How Important is the IT Revolution

If we could take one person living in the year 1887 in a major city like New York or London and bring him to the year 1957, would he be more shocked than another man living in the same city in 1937 brought to the year 2007?

The man from 1900 would be very amazed at watching Television, hearing the radio, seeing so many cars on good quality roads and people travelling to far off countries by flying machines. What about the man from 1950? Would people carrying their own telephones in their pockets awe him? Would the Internet, e-mail and Google seem revolutionary to him? Would this man from 1937 be awestruck with wonder or would he be asking why we haven't colonized other planets, found a cure for cancer or ended wars?

Are the advances in IT technology or ICT technology as it's also called, Internet and mobile communication taken as a cluster as significant to humanity as the domestication of animals and farming and the industrial revolution? Do we understand the impact of the ongoing communication revolution around us?

Have the advances changed social structures and hierarchies, the effect of culture on individuals or the way people gather their livelihood and engage in social relations?

Have the new inventions changed the relationship between a human being and the power elite or mechanism of governance (whether it is a clan, tribe, community, city, nation state, super power or bodies like the EU)?

Let's relax and take a look back, a long way!

Five events stand out as watersheds in the history of human civilization. They are

1. The Discovery of Fire
2. The Domestication of Animals and Crops
3. The Discovery of Writing
4. The Industrial Revolution
5. The Information Revolution

The First Watershed Event in the History of Civilization

It is very difficult to say exactly when humans discovered fire. The consistent and purposeful use of fire probably began with Homo erectus, who behaved more like a biped rather than an ape. Fire definitely was an important part of human survival already 400,000 years ago.

Fire provided warmth, so crucial during the height of the glacial periods. This may have been a prime factor in human survival. Many animals, especially those in the wild, are afraid of fire. So, early man could use fire to keep the animals away, especially at night while they were sleeping.

Fire may have also played an important role in the early socialization of man. With extra hours of light available to them, they could gather around the fire, planning the next day's hunting, telling stories and preparing tools. The entire group could come together around the fire and the abilities to communicate and socialize became important factors in an individual's development and survival.

The Domestication of Animals and Crops

The hunter-gatherer way of life was replaced by domestication of animals and crops. The first animal known to be domesticated was the dog, about 17 000 years ago in East Asia, followed by the goat and sheep. Wheat was the first domesticated crop. Wild wheat falls to the ground to reseed itself when it is ripe, but domesticated wheat stays on the stem when it is ripe and becomes the seed for the next crop. With farming, permanent settlements arose, creating new social, cultural, religious, economic and political institutions. New social classes and hierarchies arose, symbols and systems of distribution of wealth reflected new cosmology and world-view.

Discovery of Writing

The Sumerians probably invented writing about 5,500 years ago in Mesopotamia. Then-independently but much later-writing was discovered in India during the Indus valley civilization around 3000 BC and in China definitely by the time of the Shang dynasty, which lasted from 1700-1100 BC; and some 1,500 years later still, by the Mayas in Central America.

Writing allowed news and ideas to be carried to distant places without having to rely on a messenger or narrator's memory. Like all great inventions, writing emerged because there was a clear need for it. In Mesopotamia, writing developed as a record-keeping mechanism for commercial transactions or administrative procedures. Texts, which served as "copy books" for the education of scribes, have also survived. Cuneiform script was used to produce some of the greatest literary works in recorded history such as the "Epic of Gilgamesh". Though it continued as an oral tradition, the story was written down on 12 clay tablets in cuneiform script. The discovery of writing however did not change social institutions radically. The power elite everywhere strictly controlled access to reading and writing. In Europe only the Reformation and the spread of printing technology enabled people to read the bible for themselves. Earlier only priests were allowed to and could read the Bible.

Could we say that the invention of writing was the dawn of the information revolution?