Human Progress Timeline

13.5 billion years agoMatter and energy appear — the beginning of physics. Soon after, atoms and molecules form: the beginning of chemistry.

4.5 billion years agoFormation of planet Earth.

3.8 billion years agoEmergence of the first organisms — the beginning of biology.

~300,000 years agoDaily use of fire — the first technology that let humans reshape the world outside their bodies.

~70,000 BCECognitive Revolution — Homo sapiens begins to think and communicate in wholly new ways: symbolic language, shared fictions, and cooperation at scale.

~10,000 BCEAgricultural Revolution — humans start domesticating plants and animals; the shift from foraging to farming.

~5,000 BCEFirst kingdoms, script, and money; polytheistic religions.

~1500 CEThe Scientific Revolution — humankind admits its ignorance and begins to acquire unprecedented power.

1687Newton publishes Principia Mathematica — laws of motion and universal gravitation.

~1760Industrial Revolution — steam power, mechanized production, and the beginning of sustained exponential economic growth.

2023First flight of SpaceX Starship — a reusable rocket built to make Mars travel affordable and humanity multi-planetary.