1957
CHAPTER / 01
The world receives a new signal.
Sputnik 1 becomes the first artificial satellite. The space age begins with a small spacecraft and a radio signal.
THE LONG SIGNAL / AN EDITORIAL TIMELINE
The future has a history.
Five turning points in the story of spaceflight, networks, and conversational AI. Follow each chapter back to its source.
The full timeline — six eras, every entry sourced ↗
1969
CHAPTER / 02
A conversation from another world.
Apollo 11 lands humans on the Moon. Explore the engineering and missions behind human spaceflight.
1989
CHAPTER / 03
Information becomes a web.
At CERN, Tim Berners-Lee invents the World Wide Web, connecting information through hypertext.
1993
CHAPTER / 04
The web opens up.
CERN places the World Wide Web software in the public domain on April 30, helping it spread.
2022
CHAPTER / 05
A new kind of conversation.
OpenAI introduces ChatGPT on November 30 as a research preview. Conversational AI reaches a wider public.