A Moving History of Human Progress

Many of the greatest events in human progress have had to do with mobility.

In prehistory, our ancestors learned to cook food, allowing us to capture more energy from a single meal. This meant we could do more between meals and ultimately travel further before needing to return home for dinner. So began our global exploration, which continued for over two million years.

Boats were invented by humankind much earlier than you might imagine, perhaps giving us access to the Australian continent as far back as 50,000 years ago. Boats continued to improve and become more elaborate, allowing for greater ocean travel.

Animal husbandry led to the taming of horses, and with that the ability to cover greater expanses at much greater speeds. Horses powered human travel for several thousands of years, introducing intercultural relations, trading and combat.

Mass Transit

The addition of the wheel, which led to the horse cart, allowed for travel on something approaching a mass scale for the first time and introduced new possibilities for large scale trade and, again, war.

The steam engine initiated probably the greatest human revolution in recorded history, laying the foundations for mass production and many of the elements at the core of modern life. It also ushered in the age of rail travel, true mass transit, carrying people ever greater distances in record breaking times.

After the Wright brothers demonstrated the first powered human flight, it wasn’t long before the first commercial passenger plane flew people across Florida. Undoubtedly, nothing could have had a greater impact on international relations, intercontinental migration and, of course, global warfare.

Soon after commercial flight, Henry Ford gave us his Model T Ford, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The Current Era

Every great leap in human progress has been preceded by an advancement in mobility. The farther people could move around the world, the greater achievements we saw.

Now, with commercial space flight in development, there is the possibility of traveling to new frontiers of an entirely different kind. However, I believe we have for some decades now been undergoing a very different kind of revolution in mobility.

Through emails, instant chat and now video calls, the digital revolution has brought people closer than ever before without moving at all. So how is this a development in mobility? 

First, man travelled by walking. Then by horse. Then families, armies and later massive commercial groups could move by boat, carriage, train, plane and car. Now, it is not people who are doing the moving. The internet allows for ideas to move around the world to instantaneous effect, allowing for simultaneous collaboration amongst minds at different corners of the world. International business partnerships, intergovernmental collaboration, even romantic relationships all take place via ethernet cables. 

Minds in Motion

If I have an idea, I don’t need to go anywhere to share it with anybody. I don’t need to cook a hot meal, pack any bags, tack a horse, fuel up a car or buy any tickets of any kind. I can simply post it online, and within minutes be receiving feedback.

The digital revolution might feel very different from the others, and of course in many ways it is, but it’s still just about mobility. The greater mobility we have, the greater things we can achieve.