8. The rise of the computer-based Information Age (middle to late 1900's)
The invention of the transistor
in 1947 and the subsequent revolution in electronic data
storage, manipulation, and transmission profoundly changed the pattern
of human society. For anthropologists, this revolution allowed us to
use enormous amounts of data about the biology and evolution of the
human species. This information resulted in highly sophisticated analyses
revealing patterns and trends that might not otherwise have been recognized.
It also permitted the expansion of discussions about various research
questions to a truly international community, making anthropology, like
other sciences, a human activity participated in by scholars around
the world.
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Alan
E. Mann is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania.
His Top 10 list reviews the 1900's in a general historical light
and shows how the major events affected the work and chief concerns
of anthropologists. He generally calls attention to broad movements
rather than single momentous events. He points to the rapid population
growth during the 1900's and reveals why some anthropologists
link this trend to the end of human evolution.
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