The 20th century


Telling time 
19th century: pocket watch
20th century: wrist watch
21st century: clock on your cellphone in your pocket

%

Anonymity
19th century: due to transportation, small towns with no anonymity;
everyone knows you and what you do
20th century: easy to be anonymous, commute, correspond remotely
21st century: Google, Facebook: no anonymity.

%

Musician income. 
19th century: Live performance. 
20th century: Recordings. 
21st century: Live performance due to the profit having been taken out
of recordings, which in turn is due to near-zero cost.

%

Political discussion. 
19th century: Numerous overtly biased newspapers and town hall
meetings.  
20th century: Few television and newspaper conglomerates;
newspapers supposedly "neutral point of view", a Progressive Era
invention, but in actuality rarely criticize government or large
corporations.  
21st century: Numerous overtly biased blogs, which
provide for both publication and discussion

%

U.S. political parties 
19th centuryFederalist/Whig/Republican
vs. Democratic-Republican. I.e. Hamilton
vs. Jefferson. I.e. centralized power vs. local power.
20th century Republican vs. Democrat. The Democratic Party got seduced
by utopian Communism at the turn of the century and dominated the
first half of the century. The Republicans in the second half of the
century sold themselves as the anti-Communists and pretended to be for
local power when in practice they were for centralized power. I.e. the
choice at the ballot box was between fascism and communism. 
21st century Ascendency of Ron Paul, Rand Paul, and other
libertarians, due to the naked power grab by the Bush administration
(and continuance by the Obama administration) and the power of the
Internet mentioned above.

%

European Political Alignment 
19th century Empires 
20th century: Separate countries 
21st century EU 

%

Wires 
19th century No need 
20th century: Electrical, stereo, cable TV, and Internet wires everywhere
21st century: Everything is wireless now except for electricity, and
even that is going wireless now through inductive surfaces for
low-power DC

%

Money 
19th century Gold standard 
20th century Paper money not backed by gold 
21st century Due to collapsing dollar, we will be
back on the gold standard whether in a planned or an unplanned manner

%

Transportation and Land Use Patterns 
19th century Walking, streetcar, and carriage. Buildings multi-level
and close together to keep walking distances shorter.
20th century: Automobile. Buildings far apart to allow for parking
lots and because the automobile supposedly provided for the best of
the city and country in suburbanism, which instead ended up being the
worst of both.
21st century Walking and streetcar are making a comeback, and "New
Urbanism" projects that accommodate all forms of transportation
without giving precedence to the automobile.

%

Education Ownership 
19th century Private schools and private tutors 
20th century Public schools 
21st century: A million children are now homeschooled, and the numbers
are growing.  

%

Reading Pedagogy 
19th century Phonics 
20th century Whole word 
21st century: Phonics 

%

Catholic Mass 
19th century Traditional Latin 
20th century Novus Ordo 
21st century: Traditional Latin 

%

Labor 
19th century Self-employed or work for small business; corporations
only just starting to be allowed 
20th century: Immortal multi-state and multi-national corporations
with limited liability but the Constitutional privileges of a person
21st century: Small businesses
account for 60% of all new jobs

%

Stage Theatres 
19th century: Only type of theatre 
20th century: Converted to cinemas 
21st century: Converted back to stage theatres 

%

Energy 
19th century: Burn coal or wood at home
20th century: Delivered over electrical wires 
21st century: Solar at home

%