One could make the argument, that the 2 most dramatic leaps in human technology were the harnessing of fire and the printing press.

Now unless you yourself have came to that observation previously, I’m sure my opening statement seems a reach.

Harnessing fire is a given. It allowed early man untold mastery of the planet. It protected us from the elements and predation. Used to prepare food, forge weapons, bind our tribe.

For the countless eons that our species arose on Earth, change would be immeasurable in technological terms. The opposable thumb took forever. And then. As if by a bolt of lighting, fire. Rocketships soon have followed. So yes, you the reader surely can put the mastery of fire on our Tech Mt. Rushmore.

But printing press number two?

It is not that I don’t see your point. But please, I beseech you, your must hear out mine.

I again stress, leap. For as inventions or technology, it’s not seafaring, refrigeration, or even the greatest, Calculus. No, but consider before there was only oral tradition or for the fancy civilized folk, hand written copies; scribners, they were called. Very limited book of the month back then. I mean literally all information was selected and re-written. The Bible held onto the number one spot for just weeks short of 2 millennium.

But then, the press. I have to believe before Gutenberg, perhaps China. A block press that could produce all manner of instruction, occupation, and reflection on mass. They say, talking species specifically, Man is the great communicator. That shared knowledge and interconnectedness, is why our ascension was so swift. With the mass dissemination of media pressed allowed, the world got a lot smaller. Once history was the province of the printer, things took on a whole new meaning.

The printing press gave us “Common Sense”, a small novella of manifesto that birthed a revolution. And “Huckleberry Finn” to satire it’s flaws. It made classics, manuals, News of the day. Scholars and pupils, eager to learn. The Industrial Revolution exploded.

In closing, I think it’s safe to say, with regards to the 2 greatest leaps in human technology, one could make an argument.