The Digital Revolutions in My Lifetime (Part 1)

Lists – 1

This essay is inspired by a post I saw from Tyler Cowen (born in 1962) entitled “The major revolutions I have seen in my lifetime.” Tyler’s list:

  1. Moon landing, 1969
  2. The collapse of communism (1989-????)
  3. The rise of Asia.  Japan and South Korea starting around the time of my birth.  The rise of China for sure, and currently the rise of India is a likely addition.
  4. Feminization, ongoing, no firm date
  5. The realization of the internet.  Hard to date, but I’ll say the 1990s and ongoing.
  6. The smartphone — 2007
  7. Effective Large Language Models/AI.  Impact still to be seen.

I scanned the 300+ comments on Tyler’s posts for more lists. This is from Back 2 Basics:

  1. Globalization: Increased cross-border trade and cultural exchange
  2. Internet: Revolutionized communication and access to information
  3. Climate change: Alteration of global temperatures and weather patterns
  4. Medical advancements: Improved healthcare and increased life expectancy
  5. Demographic shifts: Aging populations and urbanization
  6. Political changes: Shift towards neoliberal economic policies.
  7. Space exploration: Advancements in technology and understanding of the universe
  8. Increase in communication technology: Mobile phones, social media and video conferencing.
  9. Economic development in Asia: China and India becoming major global powers.
  10. Changes in Religious beliefs and practices: Decline in traditional religious affiliations.

From a list from derek (edited for simplicity):

  1. Ubiquity of birth control
  2. Women in the workforce
  3. Divorce becoming the norm
  4. Sexual revolution
  5. Quiet Revolution. This is the most interesting, showing how institutions can simply become irrelevant and almost disappear.
  6. Air travel
  7. Breakdown in law and order
  8. Fax machines. Their ubiquity made communication of written material easy.
  9. Dismantlement of legacy media empires.
  10. Collapse of the Soviet Union.
  11. The rise of China.

I asked ChatGPT about the big revolutions of the past 60 years. The list (with edits for simplification):

  1. Civil Rights Movement in the United States in the 1950s and 60s
  2. Fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in 1991
  3. Internet and digital revolution, starting in the late 20th century
  4. LGBT rights movement
  5. Women’s rights movement
  6. Environmental movement
  7. Global health revolution

We have indeed seen big changes. For this essay, I will focus on digital revolutions in our lifetime.

Published by

Rajesh Jain

An Entrepreneur based in Mumbai, India.