The year 2020 has always seemed like such an impossibly futuristic date. In years past, people predicted that by 2020, the world would have flying cars and technology that does just about everything for them. Well, that seemingly distant year has finally arrived, and while the future is not exactly what everyone expected it to be, it is pretty close. In the past century, enormous progress has been made in all respects.

The most anticipated and discussed advancements have been those within the technological field. In the 1920s, the television was invented. The first was a mechanical television constructed by John Logie Baird in 1925 that consisted of spinning discs while light from a transmitter shone through holes to transmit signals through radio waves to create images. 

Then, in 1927, Philo Farnsworth invented the electronic television, which relied on electronic signals that made it easier to function and made images appear at a higher resolution. Television continued to evolve over the years to produce the clearest and largest images possible, with color television being invented in the 1930s and 3D television becoming available in 2010. Today, people are turning to smaller devices as their source of entertainment, one example is smartphones.

The first mobile cellular phone was invented in 1973 by Martin Cooper. The cellphone was at first big and bulky, but, eventually, new versions were made smaller and easier to use. In 2001, Apple unveiled the first iPod. The creation of this music player led to the creation of the iPhone, the first touchscreen smartphone, in 2007. Now, the most advanced touchscreen smartphones are available that can do more than was ever before anticipated. There are even smartwatches, which are wearable versions of the device that can be worn on the wrist. 

Another wildly popular innovation is the use of media streaming services. Before these services, people could only listen to music broadcasted on the radio. Then, the Sony Walkman, the first portable music player, was invented. Later followed the Apple iPod, which could only play purchased music. Now, with global music streaming services like Apple Music, Spotify, and Pandora, virtually anyone can listen to as many songs as he/she wants right from his/her phone without having to pay for them. The use of advertisements has also created a completely free option of these services, so they are accessible to everyone with a smart device. People are now turning away from cable television and switching to streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Disney Plus to watch TV shows and movies right from their phones and laptops.

Computers have also been a landmark advancement of this century, along with the creation of the Internet. The first modern and programmable computer was invented in 1938 and was named the Atanasoff Berry Computer. A large-scale version of this was instituted at Harvard, sponsored by IBM and filling up an entire wall. Computers evolved and transformed, especially because of their use in World War II. 

The computer became smaller in the 1960s due to the development of the transistor. In the 1970s, people began to build laptops, including Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, who created the Apple Mac computer. These models have since been redeveloped and other brands have created laptops that are extremely powerful, as well as supercomputers, extremely fast devices which the human brain is only 30 times more powerful than.

 In addition to the computers themselves, a way of connecting multiple computers into networks and sharing information was developed, first through Ethernet, invented by Robert Metcalfe in 1973. Then came the Internet, which links hundreds of millions of computers and the World Wide Web. 

Junior Andrew Moscheni commented, “Personally, my favorite innovation is the creation of an international network capable of communications that circle the earth and connect countries that were not able to before.” The Internet has become a very powerful and integral part of society that is used to share information all around the world.

One of the most outlandish developments of this century has been of the robot. The term “robot” was first used in a 1920 play called Rossum’s Universal Robots, a Czech play about artificial humans. Since then, robots have been a large part of futuristic movies and television shows as metallic, square, human-like figures, before they were made a reality. In 2002, the company iRobot developed and released the Roomba, a vacuum-cleaning robot. Since then, robots have rapidly evolved to be extremely human-like. 

Artificial intelligence has advanced so far that robots can have thoughts at a level almost equivalent to humans. This technology is being utilized for many purposes: in the surgical and medical field, to power self-driving cars, and to perform several other tasks. Many fear that robots will take over human occupations, leaving humans without work. Junior Ryan Marrione commented, “Technology can never not advance, but it has to be regulated.”

Additionally, the first-ever exploration of space was made in the 1960s. Marrione explained that his favorite advancement of this century was “the Apollo missions” because they were “the beginning of a new frontier.” The concept of the space rocket was first developed in the 1920s by Robert H. Goddard. 

In the 1960s, there was a space race, where the U.S. and Russia were fighting to be the first to successfully send humans into space. The U.S. was the first, and sent the Space Shuttle on its first voyage in 1981. It was the beginning of the exploration of space. Since then, there has been much more exploration and discovery of what space may hold. 

There has been massive social progress in the last hundred years. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was passed by the United Nations after the Holocaust to protect citizens in every country from inhumane treatment. The Civil Rights movement in the U.S., which aimed for African American equality, was successful in passing the Civil Rights Act, giving African Americans the same protections and freedoms as white citizens and in beginning integration. Another civil rights success was the legalization of gay marriage in 2011. While the world still has a way to go in treating everyone equally and fairly, the progress made in the last hundred years has been extremely significant.

All of these advancements have been extremely beneficial and have helped society progress; however, an uncertain future lies ahead. There is a question of whether the world’s natural resources will allow humans to continue to prosper and advance. In order to achieve the progress that has been made, humans have depleted the world’s natural resources. Climate change has become a large and increasingly concerning problem. 

Sophomore Rachel Edelstein discussed how humanity’s progress has been both beneficial and detrimental: “In the medical field, we have had serious discoveries, creating healthier lives. However, we have done serious damage to the environment in the process. We might be able to establish a new settlement on another planet, but it’s hard to predict the future. It’s impossible to foresee all the new inventions and medical technology to come.”

Marrione added, “If the world turns its head straight, we could achieve affordable and efficient energy sources as well as achieve space travel.” Although there are concerns regarding what the future may hold, many hope that humanity can continue to progress as it has in the past century by finding solutions to these problems and continuing to prosper.