The last five decades comprise the period from 1970 to 2020. Three achievements are of great importance:
Massification of personal computers: helped by Bill Gates' Microsoft and Steve Jobs' Apple, personal computers became common in offices in the late 1980s, and common in households in the early and mid 1990s, increasing productivity, and literally chaging the world.
Internet: the internet was not invented in the last five decades but it became a mass service in the late 1990s. Without the internet, computers (and nowadays smartphones) would not be as powerful and important. The internet has changed every single aspect of our lives, from the way we communicate to the way we work.
The end of the Cold War: this is a political and economic achievement, not a technological one like the previous two. However, it is still of great importance. Starting with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and ending with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the end of the Cold War marked the origin of the world order in which we live today, a world order where capitalism and representative democracy are considered the best alternatives for economic and social organization.
