Preface
I wrote this book because I feel that as we move forward, it
sometimes helps to step back—to take in the larger picture. Today,
technology advances so rapidly that conjecture about a near future where computers move far beyond humans in intelligence is
no longer science fiction. Many now take it as a given that within
our lifetimes a “Singularity” will occur, after which the destiny ofplanet Earth (and some boldly predict, the entire universe!) will
belong to the machines that we are busily creating today. We willpass the baton to our creation, in other words.
Predictions (and warnings) about technology overtaking
humans go back at least as far as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,which was published two centuries ago. However, today—withmachine learning, Big Data, the “cloud,” etc.—they have begun toappear more plausible.
But how concerned should we be? After all, technology has
always played an immensely transformative role in society. In
fact, there has never been a truly revolutionary technologicalbreakthrough that didn’t change not only our culture and ourphysical surroundings, but also the way humans think. Agriculture, architecture, the printing press, the automobile, mass media, etc.; all have had an enormous impact. Will AI be uniquelymore revolutionary, or is it just the next destination along a long,long journey?
That is the question that this book considers, without attempting a clear-cut answer. A few decades from now, we will
have our answer. Either AI will have taken over, and robots far
more intelligent than Einstein will be everywhere, or humans
will still be the dominant intelligence on the planet, using AI to3transform our world (as we have already begun to do), while remaining in charge of it.
Until we know, we will have to keep pondering, and guessing. That makes this era—the dawn of The Age of AI—mysterious
and exciting, as well as a bit scary! Mostly, I feel it is uncertainty
about just how far AI will go that makes us uneasy about it. I
began teaching a course at the University of Yokohama to help
my students form clear-headed ideas about AI by placing it inits proper historical context, alongside other breakthrough technologies. I approached Kinseido with the proposal to turn thatcourse into a textbook, and they kindly consented. This book, andthe overview of technology spanning millennia that it provides, ismeant to help students make educated guesses about where weare headed.
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Andy Boerger

Contents
Part 1 The Age of Tools—The Early Part of the Journey

Introduction: How Far Can Tech
Unit 1

Take Us?

Extending Both Muscle Power andUnit 2Brainpower

1016

Agriculture: A Mistake?

22

Architecture: Building Upward

28

Unit 3

Unit 4

Building Better Brains: Technology
Unit 5and Thinking

35

Part 2 The Age of Inventions—Moving Civilization
ForwardA Time of Technological “Miracles”
Unit 6and Geniuses

Gutenberg’s Printing Press: TheUnit 7First Information Age“The Turk”: An Ingenious Trick
Unit 8424855

The “Luddites”: What Were They
Unit 9Fighting Against?

61

Part 3 The Age of Products—Our Manufactured WorldEnergy: Why the 20th Century
Unit 10Stands Out

The Automobile: Bridging Two
Unit 11Ages

How Mass Media Shaped Our Ideas
Unit 12

About AI

6875

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Part 4 The Age of AI—Pushing the Boundaries

The Computer: Moonshots andUnit 13Desktops

90

Data: Big, Bigger, Biggest

97

How Far Will AI Take Us?

103

Unit 14

Unit 15

Notes

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Unit 2

Extending Both Muscle Power andBrainpower

DL 014 ~ 024

CD1-14 ~CD1-24

Today, we have computer programs that can defeat any
chess master, or igo (a more difficult game) master. In the near
future, AI is predicted to greatly enhance the power of the humanbrain. By connecting our own brains to AI technology, we will be5able to learn more quickly than any humans in history. Each ofus in the future may become an “Einstein.” This has parallels tohow our ancestors deep in the past began to use tools to greatly
enhance the power of the human body; the very beginning of ourtechnological journey.
16Part 1 The Age of Tools—The Early Part of the JourneyLong ago, we used tools to build stronger “bodies” for ourselves; bodies that could lift, carry, dig, hunt, etc., far more effectively than what was permitted by our own muscular limitations.
Manual tools, the first technology, separated hominids from otherspecies and showed that the natural world could be manipulated.

5Some of the oldest tools displayedin the British Museum in London arearrowheads from around two million
years ago. These were fashioned byhomo habilis, ancestors of homo sapiens who dwelled in a region that10
Homo habilis

is now part of Tanzania. With the emergence of homo sapiens(around 200,000 years ago) we find the shape of arrowheads andother simple stone tools being modified over time for specializedpurposes. From very early on, homo sapiens was an innovator.

15

As familiarity with tool use grew, so did familiarity with the“master tool” that ran all the others: the human brain. A positive
feedback loop between man and tools jumpstarted our evolution
and caused us to become, primarily, a technological species.
We used our brains to conceptualize what tools could be and20

do. Moreover, the use of the tools refined our brain power. Just
as small children develop their brains by playing with building
blocks, early human tool use developed key regions in the brain
related to higher thought, and planted the seeds of reasoning in
us. Eventually we learned to think and plan together, in groups,

25

to achieve greater results than could be achieved individually,giving rise to civilization. Hunting tribes of homo sapiens grewfrom just a dozen or so members to eventually numbering in thehundreds. Tool use enabled us to develop a skill that has beenpart of every technological development since: Organization.
Unit 2 Extending Both Muscle Power and Brainpower3017

We can see organization emerging by looking at agriculture,
considered the most important early technological development.
Tool use began roughly two million years ago, but it was only
about ten thousand years ago where we see the development
5of agriculture on a large scale. With agriculture, human beings
found it necessary to organize at scales and in ways they had notdone previously.
The earliest agricultural tools were stones used to scratch at
the earth for planting seeds. These were tools already being used10

by hunter-gatherers to dig for roots and insects. As with arrowheads, these tools gradually grew more specialized. Hoes, plows,
shovels, etc., were invented and refined into the specialized farming equipment that can be seen in ancient Egyptian artwork dating back thousands of years.
As our tools got better, so did our organizational skills. We

15organized topography, digging furrows and irrigation channels,and built storage spaces for seeds, etc. We organized time itself,planting and harvesting according to pre-planned schedules
based on the seasons. Early farming communities organized20

space and time in more sophisticated ways than not only otherspecies, but rival hunter-gatherer societies as well. Thus, ourbrains adjusted, learning to think more logically, plan more longterm, innovate and modify to increase yields, etc. In other words,
the ways we use our brains today, in business, government, sci-25

ence, and education, were seeded in us by our agricultural lifestyle.
Similarly to agriculture, architecture also changed bothour outer/geographical space and our inner/mental space. Whenfood is a moving target, as it generally is for hunter-gatherers,

30

domiciles tend to be temporary. They can either be broken down
18Part 1 The Age of Tools—The Early Part of the Journey

and reassembled elsewhere or simply abandoned. Animal skins(draped over branches) and straw were the most common early
home materials, and continue to be today for the remaining hunter-gatherer tribes.
In early agricultural commu-5nities, tools not only for farming,but also for building became necessary, further stimulating our rapidly developing brains. In addition tothe plows, shovels, etc., that wereneeded to farm, early humans de-10
Pyramid of Gizaveloped bricks, hammers, nails, saws, etc., in order to erect structures that were durable and permanent (how permanent? Why,look at the Pyramids of Giza, still standing proudly six thousandyears later!)

15

This was an exciting time in human history, when dozens ofspecialized tools were invented and improved upon in rapid succession across early agricultural settlements spanning the globe.
All the while, the “master tool,” the human brain, developed, separating itself from the brains of other species through the contin-

20

ual mental challenges that the technological lifestyle provided.
Our partnership with technology had begun.

25

30

Unit 2 Extending Both Muscle Power and Brainpower

19

Exercises
A

Choose the definition of the words as they are used in theessay.

1. enhance
2. parallel
3. manual
4. conceptualize
5. domicile

a. similarity
b. place where a person livesc. operated by handd. form an idea
e. improve the quality of

B Choose the correct answer to complete each sentence.
1. The author states that the use of tools by early mana. enabled them to defeat other animals.
b. developed and refined the human brain.
c. began with the emergence of homo sapiens.
2. According to the author, agriculturea. emerged very early in human history.
b. challenged humans to increase their organizational capabilities.

c. was rejected by most hunter-gatherer tribes.
3. Architecture developed as an outgrowth of agriculture because

a. agricultural tools were also used to build homes.
b. tents and thatched huts had to be abandoned in farmingcommunities.

c. agriculture made permanent settlements possible.

20

Part 1 The Age of Tools—The Early Part of the Journey

C Discuss the topics.
1. The species homo sapiens has existed for more than 200,000years, but agricultural communities have existed for only
about 10,000 years. Why do you suppose it took such a longtime for agriculture to appear?
2. Think of the tools that you use on a regular basis, either
manual or digital (or a combination of the two); how are
they different from early human tools, and how are they thesame? Can you think of ways that the tools you use affectyour thinking?
3. Many educators today fear that less exposure to manual
tools in early education risks stunting a child’s brain. Do you
feel that children in today’s technological society are not getting enough exposure to simple hand tools such as scissors,building blocks, etc.? If you were an educator, how would you
address the situation?

Unit 2 Extending Both Muscle Power and Brainpower21