We had a few discussions about Civilization IV game today in the office. I wasn’t paying much attention as I am not a big fan of strategy games, especially turn-based strategy games. But at some point I was looking at this technology research tree diagram (click for full-sized version, source).
And I couldn’t help to get impressed on how far the world has come in terms of research. And also how much was actually discovered in the last few decades.
Yes, I know, not everything on that diagram is a technology, and not everything was actually researched. But, on the other hand, there are many technologies which were researched and worked on, and they aren’t on that tree diagram.
A diagram like this provides a perspective on how much people knew back in the early days and how much more complex (not necessarily complicated) the modern world is. Of course, when playing such a game against a few opponents, the perspective becomes even more realistic – the more stuff you have researched, the more you can do and more powerful is your nation.
If only now we could incorporate these games with history classes somehow …