Transforming the Twentieth Century

Abstract

Abstract Most of the fundamental technical advances that enabled the great human progress of the twentieth century (falling mortality, rising longevity, higher literacy and incomes, and wider ownership of consumer items) originated during the two singularly innovative generations preceding World War I: our debt to the Age of Synergy is enormous. But these advances were, often admirably, transformed by more efficient and more reliable designs that provided higher quality at lower cost while requiring lower material use: notable examples range from steel production to electricity generation and from marine shipping to intercontinental flight. In addition, the twentieth century saw fundamental technical advances in sectors ranging from energy (global expansion of hydrocarbon industry, generation of nuclear electricity) and food (high-yielding crops, pesticides, herbicides) to mechanization and robotization of industrial production and to the rapid rise of computing and telecommunications based on solid-state electronics.