The invention of the mechanical printing press on paper with movable type in 1450 triggered a slowly developing, more progressive wave of inventions:
The Big Surge of Technology . Oral or spoken language is the first dimension of data. Hand written data is the second dimension of data. Data storage began with the invention of hand written language. The invention of written language created an explosion of data. Also with written language came an explosion of inventions, the beginnings of history, civilization, and the birth of cities.
Mechanically printed language is the third dimension of data.
Printed material is writing produced by machine. More data, denser data, and more organized data occur with printing. Printing is machine writing all at far less cost than with hand written documents. Better, faster, cheaper data was the result of mechanical printing. The Big Surge of Technology has gained momentum with the invention of electronic language in 1837 (fourth dimension of data) . Further momentum occurred with hypertext language (fifth dimension of data) in 1989 (see blog, “5 Dimensions of Data”). Unlike the explosion of data and inventions with the Big Bang of Technology caused by hand written language, the printing press invention produced a much slower, more sustained wave of inventions which has accelerated and increased in power over time.
What caused the Big Surge of Technology?
Above all, the immediate and direct cause of the Big Surge of Technology was the invention of the printing press in 1450. In addition to the printing press, several other events came together to help create the Big Surge of Technology:
1) Invention of the powerful cannon, musket, and rifle
in the 1400s AD. These cannons led to the fall of the Holy Roman Empire in Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. Use of more powerful cannons with gunpowder breached the previously impenetrable walls of Constantinople. Constantinople, long a gateway to the East, was now less accessible. The silk road trade had previously collapsed with tribal warfare after the death of Kublai Khan. Wars between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Turks in the 1400-1550 AD era stifled trade further. In 1453, Ottoman Turk conflicts with China resulted in closure of the Silk Road until the current day. Trade effectively stopped between India, China, and Europe in 1453. New sea routes were sought to reestablish trade with the Orient.
2) Invention of the Caravel ship
which Portuguese Henry the Navigator popularized. The caravel sailed around the south Cape of Africa in 1488 by Portuguese Dias, a first for Europeans. Two of the 3 ships Christopher Columbus took to the Americas were caravels, the Pinta and the Nina. The Nina and Pinta were the only 2 ships to survive the voyage to the new world. The Santa Maria, not a caravel but a cargo ship, grounded on Christmas day, 1492, on Haiti during the voyage and wrecked.
3) Discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus.
Interestingly, Columbus brought a print copy of Marco Polo’s Travels with him to the New World.
The first German printing of Marco Polo’s Travels was in 1477. First Latin printing in 1483. Printing, invented only 23 years earlier in Germany, was already affecting the world. Christopher Columbus knew of China from his print copy of Marco Polo’s travels. He read of the islands off the coast of China which he thought he found in his 4 voyages. Without exposure to Marco Polo’s Travels print book, he may not have sought the new trade route.
Although Viking Leif Erickson discovered North America 500 years earlier, his discovery did not lead to successful colonization of the Americas. Discovery of the New World brought new lands, new crops, and new wealth. New crops from the New World include: maize (corn), tomatoes, potatoes, beans, and peppers. In total, at least 23 new crops came back to Europe from the Americas. Potatoes would become a dominant crop in Ireland. Tomatoes became a dominant crop in Italy and Spain by the late 1500’s. Corn thrived throughout Europe by 1600 AD. Corn produced more food than wheat for the same acreage.
4) Invention of clear magnifying glass in Italy in 1500 allowed the manufacture of telescopes and microscopes.
5) Rise of the Medici family
in Florence in 1434 led to patronage of the arts and the beginnings of the Renaissance in Europe. The Renaissance gained momentum with the printing press which moved quickly from Germany to become established in Venice, Italy.
5) Invention of a simplified astrolabe and crosstaff promoted by Henry the Navigator in Portugal in the 1490’s for measuring latitude.
6) Use of chip log to measure knots (speed) of a ship. Speed times time equals distance, necessary for navigation.
The Big Surge of Technology produced an acceleration of the Renaissance, ending the Dark Ages and initiating the Reformation and Scientific Revolution leading to the Enlightenment.
The Big Surge of Technology which began in 1450 has continued to accelerate and gain momentum with time and other data inventions. Within 100 years, thousands of printing presses were active in Europe producing millions of books and publications. Electronic language with the telegraph was the fourth dimension of data. Electronic data spreads across great distances almost immediately. The telephone was better than the telegraph because no intermediary person was necessary to translate the spoken word. Wireless communication, particularly with video, was another leap forward in data transfer. Data spreads now virtually anywhere. without wires. With the hypertext language (fifth data dimension), the internet, and search engines, all data systems became linked and accessible, another leap forward in data. With each successive dimension of data, the Big Surge wave of Technology grows.
The Big Surge of Technology has been 0.22% of human existence but has produced 83% (1653/2000) of inventions.
Although the printing press became widespread after Johannes Gutenberg improved invention in 1450, the printing press with movable type actually originated in China. However, the printing press stagnated in China due to the vast number of different characters in the Chinese language (20,000) which made movable type inefficient and cumbersome. The number of characters required for an alphabetic language with upper and lower case letters and with base 10 numbers is less than 100. In summary, the alphabetic languages of Europe made printing with movable type on paper readily achievable.
