francis bacon an english philosopher responsible for creating the scientific method wrote in
1620 that the three inventions that changed the world forever were the nautical compass
gunpowder and the printing press it was in 1440 when harness gutenberg began tinkering
away in strasbourg france on one of those very inventions the printing press it took gutenberg
over a decade to complete a fully operational and commercially viable machine that would become
known to the world as the gutenberg printing press he may not have known it then but this invention
would change the world forever the printing press gave birth to movements and revolutions
discovery and scientific breakthroughs it gave a voice to the otherwise voiceless and
shaped cultures and societies for centuries to come things you thought inconceivable
were sometimes the direct result of the invention of the printing press
10. created a world that could advance faster advancements would have happened without the
printing press but it opened doors to undeniable possibility there are obviously lingering effects
of a pivotal invention that have long outlived the first iteration there are moments in history that
may never have been possible without the printing press gutenberg's creation created a world that
could advance faster on technological scientific and sociological levels the effect this machine
would have had was unprecedented and profound and it's likely that gutenberg never even considered
what his machine might do for the modern world the ability to share ideas more expediently and more
accurately meant that we could learn to adapt to a changing world one that was changing much faster
than ever thought possible 9. the printing press an agent for political change there are many
instances throughout history where the printing press has acted as an agent for political change
this was and still is a powerful weapon which has swung both ways revolutions such as the french
revolution in 1789 were led by philosophers who sought to question everything from
nature to god itself through the renaissance armed with knowledge and growing literacy rates they
were able to capture the attention of the everyday man which resulted in a revolution against the
monarchy the russian revolution in 1917 was aided by the many publications of vladimir lenin's
thoughts on the future of russia which were based on the dismantling of the russian monarchy and
ending sar nicholas ii's reign lenin's work served as a manifesto of what could be in russia and its
people paid attention considering the economic struggles that they were experiencing this wasn't
even the first attempted revolution considering in 1905 through the power of the printing press
to spread propaganda russia went through a revolution led by victor chernov and leon trotsky
being camp which essentially became the nazi bible in germany's third reich was published in 1925
and helped hitler articulate his ideas to a nation of readers this wasn't the catalyst hitler's rise
to power but it echoed many of his beliefs which he spoke to consistently during the 1920s when
he ascended to the top of the political ranks before beginning one of the darkest periods in
human history the printing press meant that anyone could make their voices heard this sometimes meant
the sharing of ideas or propaganda to change the political landscape of a nation for the good of
the people or to their detriment number 8. the rise of novels novels existed before
the printing press but not on a grand scale rare often one-of-a-kind novels were created as early
as 868 a.d by historical estimation in dunham china they used block printing methods which
utilize panels of handcrafted wooden blocks in reverse the oldest book crafted in dunwang
during the tang dynasty was titled the diamond sutra which was a buddhist book after gutenberg
created the printing press in 1455 copies of the bible were produced and came to be known formally
as the gutenberg bible his prince of the bible was the first extant book in the western world
with the invention of the printing press novels and other books could now be produced and sold
to the world this meant the start of a new age of storytelling and it allowed for the creation
of some of history's most celebrated works of fiction to be enjoyed for centuries to
come it made books more accessible as decades and centuries went by books became cheaper which only
added to the accessibility already established by the printing press without the printing press one
can only imagine what might have been the way we consume fantastical tales and gripping tragedies
you know other than netflix number 7. the first best-selling author
today best-selling authors exist in droves but before the printing press this wasn't possible
long before there was a best sellers list there was one man who became the world's first known
best-selling author and his story was one of rebellion against the establishment martin
luther was a pivotal player in the protestant reformation a movement that swept through
europe during the 1500s the core identity of this reformation was one of differences in doctrine and
core ideology under the umbrella of the christian faith this moment in history saw many religious
groups pulling away from what was the standard of christianity the roman catholic church the loudest
voice of this movement became martin luther who famously produced and published a document called
disputation on the power of indulgences which was more commonly referred to as the 95 theses
luther by no means was the first to question and attempt to sidestep the roman catholic church
which had considerable power in europe still he was successful due to his timing his attempts at
talking out on the powerhouse that was the roman catholic church were aided by the printing press
whereas others were silenced and documents destroyed luther took 95 theses which were
allegedly nailed to the door of a church in wittenberg and turned it into a document that
became widely available to the masses his message resonated with the people and became an instant
hit creating the world's first best-selling author for nearly a decade from 1517 to 1525
luther made up roughly a third of the book sold throughout germany 6. the renaissance
long before the printing press was even an idea the italian renaissance had begun across europe
the renaissance was a concerted effort to revive the educational system akin to ancient rome one
of the primary goals of the renaissance's early days was to recover and republish the works of
influential figures such as aristotle and plato decades were spent searching for the works of
famous intellectuals and philosophers to build up a collection of knowledge worthy of being
taught to future generations expeditions across the alps were conducted to search for some of
the most isolated monasteries while missions like that and the search throughout the ottoman empire
to discover and decode ancient arabic and greek texts into latin were happening long before the
printing press it was the printing press itself that changed the game the printing press allowed
the renaissance to accelerate to speeds unthought of by the leaders of the pivotal italian movement
a movement that birthed rediscovery art intellectuals and the accessible sharing of
knowledge was now happening faster and was more expansive in its reach 5. jobs in the rise of
machines at the time of gutenberg's creation the industrial revolution was still a few centuries
away but regardless of the timing of the paradigm shift that would be the industrial revolution the
printing press was giving the developed world a taste of what machines would bring about
the loss of jobs as the printing press became more widely adopted scribes were left without work this
was one of the early glimpses into the reality of adopting machines as they replaced the need for
manual labor on a grand scale before gutenberg's revolutionary invention scribes were working for
bookmakers creating intricately designed to hand copies of manuscripts documents with the
printing press their services became less required until their roles in the production of literature
were minimized to the brink of being obsolete on some level the printing press created more jobs
than it culled however it wasn't so much about the printing press as it was about the future of labor
the printing press rendered an entire profession almost obsolete and some saw the writing on the
wall for a future long before the industrial revolution was in full swing number four fringe
movements had access to an audience arguably some of the greatest minds of the enlightenment
found access to larger swaths of the population thanks to the printing press however while some
of those minds got to express their views on a grander scale they weren't the only ones they'd
already had their voices heard they benefited from more people hearing their ideas thoughts
and perceptions of various topics well before the printing press now the people who were shut out of
the earlier systems of information sharing finding their own renaissance of sorts fringe movements
were some of the initial eager adopters of this wonderful invention that was gaining momentum
across europe they saw an opportunity that perhaps others didn't jump on fast enough and they used it
to their advantage this meant something that many governments weren't happy with the radicals had
a voice these fringe movements were anything and everything like standard critics of the government
conspiracy theorists egalitarian groups radical religious groups and more while governments went
through extensive efforts to shut down and censor these voices they found it wasn't as easy as
the day's pre-printing press this is something that's becoming even more relevant today where
information be it right or wrong never dies on the internet another aspect relevant to the present
is the idea of banned books the more the church published their list of banned books the more
the printers and bookshops pushed them out weakening efforts to dismiss the fringe voices
3. scientific revolution long before sharing information was as easy as it is today science
was a solitary pursuit some of the most brilliant minds on the planet were separated by geography
and languages but even worse the crippling pace of sharing information via the archaic means of
handwritten publications however it wasn't just an issue of speed or availability it was also
the instances of human error with the invention of the printing press science was changed forever
scientific discoveries methods and experimental data could now be shared with more great minds
much faster and this resulted in a revolution of swords during the 16th and 17th centuries
when science took significant leaps forward in understanding our world scientists celebrated the
ability to share their work and advance ideas thanks to knowledge being spread faster wider
and without errors and considering the time they saved on handwriting publications they could focus
on science and devote more time and energy to new breakthroughs there was even a newly established
community of scientists thanks to the printing press scientist authorship became more profitable
and meaningful number two access to knowledge and the enlightenment before the printing press access
to knowledge was limited to subsets of society deemed as the nobility monarchy and the clergy
during an incredibly critical time in history philosophers such as voltaire john locke and
many others were read by a population that was growing in terms of their literary prowess
the ideas of these influential philosophers were happening during an era known as the enlightenment
when people found themselves emboldened to question the true powers of religious authority
and seek true personal liberty philosophers like lok voltaire and others used critical reasoning
in place of what were the customs and traditions of society and their need to question everything
made others do the same the enlightenment is one of the most important moments in history made
possible thanks to gutenberg's invention from centuries before the movement took place thanks
to the widespread availability of knowledge and information people grew in literacy capabilities
the improved access to knowledge meant the ideas of voltaire lark and so many others weren't just
for the select few but anyone who wanted to devour these bold concepts that challenged the status quo
it is because at this moment in history that the french revolution began in 1789 which is
also considered the moment the enlightenment reached its crescendo 1. news distribution
one of the most profound contributions gutenberg's printing press brought to the world
was the widespread availability of the news while he may have never lived to see what his invention
resulted in there's no denying its staying power originally gutenberg used his printing press to
print copies of the bible unfortunately at the time there was no widespread distribution network
for literature of any kind and this meant that gutenberg didn't make any real money and he died
penniless eventually other printers left germany for venice which during the 15th century was the
central shipping hub of the mediterranean a mass distribution network was eventually established
for books and printed news pamphlets there wasn't a market for books or printed news pamphlets on a
grand scale at the time because of the incredibly low literacy rates this meant that locals would
go to the pubs and taverns to hear literate people reading the news to them for a fee as the
centuries went on and literacy rates skyrocketed the demand for printed works of novels and news
grew allowing for informed and educated citizens of modern societies accessing the news became an
expectation rather than a privilege so i really hope you found this video interesting if you did
please do hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to subscribe and thank you for watching