Industrial/Electrochemical Revolution
While the printing press enjoyed its heyday with respect to transformation, another revolution began brewing on the side. By the late 1700s (a mere 200 years after the last revolution; notice how the time period between each revolution shrinks dramatically?), the Industrial Revolution began changing the way humans communicate on a global scale in a much more dramatic fashion. Refer to Table 1.1 to review the major communication inventions from this time period:
Table 1.1
Moving through the history of these first three revolutions, the amount of time between each major communication breakthrough reduces exponentially, from 4,600 years between the first two, to less than 400 years between the next two, and finally, a mere decade or so between the third revolution and the most current one. Of course, the time reduces so drastically because, with each new form of communication, the sharing and spreading of information increases. With increased information comes increased innovation.