Twitter Users Are Pointing Out How Significantly Life Changed Between 1900 And 2000
There is no need to dive deep into any philosophies in order to grasp the change of time. Of course, with certain events as big as the world’s affairs or as important and perhaps even more impactful than personal lives, it’s easy to put into perspective how much one evolves as a human. Now, when it comes to the more colossal things occurring in the world, we can all marvel at the progress that has been made.
Twitter user Arthur G. P. @artisanrocky had such a moment by superimposing two images that were 69 years apart. One was of the first airplane flight by the Wrights in Kitty Hawk, and the other one of John Young—Apollo 16 commander on the Moon. And the other users couldn’t help but collectively marvel at how much life has changed in such a relatively short time.
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These images of the Wright Brothers’ airplane flight and Apollo 16 mission with John Young walking on the moon became the cover of a viral Tweet that started a hot discussion among the community
Image credits: artisanrocky
Over a week ago, Arthur G. P. posted his observation that “people don’t fully understand how much life changed for our species between 1900 and 2000” and genuinely added, “I still struggle to comprehend it.” The pictures he put side by side were of events 69 years ago (he had to add an edit to his epic post as unfortunately, he most likely accidentally used a different photo than he intended or dramatically failed mathematics).
Image credits: artisanrocky
Regardless, his point of how much life changed for humans between 1900 and 2000 is valid, as within just a century, some people were lucky enough to witness both the first airplane flight, then, after some time, followed by moon missions.
Image credits: artisanrocky
Users vividly joined in to the discussion of how far we’ve come or how much we have to still grow and explore
Image credits: Mikeloschi
User @Mikeloschi agreed with how fascinating human advancement is, but highlighted that “we’re so far away from serious space exploration.” Another user bounced off the Apollo missions and was fascinated that such a complicated project was executed with technology that was much less advanced than it is now.
Image credits: WisconsinJim2
Image credits: DavidDeutschOxf
People discussed the speed at which all of the changes were made and were hopeful that perhaps, it’s a tendency that occurs ever so often and that humans are about to make a giant leap forward. He was challenged that the industrial revolution was something really sensational that stood out, that happened less than 500 years ago, and that all civilizations in their own way are managing to maintain the movement forwards.
Image credits: IHadWootCannow
Some users were really amazed by the incredible progress humans have made
Image credits: timsfunhouse
Or how much wealthier humans are compared to the wealthy 100+ years ago
Image credits: SciGroupie
Many users shared their impressions of the rapid change in human life, looking at their elders and what have they experienced in their lifetime. @kasialastclair shared that her 95-year-old father remembers horse-drawn vehicles and even got to travel to India by boat, whereas another user made an excellent point of how even some controversial theories that raised eyebrows back in the day are now common and accepted knowledge. So perhaps they were trying to put in the perspective that at this moment in time, we are those people that, after another 50-60 years, will be having a similar recap, realization, and possible admiration of our progress.
Many people were praising their elders for how much they got to witness and experience
Image credits: kassiastclair
Image credits: Flickr
Image credits: obsidian_andy
Image credits: cheristandsup
Image credits: 4AnimalLife
As expected as it can be, folks were drawing attention to the extremely rapid growth of human population—which, in a hundred years, skyrocketed unexpectedly. Climate change was another vital point of discussion, as actually in the same 100+ years, humans have also managed to cause damage to the planet at a pretty similar speed with all of the advantages that were created.
Folks also shared the scary parts that naturally come with any progress made
Image credits: ABQKatz
Image credits: GenevaChristie
Image credits: infragr33n
Image credits: wildkat57
Population growth and climate change have also brought out the hard reality of diseases and human ability to control them with therapy and prevention. In the comfort of advanced healthcare, other discussions about certain commodities arose—such as radio, TV, contraception, and, well, the greatest of them all, toilet paper.
And some users reminded us of the ingenious commodities that came to exist thanks to rapidly evolving progress
Image credits: moon_ferret
Image credits: Flickr
Image credits: kylekatarn95
Image credits: colinjbrowne
And as humans, we are still working on cultural, social, and psychological progress, one spiritual revolution at a time, as @LauraMiers was calling out, but @truth_is_blind jumped in to remind everyone about people being able to move from superstition-based society to a more secular, humanist principle-based one. We will leave you with a contemplation about what it will be like in 100 years, if our ‘cultural memes’ will be analyzed, and if any of these ‘artefacts’ will exist at all.
Image credits: truth_is_blind
Image credits: canmore2018
And here is some more food for thought about the future and what the next generations will be admiring about our century
Image credits: smugshua
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we tend to have trouble with dates and the passage of time. MLK and Anne Frank were born in the same year, but we tend to think of them as being in two different eras.
Until 1919 scientists though the universe was static, until 1955 the expanding universe theory was considered barely a majority opinion. It was not until 1992 that the expanding universe theory was officially classified as Scientific facts by the various international bodies of physicists and ending the debate. The theory of the big bang is barely 100 years old, and accepted as science is less than 30 years. We also went from internet being launched 30 years ago at 16kbs speed, today our phones are 10,000 times faster.
The debate on the expanding universe theory is not over by a long shot. In fact, new evidence has come up further casting doubt on the theory being correct but it will be a while still until the new data is verified and explained. Also, Big Bang theory is widely accepted, and dangerously so. It has several major unexplained holes but has become dogma to so many because it started being taught to them while they were in elementary school.
Load More Replies...
Another example: The first airspeed record of 6.82 mph and the current airspeed record of 2,193.2 mph are only 73 years apart
6.82! oh that's brilliant. Imagine being excited about an air speed record and you're overtaken by a duck XD
Load More Replies...
I think that added to the excitement and also the nostalgia associated with growing up in the 90s. Everything was changing, new, innovative and developing so quickly. It was brilliant!
The 80s were much better though: video games, computers, explosion of movies and music, etc. The 90s were a natural evolution from it
Load More Replies...
Sadly we have a lot of problems that were less problematic back then. Like the unemployment and housing crisis , where terribly educated young people cannot find jobs or can only find minimum wage jobs. And where minimum wage is not enough to pay rent or be independient. Or the polution and overpopulation problems.
My dad said his grandpa refused to get an indoor toilet because he was astounded anyone would want to s**t in their house!
Whenever I get nostalgic for old times I remember a discussion I had with three of my fellow senior friends. We are all alive today because of drugs, treatments, and/or procedures that didn’t exist 30 years ago.
IMHO the pace of progress was just as rapid during the 19th century! In 1801, a Jane Austen heroine lived in a house where all tasks were done by human or animal labor, all artifacts were handmade or hand-sewn, remote communication was done by footmen or horse-drawn mail coaches, traveling was with horses or feet, etc. By 1899, that lady's great-granddaughter could wear clothes woven and sewn by machines, read news in her morning paper that had arrived via international undersea telegraph, discuss the news with a friend across the country over the telephone, take a train or automobile to see the friend, etc. We really don't appreciate how drastically life changed for people back then.
A little more cynical, but side-effects of progress: 100 years ago, childhood malnutrition was the the foundation of further medical problems and diseases. Now, it's diabetes. More kids are fat now, and that is not fat-shaming. But is proven to cause more T2 diabetes and other health issues. Malnutrition and obesity are both foundations of further medical problems and diseases.
Many of the biggest changes to society are nearly invisible until we step back and look at just how much changed. Even the last 21 years, we've seen some pretty amazing developments. And much like the early 20th century, many of those developments seem derivative since they address problems we already had. But looking back, we will see the emergence of smartphones, social media, and AI to be far more significant than we give them credit for today. And that's just three of the big changes we've seen since the year 2000; we may realize how important some seemingly irrelevant change was in retrospect one day. It's exciting to be a part of!
We went from the Wright Brothers to Biplanes and Triplanes with synced engines that allow bullets to go between the blades. Then Red Baron became known. Next we get the Messerchmitts and FWs of WW2 along with Boeing planes. From giant cannons to machine guns. From grenades used as bombs to B-17s dropping tons on Germany. From Steamboat to Titanic and even U-boats. From cruisers to Bismarck class to Aircraft Carriers. From coal mines to Chernobyl. From Socialism to Communism.
From B-29s to Sr-71 Blackbirds. I could continue but I don't want to. This is literally the 1903 to 1980's
Load More Replies...
youve got to remember that during this time there were 2 world wars and the cold war all of which were races to outclass the enemy technology wise . I mean the entire reason Apollo 11 happened was cause they wanted to be the soviets to the moon and they even had a plan drafted to nuke to moon if the soviets were going to get there first
This is poignant for me. My grandmother recently passed. She was nearly a century old. When my mother spoke at her funeral, her focus was how her mother lived in two different worlds over time. And she adjusted quite well in doing so. She really never "acted like an old person." Grandmother always told me age was basically irrelevant, and she had a young soul.
My husband was born in San Francisco BEFORE the Golden Gate Bridge was built. He spent his childhood watching the process. He remembers watching the first ships passing under it during WWII.
I think what people also do not realize when they make these comparisons is, that the early space program flights were very dangerous and would not be repeated wih today's safety regulations. It was VERY lucky none of the moon landing crews died.
It wasn't luck. Apollo 1 crew died. Making the apollo program one of the best tested programs from than and they nearly lost a second crew
Load More Replies... My grandmother was born in 1923 and she used love telling me about the first time she ever saw a mono plane, an airplane with a single wing. She thought it was amazing that I was able to get my pilot’s license as a teenager. She also used to tell me about polio outbreaks and how everyone had to stay inside because they didn’t know it was spreading. Needless to say I’ve thought about her a lot this year and I wonder what she would have thought about everything that’s been going on.
I don't want to be killjoy but the fact that a handful of astronauts have been on the moon didn't change the life of all the other 4 or 5 billion people who haven't. I recognise the technical and scientific prowess here, but I wouldn't say it changed the individual life of the individual folks in any way.
Shelp , don't be schlep. The technologies created that were used to get people to the moon, have been applied to many aspects of human life here on earth. While you may not see the practicality to it, the technologies have mad major practical effects here on earth. Maybe study science more. You sound very ignorant when you say such things.
Load More Replies... This thread made me miss my grandparents, born 1912 and 1920, and lived well into their mid-90s. I loved their stories about the way things were, growing up outside Washington D.C. on what was then a very rural farm, working on a riverboat as a boy, seeing the Wizard of Oz in the theater--so many great stories.
The biggest catalyst were the wars during the last 100 years (World War 1 & 2 and the Cold War) - Space exploration, jets, helicopters, medical treatments and human right progressions are things born from hostile competition. Nowadys we progress even faster thanks to the aid of better tools (computers, higher equipment quality and precision)
It's so true. Many advances in surgery were as a result of war. Reconstructive plastic surgery gained momentum in WWI. Now the advanced care out on the battlefield and rapid transport during the Golden hour has saved so many lives. Sad that is the way we make the advances.
Load More Replies... What does spiritual evolution even mean? Holy books are stagnant and unchanging (which is hugely detrimental). Maybe someone should put her in a time machine and take her to a previous era that was more spiritual and see how she likes it. There was a time when christianity ruled the world and was called the dark ages for a f-u-c-king reason! Everybody was more spiritual, killing black cats out of superstition during the plagues when cats would have been essential for killing the rodents spreading the diseases. She should get off of her computers and smartphones then, because most computer technologies were created by atheists.
Why are you equating 'spirituality' with Christianity? And why do you equate reformationist humanist ideals with non spirituality? You seem very offended by words on a screen for someone so insistently screeching about themselves being higher minded
Load More Replies...
My great-grandmother (born in 1869) grew up shooting at Indians in the West, and lived to see a man walk on the moon.
I lived through two milleniums, two centuries, 12 wars, three economic crisis, four End of the World prophecies, three Popes and seven US presidents. I watched the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the German reunification, the Challenger disaster and the birth of the internet, social networks and ISS...and I am less than 40.
The point remains - no humans went to the moon for 50 years. Why? We pretty much verified there isn't much there. We'll be mining it in a decade or two, but it isn't a place to live.
This is why I think it's so silly when fantasy and sci fi novels have societies in them that last for thousands of thousands of years and yet barely anything ever changes. Such as those fantasy books where it's Medieval Times for 10,000 years and no-one ever gets around to inventing gunpowder or the cotton gin.
It annoys me to see men patting themselves on the back about "how far we have come" really ? It's just natural evolution .i personally think we are moving too slowly in so many areas and we are killing our world . not to mention how we still have wars , kill animals have ridiculous backward politicians . the list is endless . No we have not come too far....
While I agree with a good number of your statements, others I would like to try to correct. It's not just natural evolution. Natural evolution is a process where species of animals evolve over many, many, many generations because of random mutations in their evolutionary pool sometimes providing adaptation to that species' environment. Our societal and technological advances are an artificial selection, not random mutations in a species over large periods of time. Humanity has had huge, drastic changes to our societies, almost an explosion of ideas and technologies. Science is a hugely powerful tool in human society changing. Usually nobody does science alone, we almost always stand on the shoulders of giants and use the work people already started to advance us. We can learn quite a bit in one human lifetime as this post points out. You are correct that while we have made many advances, we still have major problems. I think it's because many people don't value science and education.
Load More Replies...
I've seen people interviewed about the most important innovation of the 20th century. I think the education of the common man made it all possible. 👍👍
So much has changed in a hundred years, so much technology has been developed, so much knowledge learned. And still a pandemic isn't under control in 2 years for a virus that is way less lethal than the Spanish flu, that killed 100million people globally in 1918-1919.
The three greatest inventions ever: the wheel, agriculture and the printing press. There was no single "industrial revolution" that revolution was actually a series of revolutions in health care, energy, food production, education and transportation. All were necessary for everything that came out of the "Industrial Revolution,"
we tend to have trouble with dates and the passage of time. MLK and Anne Frank were born in the same year, but we tend to think of them as being in two different eras.
Until 1919 scientists though the universe was static, until 1955 the expanding universe theory was considered barely a majority opinion. It was not until 1992 that the expanding universe theory was officially classified as Scientific facts by the various international bodies of physicists and ending the debate. The theory of the big bang is barely 100 years old, and accepted as science is less than 30 years. We also went from internet being launched 30 years ago at 16kbs speed, today our phones are 10,000 times faster.
The debate on the expanding universe theory is not over by a long shot. In fact, new evidence has come up further casting doubt on the theory being correct but it will be a while still until the new data is verified and explained. Also, Big Bang theory is widely accepted, and dangerously so. It has several major unexplained holes but has become dogma to so many because it started being taught to them while they were in elementary school.
Load More Replies... Another example: The first airspeed record of 6.82 mph and the current airspeed record of 2,193.2 mph are only 73 years apart
6.82! oh that's brilliant. Imagine being excited about an air speed record and you're overtaken by a duck XD
Load More Replies... I think that added to the excitement and also the nostalgia associated with growing up in the 90s. Everything was changing, new, innovative and developing so quickly. It was brilliant!
The 80s were much better though: video games, computers, explosion of movies and music, etc. The 90s were a natural evolution from it
Load More Replies... Sadly we have a lot of problems that were less problematic back then. Like the unemployment and housing crisis , where terribly educated young people cannot find jobs or can only find minimum wage jobs. And where minimum wage is not enough to pay rent or be independient. Or the polution and overpopulation problems.
My dad said his grandpa refused to get an indoor toilet because he was astounded anyone would want to s**t in their house!
Whenever I get nostalgic for old times I remember a discussion I had with three of my fellow senior friends. We are all alive today because of drugs, treatments, and/or procedures that didn’t exist 30 years ago.
IMHO the pace of progress was just as rapid during the 19th century! In 1801, a Jane Austen heroine lived in a house where all tasks were done by human or animal labor, all artifacts were handmade or hand-sewn, remote communication was done by footmen or horse-drawn mail coaches, traveling was with horses or feet, etc. By 1899, that lady's great-granddaughter could wear clothes woven and sewn by machines, read news in her morning paper that had arrived via international undersea telegraph, discuss the news with a friend across the country over the telephone, take a train or automobile to see the friend, etc. We really don't appreciate how drastically life changed for people back then.
A little more cynical, but side-effects of progress: 100 years ago, childhood malnutrition was the the foundation of further medical problems and diseases. Now, it's diabetes. More kids are fat now, and that is not fat-shaming. But is proven to cause more T2 diabetes and other health issues. Malnutrition and obesity are both foundations of further medical problems and diseases.
Many of the biggest changes to society are nearly invisible until we step back and look at just how much changed. Even the last 21 years, we've seen some pretty amazing developments. And much like the early 20th century, many of those developments seem derivative since they address problems we already had. But looking back, we will see the emergence of smartphones, social media, and AI to be far more significant than we give them credit for today. And that's just three of the big changes we've seen since the year 2000; we may realize how important some seemingly irrelevant change was in retrospect one day. It's exciting to be a part of!
We went from the Wright Brothers to Biplanes and Triplanes with synced engines that allow bullets to go between the blades. Then Red Baron became known. Next we get the Messerchmitts and FWs of WW2 along with Boeing planes. From giant cannons to machine guns. From grenades used as bombs to B-17s dropping tons on Germany. From Steamboat to Titanic and even U-boats. From cruisers to Bismarck class to Aircraft Carriers. From coal mines to Chernobyl. From Socialism to Communism.
From B-29s to Sr-71 Blackbirds. I could continue but I don't want to. This is literally the 1903 to 1980's
Load More Replies... youve got to remember that during this time there were 2 world wars and the cold war all of which were races to outclass the enemy technology wise . I mean the entire reason Apollo 11 happened was cause they wanted to be the soviets to the moon and they even had a plan drafted to nuke to moon if the soviets were going to get there first
This is poignant for me. My grandmother recently passed. She was nearly a century old. When my mother spoke at her funeral, her focus was how her mother lived in two different worlds over time. And she adjusted quite well in doing so. She really never "acted like an old person." Grandmother always told me age was basically irrelevant, and she had a young soul.
My husband was born in San Francisco BEFORE the Golden Gate Bridge was built. He spent his childhood watching the process. He remembers watching the first ships passing under it during WWII.
I think what people also do not realize when they make these comparisons is, that the early space program flights were very dangerous and would not be repeated wih today's safety regulations. It was VERY lucky none of the moon landing crews died.
It wasn't luck. Apollo 1 crew died. Making the apollo program one of the best tested programs from than and they nearly lost a second crew
Load More Replies... My grandmother was born in 1923 and she used love telling me about the first time she ever saw a mono plane, an airplane with a single wing. She thought it was amazing that I was able to get my pilot’s license as a teenager. She also used to tell me about polio outbreaks and how everyone had to stay inside because they didn’t know it was spreading. Needless to say I’ve thought about her a lot this year and I wonder what she would have thought about everything that’s been going on.
I don't want to be killjoy but the fact that a handful of astronauts have been on the moon didn't change the life of all the other 4 or 5 billion people who haven't. I recognise the technical and scientific prowess here, but I wouldn't say it changed the individual life of the individual folks in any way.
Shelp , don't be schlep. The technologies created that were used to get people to the moon, have been applied to many aspects of human life here on earth. While you may not see the practicality to it, the technologies have mad major practical effects here on earth. Maybe study science more. You sound very ignorant when you say such things.
Load More Replies... This thread made me miss my grandparents, born 1912 and 1920, and lived well into their mid-90s. I loved their stories about the way things were, growing up outside Washington D.C. on what was then a very rural farm, working on a riverboat as a boy, seeing the Wizard of Oz in the theater--so many great stories.
The biggest catalyst were the wars during the last 100 years (World War 1 & 2 and the Cold War) - Space exploration, jets, helicopters, medical treatments and human right progressions are things born from hostile competition. Nowadys we progress even faster thanks to the aid of better tools (computers, higher equipment quality and precision)
It's so true. Many advances in surgery were as a result of war. Reconstructive plastic surgery gained momentum in WWI. Now the advanced care out on the battlefield and rapid transport during the Golden hour has saved so many lives. Sad that is the way we make the advances.
Load More Replies... What does spiritual evolution even mean? Holy books are stagnant and unchanging (which is hugely detrimental). Maybe someone should put her in a time machine and take her to a previous era that was more spiritual and see how she likes it. There was a time when christianity ruled the world and was called the dark ages for a f-u-c-king reason! Everybody was more spiritual, killing black cats out of superstition during the plagues when cats would have been essential for killing the rodents spreading the diseases. She should get off of her computers and smartphones then, because most computer technologies were created by atheists.
Why are you equating 'spirituality' with Christianity? And why do you equate reformationist humanist ideals with non spirituality? You seem very offended by words on a screen for someone so insistently screeching about themselves being higher minded
Load More Replies... My great-grandmother (born in 1869) grew up shooting at Indians in the West, and lived to see a man walk on the moon.
I lived through two milleniums, two centuries, 12 wars, three economic crisis, four End of the World prophecies, three Popes and seven US presidents. I watched the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the German reunification, the Challenger disaster and the birth of the internet, social networks and ISS...and I am less than 40.
The point remains - no humans went to the moon for 50 years. Why? We pretty much verified there isn't much there. We'll be mining it in a decade or two, but it isn't a place to live.
This is why I think it's so silly when fantasy and sci fi novels have societies in them that last for thousands of thousands of years and yet barely anything ever changes. Such as those fantasy books where it's Medieval Times for 10,000 years and no-one ever gets around to inventing gunpowder or the cotton gin.
It annoys me to see men patting themselves on the back about "how far we have come" really ? It's just natural evolution .i personally think we are moving too slowly in so many areas and we are killing our world . not to mention how we still have wars , kill animals have ridiculous backward politicians . the list is endless . No we have not come too far....
While I agree with a good number of your statements, others I would like to try to correct. It's not just natural evolution. Natural evolution is a process where species of animals evolve over many, many, many generations because of random mutations in their evolutionary pool sometimes providing adaptation to that species' environment. Our societal and technological advances are an artificial selection, not random mutations in a species over large periods of time. Humanity has had huge, drastic changes to our societies, almost an explosion of ideas and technologies. Science is a hugely powerful tool in human society changing. Usually nobody does science alone, we almost always stand on the shoulders of giants and use the work people already started to advance us. We can learn quite a bit in one human lifetime as this post points out. You are correct that while we have made many advances, we still have major problems. I think it's because many people don't value science and education.
Load More Replies... I've seen people interviewed about the most important innovation of the 20th century. I think the education of the common man made it all possible. 👍👍
So much has changed in a hundred years, so much technology has been developed, so much knowledge learned. And still a pandemic isn't under control in 2 years for a virus that is way less lethal than the Spanish flu, that killed 100million people globally in 1918-1919.
The three greatest inventions ever: the wheel, agriculture and the printing press. There was no single "industrial revolution" that revolution was actually a series of revolutions in health care, energy, food production, education and transportation. All were necessary for everything that came out of the "Industrial Revolution,"
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