History shows that AI won't just replace us - but enable us.

Human history is interwoven with innovation, the destruction of industries, the emergence of new ones, and resources shifting across markets. As Generative AI evolves, it will lead to the destruction or complete change of some industries, but as history shows, humanity is constantly evolving, shifting its resources into emerging markets, increasing its efficiency, and creating a more prosperous future.

This article provides a holistic view of humanity's past 1000 years and how industries changed and evolved. We tend to forget where we came from, how much changed over the past, and why we should be optimistic about the future.

This is why I would like to take you back to where we came from!

Medieval European Trade

From the 10th century onward, Europe experienced rapid economic growth despite constant wars, such as the 100-year war between England and France beginning in 1337, the Thirty Years' War in 1600, plagues, and other disasters.

In the year 1000, most people worked in the agricultural sector. 80%—90% of the human population lived in rural areas and worked in agricultural pursuits, and the economy was heavily based on feudalism. Under this system, feudal lords owned the lands while serfs and peasants worked on them.

Between 1100-1358, the rapid economic development led to the growth of towns in size and power over the monarchy. Milan, Genoa, Naples, Florence, and Palermo had over 100,000 inhabitants, and Paris had around 200,000. Towns started developing governments or merchants guilds that shifted increasingly more power away from the monarchs to merchants and trading guilds. Simultaneously, these towns bred political unrest, disease, and intolerance. Urban populations became resistant to change, with major uprisings in Flanders between 1348-59 and in Paris in 1358.

Rapid change has always been a catalyst for people to become intolerant and scared.

It is important to note that around the 12th century, Europe experienced its agricultural revolution. This period marked significant advancements in agricultural practices, leading to increased productivity and the ability to support a growing population. Slowly but steadily, the population moved away from agriculture and positioned themselves in more profitable pursuits, which were influenced by market demands, fairs, merchant guilds, and trade.

From the 12th century, fairs and local trade prospered. Trading fairs were established across Western Europe in Germany and France to cater to the growing number of long-distance merchants. The six greatest fairs were held annually in the County of Champagne. The weight system used at Troyes (Troy ounce = 31.1035 grams) was accepted as a universal standard in Europe.

Banking developed as well. In the early 12th century, Italian merchants began to finance their ventures through bills of exchange. Banks like the Peruzzi provided these specialized credits, which laid the foundation for the most prominent bank, the Medici, to grow rich by lending to the Austrian Habsburgs.

The First Great European Industry - Cloth

In medieval Europe, cloth production showed the first great shift of resources from simple agriculture to a more finalized product. The cloth industry grew greatly and involved many people. The main centers of the cloth trade were in Flanders, England, and Italy. They all had access to important sources of wool. Spinning, weaving, fulling (cleansing the cloth and making it thicker), and dying provided employment to large numbers of artisans and incomes for merchants. Guilds and associations of artisans were established, and merchants revolved around this industry and became the core of major cities.

While the agricultural industry wasn't destroyed, resources shifted from one area to a more profitable one.

Merchants used their wealth to endow lavish cloth halls, where the cloth was sold.

The cloth industry thrived for a few centuries, accompanied by constant innovations and changes in the financial sector. Banks grew in prominence and importance.

The Second Great European Industry - Exploration

The Age of Discovery began in the late 15th century and was marked by European powers exploring new trade routes and territories around the world. The pursuit of spices, precious metals, and other luxury goods from Asia, Africa, and the Americas reshaped global trade and economic structures.

While more and more people moved away from agriculture to build livelihoods in other, more profitable industries, the age of exploration grew rapidly.

The spice trade proved to be immensely profitable. Initially, the spice trade was a key driver of European exploration. Spices such as pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg were highly valued in Europe for their use in cuisine, preservation, and medicine. The quest to find direct sea routes to spice-producing regions in order to bypass the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean monopolies led to significant maritime voyages, including those by Vasco da Gama to India and Christopher Columbus to the Americas.

The cloth industry experienced rapid innovations in its processes during the same timeframe. Manufacturers became more efficient with their resources, processes improved, and innovation was slowly building up to rapid automation of the industry, which will come later.

Exploration in the 15th century and technological advancement in Europe led to colonialism worldwide. A wide range of goods, like tobacco, sugar, cotton, and coffee, were imported from the newly established colonies. The demand for labor to work on plantations in the Americas led to the growth of the transatlantic slave trade, in which millions of Africans were forcibly transported to the New World.

The Intellectual Revolution in Europe

Around the 12th century, European economic resources shifted away from agriculture and the cloth industry, and education became more central in Europe. Europe developed a sort of middle class. The people who didn't have to spend all their time on work and labor focused on more intellectual endeavors. This led to an intellectual renaissance in medieval Europe, roughly 1500 years after the Greeks led the world in philosophy and intellectual debate.

Almost all Greek texts were destroyed or lost in Europe. Luckily, the combination of intellectual curiosity, religious motives, and the practical need to expand the Islamic empire led them in the 7th century onward to copy and translate all of the Greek texts. They stored this intellectual treasure in Baghdad and other Arabian cities.

European intellectuals rediscovered the Greek texts, and the 12th century witnessed the first wave of translations from Arabic to Latin, particularly in Spain, Sicily, and Italy, where European scholars came into contact with the Islamic repositories of knowledge. The works of Aristotle, along with those of Plato and other Greek philosophers, were translated into Latin, often via Arabic or Hebrew translations. This phase was significantly aided by the establishment of translation centers, such as the Toledo School of Translators in Spain.

The incorporation of Aristotelian philosophy into Christian theology was a landmark event of the 13th century, largely through the efforts of Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas synthesized Aristotle's philosophy with Christian doctrine, demonstrating the compatibility of reason and faith. This integration had a profound impact on Christian Europe's intellectual landscape.

The Italian Renaissance saw a more direct engagement with Greek texts, facilitated by the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the migration of Byzantine scholars to Italy. These scholars brought with them original manuscripts of Greek philosophical works, sparking a surge in the study of Greek classics in their original language. This period saw the rise of humanism, a movement that emphasized the value of human achievements and education, drawing heavily on classical sources for inspiration.

The intellectual revolution laid the foundation for groundbreaking innovation in Europe while the rest of the world pretty much lagged behind.

The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution had the most severe effect on many industries. With machines supporting agriculture and new cropping techniques, agricultural output increased steadily while the manpower needed to service the land decreased in tandem or even more drastic.

Millions of people who had previously lived on farms found themselves looking for alternative sources of livelihood. Cities became thriving centers, and millions of people gravitated toward them. Funnily, the Industrial Revolution led to severe automation in many industries, most notably the cloth industry.

Hundreds of thousands of people were laid off in these industries and had to reskill to cope with the changing demands of the market.

These changes didn't come peacefully. Many cities experienced drastic revolts. Here are a few of the most notable resistance movements:

1. Luddite Rebellion (1811-1816): Perhaps the most famous of these movements, the Luddites, were a group of English textile workers and weavers who destroyed weaving machinery as a form of protest. The Luddites were active mainly in the Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, and Lancashire regions. Their actions were a response to machines that they believed were threatening their jobs and way of life. The British government responded with military force, and several Luddites were executed or transported to Australia.
2. Swing Riots (1830): The Swing Riots were a widespread uprising by agricultural workers in southern and eastern England. The rioters protested against agricultural mechanization and the harsh conditions of rural laborers, destroying threshing machines and demanding higher wages. The name "Swing Riots" comes from "Captain Swing," a fictitious name often signed on threatening letters sent to employers and authorities. The British government's response was harsh, with many rioters being sentenced to prison, transportation, or execution.
3. The Canut Revolt (1831, 1834, and 1848): The Canut revolts were uprisings by silk workers in Lyon, France, known as "Canuts." The first major revolt in 1831 was sparked by economic depression, low wages, and the introduction of looms that could be operated by less-skilled workers. The revolts were immense in their scale and the involvement of the National Guard. Although the 1831 revolt was suppressed, subsequent uprisings occurred in 1834 and again during the revolutionary atmosphere of 1848, echoing ongoing tensions between workers and industrialists.
4. The Silesian Weavers' Uprising (1844): This revolt took place in the Prussian province of Silesia (now part of Poland) and was one of the first instances of an industrial strike in German history. The weavers protested against wage cuts and poor working conditions by storming factories and destroying machinery. The Prussian military was called in to suppress the uprising, resulting in several deaths. The event was immortalized in the poem "The Silesian Weavers" by Heinrich Heine.

The Industrial Revolution is one of the most prominent changes in human history as it occurred very recently, with a very detailed recounting of the progression.

The Rise of the Computer

Now to the last bit (no pun intended :) .) While the Industrial Revolution was in full transgression, a few people worked on further advancing humanity into the digital age. Many physicists, chemists, engineers, and scientists have contributed to this topic. I would like to mention a few names to which we can attribute core technologies on which electronics developed.

Michael Faraday (1791-1867) laid the crucial groundwork in electromagnetism that allowed generations of scientists following him to develop a deeper understanding of the intricate nature of electronics. He discovered electromagnetic induction in 1831, which is fundamental to the operation of electric motors, generators, and transformers - key components in the electrical world.

Thomas Edison (1847-1931) developed power distribution systems, significantly advancing the use of electrical technology. His work on electric light and power systems spurred the growth of electrical engineering as a field.

Sir John Ambrose Fleming (1849-1945) is credited with the invention of the vacuum type in 1904, specifically the diode, which could rectify alternating current to direct current. This was a milestone in the birth of modern electronics. Vacuum tubes became fundamental components in electronic circuits for the first half of the 20th century.

Lee De Forest (1873-1961) invented the triode vacuum tube, also known as the Audion, in 1906. This was the first electronic amplification device, making it possible to amplify weak electrical signals. His invention laid the foundation for the development of radio broadcasting, long-distance telephony, and electronic computation.

What does all this have to do with revolutions in the sense of this article?

These inventions led to further automation in the industrial segment, which in turn forced people to again reskill and reeducate themselves to cope with the changing demands of the market.

Education in electronics became much more prominent. Social services in any form became much more prominent. People have much more time on hand than at any time in history.

Many people today don't live only to survive; they have time on hand to educate themselves, learn about science, and acquire viable skills to provide services to people worldwide.

Most people don't realize how good we have it today, and I strongly believe that it will only get better.

Generative AI - What will happen next?

Generative AI is still at its beginning but is evolving rapidly. It's being implemented in various industries and service-focused segments. Some articles talk about it as a destructive force leading to many blue- and white-collar workers losing their work soon.

Without going into too much detail about this topic, as it has been discussed over and over for the last few years, I remain extremely positive about our future.

What we will get in our lives is - more time.

More time for ourselves and the people around us. More time to become more aware of our surroundings, the people that not only live in close proximity but also all around the globe.

Remain Optimistic

Throughout history, humanity has navigated the ebb and flow of technological advancements, economic upheavals, and societal transformations. The narrative of our past 1000 years reveals a consistent pattern of innovation, the destruction of old industries, the emergence of new ones, and the dynamic shift of resources across markets. The evolution of Generative AI, while poised to disrupt certain industries, is a continuation of this historical trajectory, offering both challenges and opportunities for growth, efficiency, and prosperity.

The journey from medieval European trade, through the agricultural revolution, to the birth of the cloth industry and the Age of Discovery underscores the resilience and adaptability of human societies. Each epoch, marked by its own revolutions and conflicts, has led to significant shifts in economic resources and labor markets, yet humanity has continually found pathways to progress and flourish.

As we stand on the brink of the Generative AI era, history serves as a potent reminder of our capacity to evolve and harness new technologies for the betterment of society. The transformations of the past, whether through the Industrial Revolution or the digital age, have invariably led to increased productivity, the creation of new industries, and the enrichment of human life.

In reflecting on our history, we find ample reason to be optimistic about the future. The advancements that lie ahead with Generative AI are not just a harbinger of change but a beacon of potential for creating a more connected, educated, and liberated world. As we have time and again, humanity will rise to meet the challenges of the new age, transforming obstacles into stepping stones for a more prosperous and fulfilling future.

Thank you for reading my article! I hope you come back soon :)