signpost of modern civilization?

[PeatBog]

What do you think of as the last link in the armour, or the final brick, of the modern era? What was the final event or artifact that speaks to you as finalizing ..being in.. "the modern era"? Was it the first atomic bomb at Bikini? Was it the first transcontinental commercial airplane service (1957)? Was it the Visa credit card (1958)? Was it the internet? For me, it's the 60s TV show "I Dream of Jeannie". :)

[Shanti]

Gee, to me, its when we came out of the caves and started building our own structures!!

[PeatBog]

Shanti, in the *oops* thread, posed the excellent question of which era I refer to as "modern"? Techno, industrial, etc.? My actual question is where do you think the "modern era", not so much began (that would be making fire or such), but was finalized... as in, well, here we be in the "modern era" now...whatever that term means to you (techno, industrial, WeebleWabbles, online dating, or whatever).

Was your great-grandpa alive during the "modern era" as far as you're concerned (or did he miss the opening of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas in 1966, if that's your signpost)?

[Grimr]

I think it was the start of the industrial age.

[maphdet]

Hmmm I would have to say....
The invention of pantyhose!

:hehehehe:

[Protagonist]

Most philosophers date modernity to the Enlightenment era, in particular, the work of the rationalists and the empiricists. Thus, Descartes, Leibniz, and such are very early modern philosophers, Kant (some would say) represents modernity's heyday, and Nietzche epitomizes th beginning of modernity's end.

[CelticMoon11]

The invention of pads and tampons, 3ply toilet paper and The Simpsons yep, thats it :lol:

[AussiePagan]

The 60's when societies around the world got rid of the caste system, segragation and other forms of discrimination.

That and computers. Best invention evar :boing:

[CelticMoon11]

The 60's when societies around the world got rid of the caste system, segragation and other forms of discrimination.

That and computers. Best invention evar :boing:

They did? 8O

[AussiePagan]

They did? 8O

lol in theory. Or atleast replaced it with Political Correctness. Okay scratch that one.


Computers and the Information Age is the start of the modern era.

[Infinite Grey]

Actually we're beyond the Modern era, beyond even the Post Modern era... these time periods happed closer to the beginnings of the 1900s. These eras where marked by industrial innovations, and the industrial revolution... the current era... well I suppose we're entering the Nano era, where ironically everything is bigger, but it is the small things that are our greatest achievements.

[PeatBog]

What was the icing on the cake, or the nail in the coffin, that clearly indicated we're in the Nano Age? Was it Teletubbies? Or the eurodollar?

[CelticMoon11]

Those mice with ears on their backs

[Philosophia]

Dolly - the cloned sheep?

[ap Dafydd]

How about the point at which a majority of the population were urban as opposed to rural. Was about 1850 in the UK, not sure about other countries.

gwyn eich byd

Ffred

[jcldragon]

The Summer of Love, 1967, San Francisco. Well, I was there...

DSL/Cable internet connections...

[Zephyrstorm]

Seeing as I focus my life on the History of Art, I see the Modern age as starting with Cezanne and solidifying with artists like Picasso and Matisse, and later Dali and Duchamp.
Then it starts to change to post-modern and post-structural with Lichtenstein and Warhol, Eva Hesse, and Frank Stella. :) Which solidifies with artists like Joseph Kusuth, and the recognition of Duchamp's influence on the art world.

[Grimr]

Actually we're beyond the Modern era, beyond even the Post Modern era... these time periods happed closer to the beginnings of the 1900s. These eras where marked by industrial innovations, and the industrial revolution... the current era... well I suppose we're entering the Nano era, where ironically everything is bigger, but it is the small things that are our greatest achievements.


There are some who say we still live in the Post-Modern era.


Of course if we didn't live in the Post-Modern age as you say then you could be right about the Nano Era.

I would even call this the technological innovation era.

[PeatBog]

How about the point at which a majority of the population were urban as opposed to rural. Was about 1850 in the UK, not sure about other countries.

gwyn eich byd

Ffred

That sounds like a very reasonable signpost. I still suspect that the cherry on top was Elvis' first hit song (1955?), or maybe the first disaster flick (War of the Worlds)(1953)? :spaceman:

[PeatBog]

Those mice with ears on their backs

Huh? :lol:

[PeatBog]

Dolly - the cloned sheep?

But I was living before Dolly so it couldn't possibly be Dolly. I'm not ancient. 8O (Or were you referring to "Nano", whatever that is.)

[Infinite Grey]

There are some who say we still live in the Post-Modern era.


Of course if we didn't live in the Post-Modern age as you say then you could be right about the Nano Era.

I would even call this the technological innovation era.

Post-Modern ended around the 80s, then it was the micro-age... computers, digital TVs, CD, DvD, microchips in everything. But we've moved on, and now working with even smaller technology, philosophy, psychology, even economics. It has been said that the powers-that-be view everyone as numbers, well those numbers hold a lot of information. You could even call this the Information age, as that is what the world is truly run on these days.

[Ishtara]

To me a lot of what has been posted in this thread refers to the contemporary era, as opposed to the modern era.

As I work in interior design, when I hear "modern", I think of a specific style typical of the '50 and '60s. Significant signpost of modern style: Le Corbusier LC2 armchair, 1929. And the Bauhaus movement.

On a larger scale though, I would pick the Industrial Revolution as the phenomenon heralding the modern era in Western societies.
Were we talking about other parts of the world, I would probably pick completely different events.

[Birdy]

Everybody in history, when they were alive, believed themselves to be living in the 'modern era.' So we have Ipods and glow in the dark bunnies now, so what? ...Actually I know nothing about 'Modernism' per say, I just wanted an excuse to mention glow in the dark bunnies.

[Grimr]

Post-Modern ended around the 80s, then it was the micro-age... computers, digital TVs, CD, DvD, microchips in everything. But we've moved on, and now working with even smaller technology, philosophy, psychology, even economics. It has been said that the powers-that-be view everyone as numbers, well those numbers hold a lot of information. You could even call this the Information age, as that is what the world is truly run on these days.

Makes sense.


I like the definition of Information Age better as you have put it.

:) (Smiles.)

Me and Peacock agree on somthing at last.

( Meant to be a compliment.)


This is somthing worth to note.

[Grimr]

Everybody in history, when they were alive, believed themselves to be living in the 'modern era.' So we have Ipods and glow in the dark bunnies now, so what? ...Actually I know nothing about 'Modernism' per say, I just wanted an excuse to mention glow in the dark bunnies.

True every age does view itself to be more sophisticated then the past.

To me a lot of what has been posted in this thread refers to the contemporary era, as opposed to the modern era.

As I work in interior design, when I hear "modern", I think of a specific style typical of the '50 and '60s. Significant signpost of modern style: Le Corbusier LC2 armchair, 1929. And the Bauhaus movement.

On a larger scale though, I would pick the Industrial Revolution as the phenomenon heralding the modern era in Western societies.
Were we talking about other parts of the world, I would probably pick completely different events.


Technically other parts of the world the West labels unmodern or behind.

I don't know how we can describe other events in other countries.

[Sev]

True every age does view itself to be more sophisticated then the past.


I think that's because, by and large, every age -is- more sophisticated than the last, barring backsliding in the cases of massive societal disruption.