Watch how Education, Work, Communication, Economy, Social structures, and Industrial revolutions evolved together. Hover to see the era. Click to explore connections.
Ancient
~200,000 BCE - 500 CE
Pre-Industrial
500 - 1760
Industrial
1760 - 1970
Information
1970 - 2020
AI Era
2020 - Present
Oral Traditions
Learning embedded in life
Universities
Elite credentialing emerges
Mass Schooling
Factory model of education
Testing Era
Standardization intensifies
AI Tutors
Personalized learning at scale
Task-Based Work
Work done when needed
Guilds
Apprenticeship and craft
Factory Work
Clock time and wages
Knowledge Work
Office culture rises
Gig & Remote
Employment contract frays
Oral Culture
Memory and story
Print Revolution
Ideas spread without permission
Mass Media
One-to-many broadcast
Internet
Many-to-many returns
Generative AI
Creation automated
Gift Economy
Reciprocity-based exchange
Money & Markets
Anonymous trade enabled
Corporations
Capital gains independence
Financialization
Money makes money
Platform Economy
Value capture shifts
Tribes
Dunbar number groups
Cities
Strangers cooperate
Nation-States
Imagined communities
Networks
Digital connection
AI Companions
Simulated relationships
1st & 2nd Revolution
Steam, then electricity
3rd Revolution
Computers & automation
4th Revolution
AI & convergence
The factory didn't just change work - it changed how we think about time, education, family, and self. The internet didn't just change communication - it's transforming everything. Systems co-evolve. Understanding one requires understanding all.
The threads of history are woven together. Pull one, and they all move.