In the future, when the history of our time will be written from a long-term perspective, it may be that the most important things historians will see are not technological advancements or the Internet, but the fact that for the first time a substantial and rapidly growing number of people had choices.
Jason Davis put together this summary of the checkered history of Mars exploration with the cruise configurations of the landed missions are included in the circle surrounding Mars. The launch dates and summary of the fate of the spacecraft are listed for each mission.
1814
The Times newspaper in London is printed on automatic, steam-powered presses for the first time, marking the beginning of the availability of newspapers to a mass audience for the first time in history. The presses were built by the German inventors Andreas Friedrich Bauer and Friedrich Koenig.
1868
Thomas Edison of Boston, Massachusetts applies for his first patent. The patent is for an “electrographic vote recorder,” which will enable a legislators to register a vote either for or against an issue by turning a switch to the right or left. Before his death in 1931, Edison will come to be known as one of the most prolific inventors in history, with a record 1,093 U.S. patents.
1907
Future movie producer Louis B. Mayer opens his first movie theater in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
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Few of us have any clue how the Internet’s infrastructure delivers our digital representations across the world in an instant. This lack of knowledge means simply that we must trust that platforms such as Facebook or Google are delivering information accurately. … If we cannot trust that other users are honestly representing themselves, we become unsure of how to respond. Honesty and accuracy of information are preconditions to participation. And because, as individuals, we lack the capacity to ensure either, we must place our trust in experts. We users do not understand the mechanics of Facebook, we simply accept it as reality; that is to say, Facebook is made possible through widespread suspension of disbelief. Thus, use social media is a commitment to pursuit the benefits of participation, despite the risk that we could be fooled or otherwise taken advantage of. Facebook is not merely social because it involves mutual interaction, it is social because trust in society’s expert systems is a precondition to any such interaction.
1779
The College of Pennsylvania becomes the University of Pennsylvania and the first legally recognized university in America.
1789
Thanksgiving is first celebrated in the United States after Congress requested that President George Washington proclaim a “…day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity to peaceably establish a form of government for their safety and happiness…” After several subsequent U.S. Presidents declared a national Thanksgiving, Abraham Lincoln finally made it an annual event with his 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation. The official date of the holiday was changed from the fifth Thursday in November to the fourth Thursday in November by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939.
1834
Thomas Davenport invents the first commercially successful electric motor, which he used with great ingenuity to power a number of established inventions. He would receive a U.S. patent February 25, 1837.
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Being a cyborg is risky business; we must depend on the expertise of others to ensure that our equipment is fit for use. This radical dependency on expert systems—and the societies that create them—makes cyborgs fundamentally social beings. In fact, it is through dependency on technology, and the subsequent loss of self-sufficiency, that we express our commitment to society. Technology has always been part and parcel to the division of labor. Think bows and shovels. In this sense, being a cyborg requires not only trust in technology producers, but trust in other technology users. There is no such thing as a lone cyborg. The birth of cyborg marks the death of the atomistic individual (if such a thing every existed).
1607
William Shakespeare publishes King Lear. Many later historians will believe it to be the first book for which a copyright claim is made in the Entry Book of Copies at the Stationers’ Company in London.
1789
In the United States, Thanksgiving Day is first observed on the recommendation of President George Washington and with the approval of Congress.
1863
The first modern annual Thanksgiving holiday is held following an October 3rd proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln assigning the last Thursday in November for the purpose.
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