Human

=== Tools and technologies ===
{{Main|Tool|Technology}}
[[File:JR-Maglev-MLX01-2.jpg|alt=Train running on a track|thumb|The [[SCMaglev]], the [[land speed record for rail vehicles|fastest train]] in the world clocking in at {{cvt|603|km/h|mph|0}} as of 2015<ref>{{cite news|vauthors=McCurry J|date=21 April 2015|title=Japan's Maglev Train Breaks World Speed Record with 600&nbsp;km/h Test Run|edition=U.S.|work=The Guardian|location=New York|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/21/japans-maglev-train-notches-up-new-world-speed-record-in-test-run|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=18 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618083538/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/21/japans-maglev-train-notches-up-new-world-speed-record-in-test-run|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
Stone tools were used by proto-humans at least 2.5&nbsp;million years ago.<ref name="Clark1994">{{cite journal | author1 = Clark JD | author1-link= | author2=de Heinzelin J | author2-link=Jean de Heinzelin de Braucourt | author3=Schick KD | author3-link=Kathy Schick | author4=Hart WK | author4-link= | author5=White TD | author5-link=Tim D. White | author6=WoldeGabriel G | author6-link= | author7=Walter RC | author7-link= | author8=Suwa G | author8-link=Gen Suwa | author9=Asfaw B | author9-link=Berhane Asfaw | author10=Vrba E | author10-link=Elisabeth Vrba | author11=H.-Selassie Y | author11-link=Yohannes Haile-Selassie | title = African Homo erectus: old radiometric ages and young Oldowan assemblages in the Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia | journal = Science | volume = 264 | issue = 5167 | pages = 1907–1910 | date = June 1994 | pmid = 8009220 | doi = 10.1126/science.8009220 | bibcode = 1994Sci...264.1907C }}</ref> The use and manufacture of tools has been put forward as the ability that defines humans more than anything else<ref name="Choi-2009">{{cite web|date=11 November 2009|vauthors=Choi CQ|title=Human Evolution: The Origin of Tool Use|url=https://www.livescience.com/7968-human-evolution-origin-tool.html|access-date=9 October 2020|website=livescience.com|language=en|archive-date=4 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201004144848/https://www.livescience.com/7968-human-evolution-origin-tool.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and has historically been seen as an important evolutionary step.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Orban GA, Caruana F | title = The neural basis of human tool use | journal = Frontiers in Psychology | volume = 5 | page = 310 | date = 2014 | pmid = 24782809 | pmc = 3988392 | doi = 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00310 | doi-access = free }}</ref> The technology became much more sophisticated about 1.8 million years ago,<ref name="Choi-2009" /> with the [[Control of fire by early humans|controlled use of fire]] beginning around 1&nbsp;million years ago.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Berna F, Goldberg P, Horwitz LK, Brink J, Holt S, Bamford M, Chazan M | title = Microstratigraphic evidence of in situ fire in the Acheulean strata of Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape province, South Africa | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 109 | issue = 20 | pages = E1215-20 | date = May 2012 | pmid = 22474385 | pmc = 3356665 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1117620109 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Gowlett JA | title = The discovery of fire by humans: a long and convoluted process | journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences | volume = 371 | issue = 1696 | page = 20150164 | date = June 2016 | pmid = 27216521 | pmc = 4874402 | doi = 10.1098/rstb.2015.0164 }}</ref> The wheel and wheeled vehicles appeared simultaneously in several regions some time in the fourth millennium BC.<ref name="Bodnár-2018" /> The development of more complex tools and technologies allowed land to be [[Arable land|cultivated]] and animals to be [[Domestication|domesticated]], thus proving essential in the development of [[agriculture]]{{snd}}what is known as the [[Neolithic Revolution]].<ref>{{cite web|date=2018|title=Neolithic Era Tools: Inventing a New Age|url=https://www.magellantv.com/articles/tools-of-the-neolithic-era-inventing-a-new-age|access-date=9 October 2020|website=MagellanTV|vauthors=Damiano J|archive-date=5 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210105053059/https://www.magellantv.com/articles/tools-of-the-neolithic-era-inventing-a-new-age|url-status=live}}</ref>

China developed [[paper]], the [[printing press]], [[gunpowder]], the [[compass]] and [[List of Chinese inventions|other important inventions]].<ref>{{Cite book|vauthors=Deng Y, Wang P|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/671710733|title=Ancient Chinese inventions|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-521-18692-6|edition=|location=Cambridge, UK|pages=13–14|oclc=671710733|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=30 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730033309/https://www.worldcat.org/title/ancient-chinese-inventions/oclc/671710733|url-status=live}}</ref> The continued improvements in [[smelting]] allowed [[forging]] of copper, bronze, iron and eventually [[steel]], which is used in [[railways]], [[skyscraper]]s and many other products.<ref>{{cite web|vauthors=Schifman J|date=9 July 2018|title=The Entire History of Steel|url=https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a20722505/history-of-steel/|access-date=5 May 2021|website=Popular Mechanics|language=en-US|archive-date=5 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505092218/https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a20722505/history-of-steel/|url-status=live}}</ref> This coincided with the [[Industrial Revolution]], where the invention of automated machines brought major changes to humans' lifestyles.<ref>{{cite web|author-first=Freddie |author-last=Wilkinson|date=9 January 2020|title=Industrial Revolution and Technology|url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/industrial-revolution-and-technology/|access-date=9 October 2020|website=National Geographic Society|language=en|archive-date=30 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930225816/https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/industrial-revolution-and-technology/|url-status=live}}</ref> Modern technology is observed as [[Accelerating change|progressing exponentially]],<ref>{{Cite journal|author1-last=Roser |author1-first=Max |author1-link=Max Roser |author2-last=Ritchie |author2-first=Hannah|date=11 May 2013|title=Technological Progress|url=https://ourworldindata.org/technological-progress|journal=Our World in Data|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=10 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210910043042/https://ourworldindata.org/technological-progress|url-status=live}}</ref> with major innovations in the 20th century including: [[Electricity generation|electricity]], [[penicillin]], [[semiconductor]]s, [[internal combustion engine]]s, the [[Internet]], [[Fertilizer|nitrogen fixing fertilisers]], [[airplane]]s, [[computer]]s, [[Car|automobiles]], [[Combined oral contraceptive pill|contraceptive pills]], [[nuclear fission]], the [[Green Revolution|green revolution]], [[radio]], scientific [[plant breeding]], [[rocket]]s, [[air conditioning]], [[television]] and the [[assembly line]].<ref>{{cite web|vauthors=Fallows J|date=23 October 2013|title=The 50 Greatest Breakthroughs Since the Wheel|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/|access-date=5 May 2021|website=The Atlantic|language=en|archive-date=5 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505064701/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/|url-status=live}}</ref>