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It’s simple to survey all the technology available today and assume it was invented only recently. The reality, though, is that our current technology is founded on centuries of efforts by those who came before us. It’s true there’s been a rapid expansion in technological progress, seemingly quickening with each of the four industrial revolutions up to this point.
However, even some of the innovations you identify as new and cutting-edge actually trace back further than you might realize. Often, it’s not the technology itself that’s innovative, but its commercial realization. The technology was around, but it was prohibitively costly for the average consumer, leaving the general populace unaware of it.
There are countless instances of this phenomenon, but we’ve curated a selection of the most astonishing for people residing at the end of the early 21st century. How many of these did you already suspect were older than commonly thought?