Living in the Singularity

The First Industrial Revolution

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We talk about the singularity as if it were a future event. But arguably, we crossed into a ‘singularity’ at the dawn of the industrial revolution. For most of human history, our lives were largely the same as any other animal. We spent the vast majority of waking hours hunting and gathering food, grinding out a meager existence. While the agricultural revolution spared some of us from this drudgery, the Industrial Revolution altered our lives beyond recognition. The Industrial Revolution was the singularity, and we are still living in it.

Before The Industrial Revolution

Progress was slow until the Industrial Revolution, which set off a singularity, of sorts.

Before the Industrial Revolution that began in Britain in the 18th Century, progress was slow, uneven, and often reversed itself. According to a paper authored by Robert J. Gordon and published in the National Bureau of Economic Research, British…