2008 AD: Horace Rumpole makes an FPP

October 30, 2008 5:18 PM

70,000 BC: The Earliest Known Examples of Paleolithic Art
668 BC: Ashurbanipal Attempts to Collect all Knowledge
150 BC: Earliest Analog Computer
593 AD: First Mention of Printing in China
1454 AD: The Gutenberg Bible
1964 AD: Creation of ARPANET
From Cave Paintings to the Internet, a timeline of the history of information technology.

In addition to a straight chronological order, the timeline can be explored along categories such as Artificial Intelligence, Book History, Censorship, Human-Computer Interaction, and Writing.

posted by Horace Rumpole (10 comments total)

Whaaagh! Cylons in 18 000 BC! I think I just figured out the terrible secret of space BSG!

Oh, wait...he said 'Cyclons'.
posted by sixswitch at 5:42 PM on October 30, 2008

Fantastic.
Thanks Horace.

No, sixswitch, it's "Cylcons", for "Cylindrical Cones". But it's spelled wrongly 2 times "cyclons" in the same text.
posted by bru at 5:48 PM on October 30, 2008

I don't get the titl...oh. The poster's nick. :(

Awesome post, though.
posted by DU at 6:06 PM on October 30, 2008

Hmmm .. Not detailed enough. Don't see a point for when the ex started contradicting my every statement.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 6:30 PM on October 30, 2008 [1 favorite]

70,000 BC: The Earliest Known Examples of Paleolithic Art
668 BC: Ashurbanipal Attempts to Collect all Knowledge
150 BC: Earliest Analog Computer
593 AD: First Mention of Printing in China
1454 AD: The Gutenberg Bible
1964 AD: Creation of ARPANET
1985: Austrian singer Falco records Rock Me Amadeus
posted by flarbuse at 6:45 PM on October 30, 2008 [1 favorite]

On August 29, 1997 Skynet takes control
posted by caddis at 6:49 PM on October 30, 2008 [1 favorite]

While that is a fine history, it leaves out all development of writing in the New World. The Olmec and Maya were writing as early as about 350 BCE. The Dresden Codex is a copy of previous works, and among other things, describes various events happening in the 9th to 13th centuries, some astronomic. This codex is a fan-fold hand painted book, with pages made from paper made from a ficus tree, and quite sophisticated.

Peter Martyr de Anghiera describes the first landing on Cozumel where there were many books (The Fourth Decade , book VI, page 27). Friar Diego de Landa burned a large number in the mid 1500s, so books were not unusual.

Leaving out the development of writing, astronomy, and books in the New World happens far too often.
posted by Xoc at 7:10 PM on October 30, 2008 [2 favorites]

1999: Goatse
posted by homunculus at 7:48 PM on October 30, 2008

Oh, my. PLATO! I wonder if any of those old monitors are still around.... Metafilter feels a little like being on that system years ago to me. (Is there an orange-on-black theme available...?)
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 10:23 PM on October 30, 2008

You can see the world's earliest dated example of a complete printed book here: The Diamond Sutra, at the British Library.
posted by bokeh at 2:09 AM on October 31, 2008