THE EXPONENTIAL INCREASE OF MAN'S CULTURAL OUTPUT.

Lehman, Harvey C.

This article present information on a study which attempts to reveal graphically the exponential increase of man's cultural output. This study is carried out by taking a sample of the creative contributions which are regarded by specialists within each separate field of endeavor as of outstanding importance, and ascertaining the number of these outstanding works that were produced during successive periods of time. This study reveals a simplest presentation of data in the form of a frequency distribution showing the number of works produced within each time interval. The graph used in the study plots production for each time interval as a percentage of the maximum production rate, which the author calls 100 percent. Thus, every curve in the graphs that accompany this study has a peak at 100 percent. These graphs reveal the ever-accelerating rate at which several cultural areas have been developing during recent centuries. It suggests that man's discoveries and inventions will probably continue to appear during the centuries that lie immediately ahead, at an even more rapid rate than they have been accumulating during the recent past.

CULTURAL studies; CULTURAL activities; SOCIAL change; CULTURAL identity; CULTURE; GRAPHIC methods

Social Forces, 1947, Vol 25, Issue 3, p281

0037-7732

Academic Journal

10.2307/3005665