Signs of Christ's Presence
Increase of Knowledge

Dan. 12:1,4 "And at that time shall Michael stand up"
                       [Christ returns]...
                      "...and knowledge shall be increased."

The accumulated knowledge of mankind since his first appearance on the earth up to 1750 had doubled by 1900, redoubled again by 1950, 1960, and 1968. Since then it has accelerated even more rapidly. Knowledge is now doubling every 2-1/2 years!

• More information has been produced in the last 20 years than the previous 5,000. 

• If the increase of knowledge from the dawn of history to the 1800's is given a value of one, then knowledge has doubled 16 times within the last 10 years. 

• Today the amount of information and knowledge in the world is doubling every 18 months.

Education

One hundred years ago, few of the world's population could read or write.  Today, about 1,000 books are published internationally every day.

1827  -  State of Massachusetts began providing free education. 1852  -  State of Massachusetts first state to mandate compulsory education. 1870  -  Michigan court case opened way for compulsory education in U.S. 1870  -  Great Britain - first nation to pass law for compulsory education. 1876  -  Dewey Decimal System - classification of books facilitating their use. 1876  -  George Munro introduced his "Seaside Library" - bringing price of printed material into reach of average person. 1900  -  94,883 people graduated from high school.  27,410 graduated from college. 1994  -  2,479,000 people graduated from high school.  1,165,000 graduated from college.

Literacy.

One hundred years ago, 90% of the world could not read or write.

• Today, the literacy rate of youths ages 14 to 24 is 100% in developed countries and 85% in developing countries. 

• The literacy rate of adults over age 15 is 99% in developed countries and 74% in developing countries.

• By 1990, 85% of American adults completed high school.

• By 2000, one in four American adults held college degrees.

• Yet, there are still 860 million illiterate adults worldwide – 2/3 of them, women.

Inventions

Science and technology have given our century precedence over the past 2,000 years.  There were few inventions before the 15th c.  In 1438 the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg led to publication of inexpensive books and pamphlets, stimulating interest in education.  In 1447 A.D. movable type was invented.  The 16th c. produced 3 inventions, the 17th c. 7, and the 18th c. 25.   Then a leap forward to 171 inventions for the 19th c. and 194 inventions [thus far] for the 20th c.

In 1980, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office received 104,300 patent applications for inventions; in 1992 it received 173,100.  In 1980, 61,800 patents for inventions were issued; in 1992, 97,400 patents were issued.

• Between 1997 and 2002 the number of telephone lines grew by 40% and the number of cell phone users grew by 547%. For the first time, mobile phones outnumbered fixed-line phone connections by 1.05 billion.

• At the same time, use of the Internet expanded. Host computers increased 16.5% in 2002 to 1,716 million, drawing more than 600 million people online regularly.

• In 1992, one in 237 people worldwide used a mobile phone, and one in 778 used the Internet.

• By 2002, one in 5 people worldwide used a mobile phone, and one in 10 used the Internet.

• U.S. homes with telephone answering devices jumped from 31% in 1990 to 74% in 2000.

• In 1990 there were 9.9 million pagers; by 1999 there were 53.5 million.

• In 2003 cell phones added computer and Internet capabilities.

• In 1992, a person could use a cell phone in only 33% of all countries and hook up to the Internet through a local number in just 19%.

• Today, well over 90% of all nations have local cell phone and Internet service,

• In 2002 approximately a quarter of a million years of time was spent on international phone calls.

• Cellular phones are helping to bridge the telephonic divide between rich and poor. Building cell phone towers is cheaper than stringing traditional wires. As a result, mobile service has dramatically boosted phone access in Africa. 

• In 1999, Uganda became the first African nation to have more mobile than fixed-line customers. Mobiles now outnumber fixed lines in Africa at a higher ratio than on any other continent.

• Still, industrial nations have more phones than people--121 phone links per 100 people.

• The poorest nations have barely more than 1 phone connection per 100 people.

In 1998 the Internet was accessible in over 100 countries with over 1 million Web servers worldwide.  The Internet reaches over 30 million computers, with users expected to double every year.  It is estimated that by the year 2000, half of all U.S. households will be online.  An average Web page contains about 500 words.  As of 1998, experts put the number of Web pages between 30 and 50 million.

• By 1992, 65 million computers had been sold. By 2002, over 1 billion.

• In 1995, 31.7% households had personal computers; by 2000, 53%. 

• By 2002, 9 of 10 American school children had access to computers at home or school.

Internet use is still concentrated in industrial nations. There are 41 Internet users per 100 people in industrial nations compared with just 2.3 per 100 in developing nations.

• In 1991 there were     4.4 million Internet users worldwide. 

• In 1995 there were   34.0 million.

• In 2000 there were 361.0 million.

• In 2004 there were 945.0 million.

• In  1992, AOL reported .2 million subscribers.

• By 1996, AOL had 5 million subscribers.

• By 1997, 10 million.

• By 1998, 14 million.

• In  1992 there were over 1,000,000 Internet hosts. 

• By 1999 there were 10,000,000 Web servers. 

 

• Today it is estimated that there are more than 38 million websites, and the number of emails is in the trillions every month.

• In 2004 Google got over 138 requests a minute in 90 languages.

• Today, one in five people under 30 say the Internet is their main information source.

• In 1996 28% of U.S. public libraries offered Internet access.

• By 2004 95% of U.S. public libraries offered Internet access.

• In 1995 major U.S. dailies created a national on-line newspaper network.

• By 1997 2,600 U.S. newspapers had Internet sites.

• In 1998 3,250 newspapers and 1,280 TV stations had online websites.

• In 2004, $21 billion was spent on online ads in the U.S. alone.

• Optical fiber technology has made a 400-fold increase in speed. In 1991 data was transmitted through optical fiber at 32 billion bits per second.

• The world’s fastest supercomputer is Japan’s Earth Simulator. It simulates weather and earthquake patterns. It performs 35 trillion calculations a second. It is almost twice as fast as the next fastest computer.

Today's households are equipped with modern appliances that only a few decades ago were uncommon.  For example, in 1960, 16.8% of homes lacked complete plumbing facilities and 21.5% did not have telephones.  By 1990, only 1.1% of homes lacked complete plumbing facilities and only 5.2% were without telephones.  Today, 97.2% have refrigerators, 76.3% have clothes washers, 45.4% have dishwashers, 78.8% have microwave ovens, 32.4% have freezers, 93.6% have phones, 98.2% have televisions, and 50% have answering machines!

   Inventions Listed by Date

   Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century

Parallel Ages •  Chronology • Signs of Christ's Presence
• Gentile Times • Time Prophecies