Transcription
Okay, welcome to Unit 9, y'all. And this one is all about globalization. In this video, we're going to talk about the positively dizzying amount of new technologies developed in the 20th and 21st centuries that increasingly connected the world into a big old social, political, and economic hugfest. So, if you're ready to get them brain cow's milks, let's get to it.
And first, let me tell you what we mean when we talk about globalization. Now, by definition, globalization is the phenomenon by which trade and technology have created a politically, economically, and socially interconnected world. And look, although we've witnessed trends in globalization throughout the course of the trade routes in Unit 2 and the age of Imperialism and the world wars in the last two centuries, globalization has progressed at a much faster pace thanks to various technologies. And each of these new technologies transformed our world in some way, whether it was increasing lifespans or making energy more accessible or further connecting the world into a globalized economy. And you're going to need to know some of these technologies, so let me explain it up real nice for you.
But before I do, let me just mention that if you need help studying for that National exam, then baby, you know I got you. You should for sure check out my AP World Heimler review guide, which is everything you need to study as fast as possible. It's got whole unit review videos that you're not going to see here on YouTube, no guys to follow along, practice questions, practice exams, and answer keys for every dang bit of it. So that's something that you're into, check the link in the description. Okay.
First, let's talk about new communication technologies after 1900. And just to be clear, you don't just need to know what these technologies are, but you're also going to need to be able to describe how they changed the world in their application. And also, you need to remember that all these technologies were not evenly distributed throughout the world. Now, surprisingly, wealthy, industrialized countries had them first, and then they spread somewhat unevenly to other places. Anyway, for communication technologies, the main effect of these sweet bippies was to solve the problem of geographical distance. Like, if we're going to get a globalized world that is positively surging with interconnectedness, then we've got to find a way to make stronger connections across great distances. And so remember, like in the early part of this course, Maritime Technologies like new shipbuilding techniques and navigational tools overcame this distance, and then later it was railroads and telegraphs. And in the 20th and 21st centuries, new communication technology shrank the geographical distance between places even more.
For example, the rise of radio as a mass form of communication facilitated this process. This little box in people's homes allowed individuals and families to actually hear the voices of people who were delivering information to them as opposed to, say, a newspaper, which was only in print. Also, what eliminated the intermediary filter between the speaker and the listener. Like prior to this, if a leader gave a press conference, for example, his or her message was translated through a news reporter who might emphasize their own pet biases. But on the radio, the speaker spoke exactly as he or she wished, directly to the listeners. For example, American President Franklin Roosevelt utilized this medium and broadcast his voice into American homes during the Great Depression and World War II. He used the medium to comfort Americans during hard economic times and update them on all the New Deal policies that he was enacting to support them.
Then, by the 1960s, the television had replaced the radio as the dominant form of mass communication and entertainment for much of the developed world. And with news broadcasts of the war in Vietnam or the Cuban Missile Crisis, for example, people were able to feel connected to geographical places that were across the world. And then third, we had the rise of cellular technology. So the telephone was invented in 1876 in the United States, and though it was too expensive for most people, the societal elites took advantage of the ability to talk to other people across great distances. And that technology basically remained unchanged until the 1980s when cellular technology was introduced, which enabled connectivity through the air. With the rapid development of cell phones, people can talk to other people across the world, no matter their location. And look at that shrinking geographical distance, baby. That is what we're talking about.
And then fourth, and arguably most impactful of all, was the rise of the internet. The first iteration of the internet was developed in the United States in the 1960s as a way to share both military and scientific data. But by the 1990s, the technology had been developed to the point where it was more affordable to the average citizen. And therefore, with the concurrent rise of personal computers, the 1990s gave us the worldwide web. You know, as someone who was alive for this development, I have to say, if you have never had to wait four minutes to connect to the internet while those sweet and sultry tones played, then you're missing out. Anyway, by the turn of the Millennium, the internet was responsible for connecting the world's population through email and connecting businesses with their customers in a pattern that accelerated the phenomenon of global communication and commerce.
Okay. Also helping to solve the problem of geographical distance in a globalized world was new transportation technology. The widespread use of automobiles was kind of a big deal here, which had the effect of fundamentally changing urban landscapes by creating suburbs. And then second, whereas railroads were the chief transportation technology that eliminated geographical distance a century ago, air travel took its place in the middle of the 20th century, especially in Western countries. So, due to the massive economic growth Western Nations experienced after World War II, more people could afford to fly for both work and for pleasure, all of which had the effect of shrinking geographical distance between various places. And third, arguably no transport innovation affected global economics more than the widespread use of shipping containers. And you're like, "What? I never even heard of shipping containers." Well, they're massively important, so let me tell you about it. So shipping containers are standardized metal boxes that can be stacked uniformly for shipping non-bulk cargo like food or clothing or, in some cases, raw materials. And today, almost all consumer goods are transported across the world in these things. And this development created the conditions for major businesses to relocate their manufacturing sectors to developing countries. And why would they do that? Because in peripheral countries, labor costs are lower, and thus businesses save money by manufacturing their goods in places where wages are cheap and goods can be easily shipped in containers.
Okay, moving right along to new energy technologies, and there are two that you need to know here. First is the widespread use of petroleum and all its byproducts. So not only is petroleum refined into fuel for cars and planes, but it has also been used to generate electricity, which has largely been democratized, at least throughout the developed world. And since petroleum turned out to be a more efficient power source than coal, that darling of the Industrial Revolution, it has replaced coal as the main power source of industrial manufacturing. And that has had the effect of increasing production in order to meet the demand for consumer goods across the world, but also pollution and pending global disaster. But yeah, we'll save that for another video. And second, the 20th century saw the rise of nuclear power. As it turns out, scientists were able to harness all that power originally designed to blow up massive amounts of people and channel it towards creating energy for civilian use. Because nuclear energy emits very little pollution from its chemical reactions, it was championed as the cleaner alternative to fossil fuels like petroleum. But disasters at nuclear plants in the United States and in the Soviet Union in the '70s and '80s created enormous amounts of human and environmental damage, which led to the uh, cooling of public opinion on this energy.
Now let's consider new medical technology after 1900. Okay. Now there were a couple significant medical advances that helped people live longer lives. The first was antibiotics, which was a substance that killed bacterial infection. In 1928, the first antibiotic was developed, and it was called penicillin. This saved the lives of many people, not least of which was soldiers fighting in wars, and gave them a means by which they could survive infections that previously would have killed them. Then second, we see the widespread use of vaccines. Now, vaccines, of course, were not new to the 20th century, but certainly was a spike in their application. You see, early forms of this practice were around in 17th-century China, but in the 20th century, medical advances produced an astonishing number of vaccines against some of the world's most persistent diseases like measles and pneumonia and polio and influenza. Now another medical technology developed didn't extend people's lives, but it certainly did change them, and it was medical birth control. So in the 1950s, a birth control pill was developed, which consisted of a synthetic hormone which prevented pregnancy. And the result of the widespread use of this pill caused fertility rates across the world to decline, which is to say that women were having fewer babies on average. For example, in Japan and several European countries, they're experiencing a population decline. In other countries like the United States are seeing a significant slowdown in their population growth. However, in the developing world, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, their populations are growing quick, fast, and in a hurry.
And finally, let's consider how new agricultural technologies led to an increase in the global food supply, which is kind of a big deal because there are an awful lot of mouth holes to feed around here. First was the dramatic increase in commercial farming. So as opposed to subsistence farming, in which farmers grow small-scale crops mainly for their own consumption, the main goal of commercial farming is to sell agricultural products on the market and maximize profit. And so this kind of mass production of food requires expensive technologies like motorized tractors and combines, and therefore commercial farming mainly occurs in wealthier countries. And then second, the Green Revolution fundamentally changed agriculture in the 20th century. So basically, in the 1950s and '60s, scientists applied the science of genetic modification to food and developed new strains of high-yielding grain crops. And these new strains were introduced to developing countries like Mexico and India and Indonesia, which had huge populations to feed but not high enough crop yields to feed everyone. And in those places, it worked marvelously. Like, grain crops yielded three to four times their normal output, and enough food was produced to feed their population. But it wasn't all puppies and rainbows, since the Green Revolution technologies also created concerns about environmental harm. For example, farmers were encouraged to double crop, or plant more than one crop in the same soil per year, which is a big reason that more food could be produced, but that kind of intensive use of the soil led to exhaustion and erosion. I think critics also noticed that with the increased use of chemicals for these new crops, agricultural runoff could lead to significant pollution of freshwater sources.
Okay, click here to keep reviewing for Unit 9, and click here to get all the help you need studying for that National exam with my AP World Heimler review guide. And I'm glad we got to hang out, and I'll catch you on the flip-flop. Heimler out.