Human existence spans two broad periods: prehistory and recorded history. The first, for modern humans, started some 300,000 years ago; the second sometime between 12,000 and 5,500 years ago.

Technological innovation began far earlier than recorded history and even before Homo sapiens: Early hominids began making stone tools some 2.6 million years ago and possibly earlier. The oldest artifacts that may have been attempts at expression are hundreds of thousands of years old, carved figurines. They would have required tools to create.

The origins of modern technology could be said to begin with metal casting 7,500 years ago. The time since then can be divided into three ages: pre-industrial, industrial-modern, and digital.

For technology that enables communication, there are several key transition points: Early writing media such as clay tablets and papyrus sheets beginning 5,500-5,000 years ago, the invention of paper about 2,000 years ago, the beginning of mass communication with the moveable-type press in the 15th century, the beginning of mass production and mechanization in the 19th century which automated paper production and printing, and in the 20th century the invention of electronics which enabled broadcast media, followed by the start of the digital age and the Internet.

Each of those historical points enabled greater levels of communication, allowing more and more people to have access to information. This in turn had profound effects on social structures and on how people lived their lives.

This book will provide an overview of the major inventions at each of those historical moments, and their social impacts.

NOTE: If you are using the ebook version, then unless you set your view to spreads, graphics that extend across two pages will be cut in half. Here are previews of the timelines in this section.