The Anthropocene by Davakis Panagiotis

1. How humans have
changed the earth
Παναγιώτης Δαβάκης
Τμήμα Γ2
2ο Πειραματικό Γυμνάσιο Αθήνας
Δημιουργικές Εργασίες Β τετραμήνου
Καθηγήτρια: Δήμητρα Δερτιλή

2. Introduction
Development has shaped the picture of the world.
Since their appearance on earth people try to make
their lives easier.
In this presentation we will try to present some of
the most important developments during each era
from 4000 BC until today and give some examples of
their impact on humans and nature.

3. The Agrarian era
The economies in the agrarian era were based on
agriculture and stockbreeding. People:
 domesticated animals and used them as transport
means,
 invented the wheel,
 build and developed long distance ships
 constructed roads, canals and state buildings
 used currencies for their transactions

4. Animal powered transportation
The first form of transport was the human foot.
However between 4,000 and 3,000 BC when the horse and the donkey were first
domesticated people eventually learned to use animals for transport. Animals which were
generally used for transportations were :
 horses
 camels
 donkeys
 reindeers (Northern areas)
 Oxen
 elephants (Asia)
Transportation by animal helped people:
 to travel faster and at longer distances
 to develop trade
 to cultivate land

5. The invention of the wheel
The precursor of the wheel known as "slow wheel“ was
found in the Middle East (Iran) and is considered to exist
from the 5th millennium BC. It was made of stone or
clay and aquired effort to turn.
Freely-spinning wheels that were used by potter's were
in use in Mesopotamia by 3500 BC. They were made of
solid pieces of wood lashed together to form a circle.
Spokes were put in wheels around 2,000 BC.

6. Wheeled Vehicles
The invention of wheel lead to animal powered vehicles.
The animal powered wheeled vehicle firstly appeared in
Mesopotamia and in the Northern Caucasus in the 4th c.
BC and spread to Europe and India and China over the
next millenniums.
Heavy four-wheeled wagons were developed about 2500
BC.
Two-wheeled chariots with spoked wheels were first
developed around 2000 BC in southern Siberia and Central
Asia.

7. Wheeled Transportation
Wheeled vehicles were used for:
 transportation of goods
 transportation of people
 war battles

8. Long distance ships
 About 3500 BC, the first small sailing ships were in
use on the River Nile by Egyptians.
 Polynesia islands were firstly inhabited more than
3000 ago by people from Southeast Asia. They
used voyaging canoes and carried plants and
animals.
 Later other ancient civilizations build merchant
ships capable of sailing long distances in the sea
such as the Egyptians, Greeks, Phoenicians etc.
 Ships were also constructed for military purposes.

9. Roads
The first paved streets seem to have been created in
ancient Mesopotamia in 4000BC.
About 2000 BC, the Minoans built a 50 km paved road
from Knossos in north Crete through the mountains.
Darious I, in about 500BC created an extensive road
system for the Persian Empire. Greeks also
constructed roads in their cities.
Some of the most important roads in Europe were the
Roman roads. They were vital to the maintenance and
development of the Roman Empire.

10. The impact
For the first time people had the ability :
 to travel or migrate to distant places,
 to exchange products and ideas.
All these gave the opportunity:
 to the development of education, science and the arts.
 to the most powerful nations to invade, conquer and exploit the
weaker ones. Diplomacy, politics and war had been forever
established.
 To establish Trade. The need for transactions brought the need for the
use of currency.
Huge inequality gaps between nations and people were created.
This was the time when people started recording history.

11. The modern era
For more than 1500 years after B.C economy continued to be
based on agriculture and trade.
The construction of larger ships, such as caravels, along with
the improvement in navigation enabled cruising the oceans.
The industrial age:
 Machine powered transportation.
 Industrial production of goods and
 Telecommunications
redefine the course of human civilization
This era is characterized
by:
• the Industrial era
• the Word’s
explorations

12. The caravel
The caravel was developed between the 13th and
14th in the Iberian Peninsula.
 It was bigger and faster than previous ship
types.
 It could carry more weight.
 It could travel the oceans.
With the development of the caravel, the
shipbuilding underwent a new phase of design.
It was used by lots of famous European explorers
for the discovery of the “new continents”, America
and Australia.

13. The Portolan chart,the Compass and the
Astrolabe
 An astrolabe is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used
by astronomers and navigators, to measure the inclined
position in the sky of a celestial body, day or night.
 A compass is an instrument used for navigation and
orientation, it was invented as a device for divination as
early as the Chinese Han Dynasty.
 Portolan charts are navigational charts based on compass
directions and actual distances. The earliest dated
navigational maps extant were produced in Genoa. Portolan
charts were made first in Italy, in Spain and in Portugal.
Their use was widespread during the Age of Discovery.

14. Steam engine
 The Steam engine was developed during the Industrial Revolution in
Great Britain.
 It’s inventor was Thomas Newcomen in 1712.
 An improved version of Newcomen's engine was developed by James
Watt during 1763–1775.
The Steam
Engine
Powered
Railways Steamships

15. Steamships
The steamship is the ancestor of contemporary ships and it is a
revolutionary invention of the modern era.
The first steamship
 The “ancestor” of the steamship was the steamboat.
 “Aaron Manby” was the first iron steamship, its weight was 116 tones, It
was built in 1821 by Aaron Manby and it was the first iron ship ever.
 The first journey was from England to France in 1822. It carried
passengers and freight to Paris.
The first travel through ocean with a steamship
 The first steamship which crossed the Atlantic Ocean was the American
ship SS Savannah.
 It did the first half of the journey making use of the steam engine and it
travelled from the USA to Great Britain.

16. Railways
 The first railway made in England connected the cities
Liverpool and Manchester.
 The first “train”/steam vehicle was moved for the first
time by the British engineer George Stephenson during
1825.
 The railways and trains expanded gradually to the other
countries of Europe and other continents.
Developments of the train are other forms of track
transportations such as the metro and tram.

17. Internal Combustion Engine
It is an evolution of the steam engine.
 How does it work? The combustion of a fuel occurs in a closed
chamber, usually with air. The expansion produces gases of high
pressure and temperature that when applied directly, force specific
components of the engine to move. This force moves the components,
transforming chemical energy into mechanical energy.
 1859: The first commercially internal combustion engine was created
by Étienne Lenoir
 1876: the first modern internal combustion engine was created by
Nikolaus Otto.
Internal combustion engines made possible the invention and evolution of
new kinds of vehicles (automobiles, aircrafts) and the evolution of other
vehicles (trains, ships).

18. Telecommunications and Electronic devises
Telegraph and telephone:
The electric telegraph was invented in 1837 by C. Wheatstone and W.
Fothergill Cooke. The first transatlantic telegraph cable was made on 1866.
The Telephone was invented, independently, by Alexander Bell and Elisha
Gray in 1876.
Communication was possible from a distance in real time for the first time in
human history.
Electronic Devices: The Radio and television
Small-scale radio communication was demonstrated in 1893 by Nikola
Tesla.
The first apparatus for long distance radio communication was established
in 1901, G. Marconi achieved wireless communication between Canada and
England..
The invention of the cathode ray tube by Karl Braun, lead to the rapid
spread of television after the 2nd world war.
The Information age had just begun.

19. Airplane
The ancestor of the airplane was the aerostat.
The Wright brothers flights in 1903 are recognized by the Fédération
Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) as "the first sustained and controlled heavier-
than-air powered flight".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RriKI7u72Xs
The airplane ‘s most important dates:
 1939: the first 'operational' jet aircraft was German “Heinkel He 178”
 1943: the first 'operational' jet fighter aircraft was the “German
Messerschmitt Me 262”
 1952:the first jet airliner, the “de Havilland Comet”.
 1958:”the Boeing 707” was the first widely successful commercial jet.
The invention of the airplane changed the world.
People could travel easily all over the world.
Globalization has started.

20. Space Exploration
Humans tried to explore and travel to space.
 The first successful satellite launch was of the Soviet unmanned Sputnik 1
mission on 4 October 1957.
 The second one was Sputnik 2. Launched by the Soviet union in 1957 and it
carried the dog Laika, who became the first animal in orbit.
 The first successful human spaceflights took place in 1961 (first the Soviet
Vostok 1 flight and a month later the U.s Mercury-Redstone 3 flight).
With artificial objects like robots humans have been exploring space and planets
until today :
Venus Mars
1962 1965
Jupiter
1973
Mercury
1974
Saturn
1979
Uranus
1986
Neptune
1989 2015
Ceres and Pluto

21. Man’s space travelling
The idea of space travel began as “a race” between the two most
powerful, countries after the second world war.
1961: “Vostok 1” was launched and it carried a 27-year-old Russian
cosmonaut called Yuri Gagarin. It was the first successful human
spaceflight
1969:The United States landed two astronauts on the moon’s
surface, and five more manned missions followed.
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first two humans on
the Moon(1969). Neil Armstrong was the first human that stepped
onto the moon.
United States vs Soviet Union
it completed one
orbit around the
globe
The first space
travel to the moon

22. The Impact
 The economy from rural became industrial.
 The new and advanced transportation means helped commerce
to become worldwide.
 Industrialization, created new jobs, helped the development of
arts, sciences and technology, mainly in the western world.
 Telecommunications and mass media helped the spread of
information and the development of science.
However at the same time:
 Poverty was not combated.
 New problems appeared such as environmental pollution and
climate change.
 New weapon systems were developed, based on the new
inventions (fighter planes, large warships, armored vehicles).
Two destructive world wars took place in the 20th century.

23. The digital age
Over the last 40 years new developments in:
 Biotechnology
 Genetic Engineering
 Electronics and
 The Internet
Have affected human life.

24. Biotechnology (definition)
Any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or
derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use.
Biotechnology has
applications in
four industrial
areas
Health care
(medical),
Crop production
and agriculture
Industrial uses of
crops and other
products
Environmental
uses
Blue biotechnology describe
the marine and aquatic use
of biotechnology.
Green biotechnology
is biotechnology
applied to agricultural
processes
Red
biotechnology is
applied to
medical
processes.
White
biotechnology ,
is
biotechnology
applied to
industrial
processes.
Genetically
modified
crops
Genetically
modified
foods
Pharmaceutic
al drug
Pharmacogenomics
Genetic
testing
Food for
animal
BioremediationDetergents
biofuels
Genetically
modified
animals
Big production
fertilizer

25. Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering is the technology which through
biotechnology and with the use of improved methods and
machines changes an organism's genome in order to make
a novel one which will be more useful to humans.
Important facts:
 In 1976 Genentech, the first genetic engineering
company, was developed by Herbert Boyer and Robert
Swanson.
 The first field trials of genetically engineered plants
occurred in France and the USA in 1986
 The first genetically modified organism (GMO) were
bacteria (1973) and mice (1974).
 Insulin-producing bacteria (1982).
 Since 1994: Genetically modified food has been sold
 In 2003: The first GMO pet a “Goldfish” was first sold in
the United States.
Biogenetic is used in
Agriculture
Medicines
Environment
protection
Industrial
biotechnology

26. Digital Electronic devices
From the mid-twentieth century, there was a rapid development of
Electronic Science. Digital circuits allowed mass manufacture of
electronic devices that have the ability to manipulate electric current in
a way that adds meaningful information to the current, such as:
Computers and Mobile Computers,
Cell phones, Smart phones and Tablets
Smart Televisions,
CD, DVD players and Blue Rays
Cameras,
Game consoles,
Printers

27. Example - The cellphone
 John F. Mitchell and Martin Cooper of Motorola developed
the first handheld mobile phone in 1973.
 The “DynaTAC8000x” in 1983, was the first commercially
available handheld mobile phone. It used analog technology
[first-generation ( 1G )].
 The contemporary type of cell phone is the smartphone
which has many more advantages than every other type of
cell phone
The
evolution
of the cell
phone
Its usage is
diverse
Long-distance
communication Information
BusinessEntertainment

28. The Internet
 It’s a worldwide system that can connect computers and
other electronic devices (such as smart phones, tablets
etc)
 It’s a network of networks in which users of electronic
devices can get information from any other computer.
 It was conceived by the Advanced Research Projects
Agency (ARPA) of the U.S. government in 1969 and was
first known as the ARPANet

29. The Impact
Developments in the digital era brought:
new medicines and new treatments for illnesses
new food products
new electronic products and technologies that changed the way people
communicate (emails, messages, social media such as Facebook and
Twitter), work (networking), inform and entertain (online networking
games, movies, music).
An the same time:
people became more lonely,
mental illnesses and diseases such as cancer have increased,
many foods have genetically modified substances and chemical
elements,
the products of development are accessible only to those who have
money

30. Future
New developments that may have important effects
can be:
 Augmented Reality
 The Internet of Things
 In Vitro meat

31. Augmented reality
Augmented reality is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-
world environment whose elements are augmented (or supplemented)
by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or
GPS data.(Wikipedia)
Some of Its
applications
Literature Archaeology
Architecture Trading Education
Video
games Medical Military
Visual art Emergency
management/search
and rescue
Navigation
Tourism and
sightseeing Music

32. The Internet of things
The Internet of things ( IoT ) is the connection of physical
objects, buildins, vehicles and local networks via the internet
and their ability through improved technology to exchange
data.
Its development and use has started in recent years and its use
will expand in the future.
Examples :
 In our house our fridge will connect with the IoT to warn us
when it is empty or it will order οn his own everything we
want
 In the factories probes which will connect with the IoT and
with the machines will control the production depending on
the demand
These are two simple examples of the usage of the Internet of
things. We can see how much it will help people and
simultaneusly develop risks related to personal data.
Its applications
• Media
• Environmental monitoring
• Infrastructure management
• Manufacturing
• Energy management
• Medical and healthcare
• Building and home automation
• Transportation
• Metropolitan scale positioning
• Consumer application

33. In vitro meat
 In-Vitro meat is the idea of manufacturing
meat products that are cell-cultured.
Scientists extract cells from normal animals
and help them to proliferate and grow
independently of the animal.
 In vitro cultivation of muscular fibers was
performed as early as 1971 by Russell Ross
 The cultivation of stem cells from animals
has been possible since the 1990s, including
the production of small quantities of tissue.
Its benefits according to scientists
It might be
• cheaper,
• faster produced,
• healthier,
• better for the environment and better
for the animals.
• not genetically modified.
But it is safe?

34. How will the future be ?
The future is uncertain we do not know exactly what will really happen the next
centuries but we hope that the new technology and the next generation will be
better than before and help our planet to be a better place…
The planet isn’t ours we are only guests and Its our duty to maintain it for the
next generations.

35. Bibliography
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_transport
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse-drawn_vehicle
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_animal-powered_transport
 http://archive.hokulea.com/ike/kalai_waa/kane_search_voyaging_canoe.html
 https://www.q-files.com/technology/ships-and-boats/history-of-sailing-ships/
 http://www.localhistories.org/transport.html
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_road_transport
 https://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch2en/conc2en/tbl_transportrevolutions.html
 http://nautarch.tamu.edu/shiplab/01George/caravela/htmls/Caravel%20History.htm
 https://translate.google.gr/translate?hl=el&sl=en&u=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portolan_chart&prev=search
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravel
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrolabe
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compass
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamship
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airplane
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biotechnology

36. Bibliography
 https://www.bio.org/what-biotechnology
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_engineering
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone
 http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/space/history-of-space-
travel/#space-first-space-suit.jpg
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_computer
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronics#Electronic_devices_and_components
 http://www.dummies.com/education/science/science-electronics/what-is-the-
difference-between-electronic-and-electrical-devices/
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_reality
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_things
 http://www.futurefood.org/in-vitro-meat/index_en.php
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultured_meat

37. Thank you