It Hasn’t Been As Long As You Think - 5 Innovations That Are Newer Than You Might Imagine

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Mankind has a number of remarkable tendencies, including the one to forget our own history, even if we lived through it, and to instead assume that things have always been the way they are, and will always stay the way forever. In this article, we plan on looking at a number of technologies and conditions that you might think have always been the way the are, and we tell you just how long they’ve actually been around. It’s not always as long as you might think.

1) Central Air Conditioning

Air conditioning is a must for everyone nowadays. No self-respecting person would actually open their windows and use a fan to try and lower temperatures. But it wasn’t always thus. In fact, central air conditioning in houses only became popular in recent years. In fact, the first air conditioners didn’t start appearing in homes until after WW II.

Builders found they could pay for the costs of central cooling systems by deleting elements made unnecessary by the new technology. As air conditioning replaced traditional features, the design of the modern house became fully integrated with–and dependent on–air conditioning. It allowed postwar architects and builders to achieve a new “ranch house” aesthetic of glass picture windows, sliding doors, and rectangular forms.

Many readers will recall that widespread proliferation of air conditioning didn’t take place in many areas until the 1980s! Before then, you were considered well off to have such a luxury in your house.

2) Modern Sewage Systems

If you’re like most people, you probably think of a clean drinking water and an orderly sewage system as a fact of life and an inherent act. It might surprise you that clean water didn’t become a law until passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972.

Until the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, most cities only performed primary treatment, which mechanically screens out the trash and debris that float in sewage, then settles out the solid sludge. The resulting effluent was sent into a nearby watercourse.

Secondary treatment was developed to remove the polluting organic materials and nutrients that damage rivers and estuaries. This damage occurs when aquatic microorganisms proliferate in the glut of nitrates and phosphates in sewer effluent. When they die, their decomposition robs the water of oxygen, sometimes creating lethal “dead zones.”

Wastewater plants also chlorinate treated wastewater in a last-ditch attempt to kill off any surviving bacteria. The new treatment plants’ pumps, digesters, clarifiers, and conveyor belts consume massive amounts of energy, and are therefore very expensive to operate.

Before 1972, getting clean water was, no pun intended, a crap shoot.

3) Everyone has at least one cell phone, if not more

It wasn’t that long ago that people didn’t have a convenient personal telephone to handle all of their mobile communication needs. In fact, it wasn’t until 1982 that the US even got its’ first cellular system.

Only the rich could afford early cell phones. And they were as big as breadboxes.

Consumer demand quickly outstripped the cellular phone system’s 1982 standards, by 1987, cellular phone subscribers exceeded one million, and the airways were crowded. Three ways of improving services existed:

It wasn’t until the late 1990s that cellular service became affordable enough for everyone to get a phone. Now six year olds have four of them.

4) The IBM Personal Computer.

Everyone and their uncle has a personal computer now, but it wasn’t that long ago that concept was unheard of. IBM, a company known for their super expensive super computers for business branched out in the 1981 and introduced the personal computer that made the device popular with the masses.

The manual was one of the small accidents and big ideas that contributed to the rise of the multibillion-dollar PC industry, according to executives who gathered at the Tech Museum of Innovation here Wednesday night to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of IBM’s first desktop computer.

At the time, companies didn’t give out technical details of their products. By breaking form, IBM essentially opened the door for third parties to build programs, develop add-on hardware and even sell their own PCs. The idea behind the Lotus Notes software, for instance, came partly out of the manual, said creator Ray Ozzie.

The unit was much larger and less powerful than what’s available today. But without this evolutionary step, who could say what would have happened to the technological revolution we now participate in?

5) Viagra

The little blue pill that helps men with erectile woes has been around since 1998, when, not surprisingly, it was invented by a research team at Pfizer led by a female! Dr. Gill Samuels is quite proud of her accomplishment, which has been taken by an estimated 25 million erection-challenged males worldwide.

“It was a great, feelgood project to work on,” she says. “People call Viagra a lifestyle drug, but it’s changed people’s lives. I’ve had letters from men saying that it stopped them wanting to kill themselves. I had another from someone saying that it stopped him from beating his wife. At the end of the clinical trials, we had people begging to be allowed to continue.”

The next time you meet a horny old man, you’ll know the reason. Dr. Gill says that she never experience a “glass ceiling” due to her sex and is quite proud of her achievement. Hear hear.

These 5 innovations are now a part of our daily experience. Of course, they haven’t always been. Next time we’ll look at some innovations that have actually been around a lot longer than you might expect!

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