Locator: 48596MARKET.
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The Book Page
The Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed The World, Jenny Uglow, c. 2003.
The first time I read this book, I did not care for it. This time my mind is ready for this book and I love it. Absolutely love it on so many levels.
I can't decide whether Benjamin Franklin was a central player, a peripheral player, and if either, what role he played. Best single word descriptor might be: catalyst.
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Background
I think I first "defined" the sixth industrial revolution on / about October 30, 2024. It could have been earlier and the definition may have been modified over time, but this is pretty accurate as it stands.
See wiki, as currently understood and generally accepted:
- first industrial revolution: 1760 - 1840; ended in the middle of the 19th century; inventions; advancements in textiles; age of inventions;
- second industrial revolution: advancements in manufacturing processes; 1870 - 1914 (beginning of WWI); age of mass manufacturing;
- third industrial revolution: beginning in 1947, information age; computer coming out of WWII; Colossus, Bletchley Park;
- fourth industrial revolution: rapid technological advancement beginning in the late 1990s; the Age of Apple (or the personal computer).
Much better:
- first industrial revolution: ended in the middle of the 19th century; age of invention;
- second industrial revolution: 1870 - 1914 (beginning of WWI); age of Henry Ford, mass manufacturing;
- third industrial
revolution: peri-WWI -- the age of conventional manufacturing and
logistics; rise of synthetics and the oil and gas industry; age of Standard Oil (or the age of John D Rockefeller);
- fourth industrial revolution: beginning in 1947, information age; the computer age (or the age of Turing);
- fifth industrial
revolution: rapid technological advancement beginning in the late 1990s
-- maybe it began in 1984 with the (in)famous Apple commercial; age of Apple (or the age of Steve Jobs)
The question is whether "we" have entered the sixth industrial revolution: Nvidia blades; LDCs; a return to nuclear energy to meet energy needs of the information age. If so:
- sixth industrial revolution: artificial intelligence enters its stride; the "Nvidia revolution."
It's hard for me to accept that the need for nuclear energy to meet the needs of LDCs does not signify a new industrial revolution.
Note: "the Nvidia revolution" is a metonym for the artificial intelligence advancements that began in the early 2020s.
