gretsky, Secretariat, women's sports

Arnold Palmer, Billie Jean King, Michael Jordan and in fact all of basketball

Rise and Fall of Communism

Rise and Fall of the American Empire (spent money on a runious arms race while the putative losers of WWII -- Japan and Germany invested in capital goods.)

Music Jazz (black's first widespread exposure to white audiences)

Frank Sinatra -- mass media music star

Golden age of Cinema

Film stars -- Cary Grant?, John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe??

Golden age of hand drawn animation -- Disney, and also some of his cartoon characters -- Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, etc.

Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, the Beatles (highly popular in their day but ultimately forgettable.)

Franklin D Roosevelt overcome his polio to lead the U.S. out of the "Great Depression"

Winston Churchill inspired the English

Hitler, Nazis, the "holocaust", murder of 6 million Jews and millions of other victims.

As a partial "compensation" Jews were given their ancient homeland of Israel, displacing the Palestinians.

Lenin, Stalin; Mao

Art -- Abstract art exemplified by Picasso, and Non-representational art originated by Kandinsky, who is still unsurpassed.

Other major schools include Surrealism (Dali) Pop (Warhol), ... constructivism, minimalism, performance art, conceptual art, ...

Surprising little in science or math given the vast number of bright people involved in these enterprises, and the time and training.

Mass media -- movies, radio, TV, records and CDs, home video, computer games; reliable and near universal telephone service.

Toys, Games and Sports:

Board games (Monopoly, Scrabble, etc.)

Crossword Puzzle -- verify dates

Frisbee

Footbag (aka Hackysack (tm))

Model airplanes and rockets

yoyo- invented earlier I believe, but perfected

Computer based games: Atari, Nintendo, etc.

Bow using pulleys (get exact name) -- in earlier times this would have been under weaponry.

Silly Putty

The technology used in the "Magic Eye" series of books, i.e. 3-D three dimensional imagery, was invented/developed by Dr. Bella Julesz in the 1960's. In some ways this was of producing stereograms by slightly altering dots (or other images) is a fundamentally new idea of the 20th century.

Aids.

Depletion, Destruction of natural resources, habitats, and species.

Loss of ecological niches, species, Genetic diversity

Pollution

Pesticides, etc. (Beginnings of a movement away from that perhaps stimulated by the pictures from space showing the entire planet as a blue and white sphere. Slogan "One people, one planet".).

Creation of Israel

Unification of Europe

Self indulgence of the rich -- promiscuity and drug use.

MTV -- soft porn == their jargon "titillation".

Golden age of pornography -- so a small band of hobbyists keep the cantakerous (get better word) VCR equipment in running shape.

Compact Disks -- however they wer designed to have inadequate fidelity -- part of the reason few will listen to this format in the future

Government -- social security in the U.S.

Business and Commerce -- need much more here, as it is so important

Rise of Multinational corporations,

Replacement of Gold standard for money with negotiated exchange rates.

The following were posted to www.time.com on events and people of the Century 6/6/99.

#16

Birth control (give Margaret Sanger the credit) had a *huge* influence, leading to the sexual revolution, and modern feminism.

#17

The single *idea* that had the most impact was the genuine attempt to honor the precept "all men are created equal". Since World War II the de jure and de facto gains of "minorities" including women, Jews, Blacks, homosexuals, people of color, the disabled, etc. have been enormous. This is a true revolution. People who should be given credit include Martin Luther King Jr., of course. But the work was really done by vast numbers of non-famous people.

#4 in Einstein

I agree with Jerry, and agree with his point that Einstein (the Jew) was the antithesis of Hitler. The definition used by this poll asks for most impact in this Century. But a different measure would be: who will be remembered 1000 years from now. Only Einstein for sure, and probably Hitler. The formula E=mc**2, and its practical implications, marks a wateshed event in history of humanity. That, the invention of a practical computer, and the discovery of the genetic code are the three breakthroughs of the highest order of magnitude. All that can be concluded by Elvis, or Rabin, outpolling Einstein is that most people do not have a clue as to what is really important.

Alan Turing -- the true father of modern computing, must be acknowledged. By inventing the Turing machine, and devising the Turing test, he showed the way to all who followed. Computing is in essence about programming, not hardware. Perchance quantum computing will one day become practical. Until then Turing, and traditional algorithms, will remain the rock solid foundation of this breakthrough area of human endeavor. Of course our understanding of computing, and its practical implications, is still in its infancy. In the long run this is likely to be the most significant development of the millenium, not just the century. And it is the tragedy of the century that Turing committed suicide as a result of forced "mdeical" treatment intended to "cure" his homosexuality.

I added a new topic:

Topic: Kandinsky invented non-representational art

[stolkin] - created 04:10pm Jun 6, 1999 EST

It is a shocking omission to exclude Kandinsky from the top 20 in the Artists and Entertainers category. Sure I know Bart Simpson is more popular today but ... Kandinsky invented abstract art (i.e. non-representational art). His central insight was that feelings and even ideas can be communicated solely through colors and patterns. This is by far and away the most significant change to art as an endeavor since the invention of perspective. In all the years since no one has surpassed Kandinsky at expressing this. It is a fact, perhaps unfortunate, that such a high fraction of his work is in the Guggenheim in New York, so not that many people have had a chance to see his work in the full size it deserves. Looking at reproductions in books deprives the viewer of the experience of being enveloped, even overwhelmed, by the paintings.

It is convenient, but fundamentally flawed, to even talk of the 20th Century as if that was the most natural division. More pertinent would be to see two half-centuries, with the dividing point the explosion of the first atomic bomb. The first half century was one of war. The greatest single ares of "achievement" of the century has been in weaponry: tanks, bombers, missiles, etc. The second half of the century, at least in the U.S. and much of the Western world, has been marked by a change in the social order: the end of colonialism on a large scale, the end of de jure oppression of minorites, and the reduction in class stratification. It also has been marked by the rapid growth of the sciences of information, specifically computing and biochemistry.

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