15.3 Science and Technology for Today’s World

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Discuss the development of complex digital computers and their effects on human society
• Analyze the effects of the internet and social media on society
• Describe important medical developments of the last fifty years and current medical challenges

World War II brought about a massive technological transformation as countries like Germany and the United States rapidly innovated to avoid destruction and defeat their enemies. In the decades after the war, there was major progress in medical technology, the creation of new vaccines, and the elimination of deadly diseases. All these achievements had profound effects on the way people lived, traveled, and worked. Underlying them were major advancements in the field of information technologies, such as computers. Once the war was over, the development of increasingly powerful computers ushered in a computer revolution as powerful as the nineteenth century’s Industrial Revolution, and with it a digital age.