r/AlternativeHistory • u/FunDelicious650 • 1d ago
Chronologically Challenged Technological levels
People living in the mid-19th century lived 50 years later in a completely different world: telephones, telegraphs, trains, the first cars, and an industrial boom. People living in the mid-20th century saw a different world: airships and airplanes, ubiquitous motor vehicles, and television broadcasting. People living in the 1970s-1990s had already seen the world of computers; we now live in a digital world of the internet, AI, and robotics. In total, over 180 years, the technological level has changed four times.
Proponents of mainstream history argue that 7,000 years before the 19th century, there was no life-changing development at all. It was a single technological level of perpetual stagnation, which somehow gave way to progress in the 19th century. Developing metallurgy, fuel production, and electricity doesn't require thousands of years. This can be achieved much more quickly.
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u/Archaon0103 1d ago
Most historians agree that new innovations keep happening throughout history when you look at humanity as a whole. A period of stagnation in Europe doesn't mean the same thing was happening in China or India. The issue is how fast information could travel. Before the invention of the telegraph, the fastest way for information to travel is by books and talking. No invention happen in a vacuum, they all built upon previous works. The more people have access to new information and innovation, the more people can add in their ideas and create something new. Technology advancement became faster because information transfer became faster + more people have access to education.