Three Conjunctions and Three Inventions, Mass Media Disruption in the Modern Era: The Uranus-Pluto Cycle and the Industrial Revolutions

The Fourth Industrial Revolutions is all the buzz but I believe that it is just a hype. However, I can trace the first three industrial revolutions back to the three Uranus-Pluto conjunctions and their related inventions.

1st Industrial Revolution, the revolution of steam engine

The first commercially successful steam engine was developed in 1712 by Thomas Newcomen. With inventions, much like literary works, it needs to be understood they take few years to see the light of day, and this is very close and within the influence of the conjunction aspect. 

It however took many years for the power of the steam engine to be fully realised. Usually this practical employment of a groundbreaking technology happens around the oppositions of Uranus and Pluto that come after the eureka of the conjunction.

By the end of the eighteenth century, the steam engine was greatly improved upon by James Watt, which expanded its range of applications, And in the beginning of the nineteenth century, we see the development of the first locomotive.

2nd Industrial Revolution, the revolution of the combustion engine

This first industrial epoch lasts until the next conjunction in 1850s in the sidereal Aries and the beginning of the next industrial epoch is associated with the invention of another type of engine, the internal combustion engine.

James Eckford Lauder: James Watt and the Steam Engine: the Dawn of the Nineteenth Century, 1855

But it will take a while until this technology is put to practical use. By the end of the nineteenth century, however, we see the appearance of the automobile. Also around this time, the combustion engine is used to power flight. 

In the early twentieth century, around the time of the opposition, the automobile experienced a wide diffusion. 

3rd Industrial Revolution, revolution of the computer

This epoch of the combustion engine was replaced by a cycle of the personal computer. The personal computer is a technology, which appeared around the time of the conjunction of Uranus-Pluto in the sidereal Leo in 1960s. Around the same time, communication technology known as the internet appeared along side these ever smaller computers. The internet experienced widespread diffusion in the 1990s, and the 2000s saw ever greater miniaturisation of the computer technology and its merger with the cellphone. These days you have more computing power in your pocket than the first computer I saw personally in the early 1990s. 

And there will be another opposition in 2040s. what will we see? Autonomous cars, cyborgs? Yeah perhaps, but those applications to transport and machinery are too obvious. The internet is primarily a  communications tool and has been compared in the scope of its impact to the printing press. Coincidently, the printing press is a technology of another Uranus-Pluto conjunction. That of 1450s.

Revolution of the printing press

By the time of the opposition in 1530s, works of Reformation leaders had six figure reprints. The technology was completely disruptive to the power of the Catholic Church. And these days, we hear about a "global political awakening" aided by the internet. By 2040s things shall come to a head. 

What I have to say is that this global disruption caused by a pivotal technology is only apparent starting in the modern era. In the pre-modern times, it is rather difficult to determine the exact time of inventions and technology diffusion is rather slow. The Uranus-Pluto cycle is associated with the overthrows of governments, great construction projects, and barbarian invasions.