The digital revolution
This page describes how the three synodic cycles between Saturn, Uranus and Neptune can be correlated with the timeline of the digital revolution. It includes excerpts from my articles:
"The history of computers and the digital revolution" and "The information age" published in The Astrological Journal in September and November 2022;
"Steve Jobs' cycles of creativity", published on astro.com in October 2022.
Additional notes have been added to clarify the thought process behind the correlations.
The three threads of the digital revolution
My essay about the history of computers and the digital revolution demonstrates how the three synodic cycles formed by Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are highly relevant to follow the dynamics of innovation in the context of the digital revolution. When trying to clarify that narrative, I found the use of simple metaphors particularly helpful for visualising the meaning of each cycle and alignment.
The following 1930-1970 timeline of the conjunctions and the oppositions between Saturn, Uranus and Neptune illustrates the main 🌊💡“waves” of innovations and the ⚡️🏬“storms” of disruption that marked the beginning of the digital revolution:
Those metaphors can be applied to follow the history of the digital revolution through three threads that run in parallel:
The thread of visionary inventions and breakthrough technologies: The year of the Saturn-Neptune opposition of 1936-37 is considered by Water Isaacson as the “annus mirabilis” when the breakthrough technologies that enabled the invention of the digital electronic computer became available (The Innovators, Walter Isaacson, page 38). The cycle that started at the Saturn-Neptune conjunction of 1952 gave birth to the core technologies - the transistor and the microprocessor - that enabled the miniaturisation of computers and the emergence of personal computing. The conjunction of 1989 coincided with the birth of the World Wide Web and the evolution of handheld digital devices such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants. The next cycle will begin in 2026.
The process of growth of the computer industry: The 1942-1988 Saturn-Uranus cycle coincided with the growth and decay of the industry of mainframe computers. IBM’s dominance reached a climax at the time of the opposition in the mid-1960s and started to be challenged by the first personal computers from the squares of 1975-77. The conjunction of 1988 marked the rise of the new industries of personal computers, mobile phones and Internet services. The next cycle will begin in 2032.
The long-term paradigm shifts that create new cultural and technological ages: The Uranus-Neptune squares of 1954-56 marked the start of the age of mainframe computers. The conjunction of 1993 coincided with a tidal wave of digitalisation of the economy, made possible by the democratisation of the Internet, personal computers and mobile phones. The squares of 2039-41 are the next hard alignment.
A timeline of the history of computers based on three cycles
A timeline of planetary alignments (1805-1993) can be applied to map correlations with the history of computers. The circular timeline below provides a synthetic visualisation of the four Saturn-Uranus cycles (1805-1988) and the five Saturn-Neptune cycles (1809-1989) that almost fit within the 1821-1993 Uranus-Neptune cycle:
The 1821-1993 Uranus-Neptune cycle
This cycle started with the growth of the mechanical calculator industry and with Charles Babbage's first concept of a programmable computer. At the time of the opening square of 1868-70 the first typewriters were invented. The first digital data processing machine, the tabulating machine and the cash register were invented at the time of the opening trine of 1880-83. At the time of the opposition of 1906-10, the first data processing corporations were formed: the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR), later renamed IBM, and the Powers Accounting Machine Company, later acquired by Remington Rand. The first functional digital electronic computers emerged during the closing trine of 1939-43, and the mainframe computer industry started at the time of the closing square of 1954-56. The microprocessor was invented after the closing sextile of 1966-68 and enabled the personal computer revolution. The personal computer, and other digital devices powered by the microprocessor, quickly replaced the typewriter, the cash register and the mainframe. The conjunction of 1993 marked the end of their lifespan. Between 1991 and 1995, IBM, Olivetti and Smith Corona stopped manufacturing typewriters.
The 1952-1989 Saturn-Neptune cycle
Invention of core hardware technologies, development of the graphical user interface, first successful software program or killer app and birth of the Web. First prototype of a transistorised computer (1952 conjunction), the basic building block of modern electronics, the MOSFET (1959 sextile), human–computer interaction and computer graphics (1963 opening square), the microprocessor (1971 opposition), flash memory, the first spreadsheet program for personal computers, VisiCalc, and the first computer with a graphical user interface, the PERQ workstation (1979 closing square). The cycle ended with the emergence of the Internet, the end of ARPANET and the invention of the World Wide Web (1989 conjunction).
The 1942-1988 Saturn-Uranus cycle
Birth and growth of several digital computer industries: mainframe computers, minicomputers and personal computers. The first digital electronic computer was completed at the time of the conjunction in 1942. The tabulating machine industry culminated in the 1950s, when punched cards and unit record machines became ubiquitous in academia, industry and government. The first commercial mainframe computers were introduced during the 1951-52 squares and started to replace unit record equipment. During the 1965-67 oppositions, mainframe computers replaced human computers, the first minicomputers were introduced and the last model of an IBM punched card calculator was discontinued in 1968. The final quarter of the cycle started in the years 1975-77 with the birth of the microcomputer which ignited the personal computer revolution. By the time of the conjunction of 1988, mainframe computers lost their dominant position and personal computers became the centre of gravity of the computer industry.
The alignments related to the birth of the modern computer
The fathers of the modern computer, Kurt Gödel, Alan Turing and John von Neumann, were born during the Uranus-Neptune opposition of 1906-1910, which coincided with the scientific revolution of the early 20th century (Quantum Physics, the Theory of Relativity, Psychoanalysis...). They were, in the words of Richard Tarnas, the "great innovators in mathematical philosophy (...) who served at once the Platonic-Pythagorean realm of ideal mathematical forms and the development of set theory, game theory, information theory, and the design of computers" (Cosmos and Psyche, pp. 394-395).
The first concept of the modern computer, known as a Turing machine , was first described by Alan Turing in his seminal paper On Computable Numbers, published in 1936. That year coincided with the first designs by Konrad Zuse, who would finalise the first implementation of a Turing machine in 1941. The years 1936 and 1941 can both be seen as the birth years of the modern computer. In 1936, the concept of the modern computer was formulated on paper. In 1941, the modern computer was created: it became actual hardware that could be tested and demonstrated.
From an astrological perspective, both years are highly relevant:
1936 was the year of a Jupiter-Saturn-Neptune T-square
1941 was the year of a Jupiter-Saturn-Uranus stellium
Understanding the difference between Jupiter-Saturn-Uranus alignments and Jupiter-Saturn-Neptune alignments
The correlations presented below illustrate how the alignments of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus consistently correlate with important milestones in the history of computing hardware, while the alignments of Jupiter and Saturn with Neptune are more specifically correlated to the history of the new mathematical concepts that made modern computing possible. These correlations also confirm or suggest that:
Uranus can be associated to
ideas or statements about how to apply a theory or concept to solve a specific problem or challenge
creativity, defined as the materialisation of an idea into a concrete form
Physics, the study of matter and its motion through space and time.
Neptune is connected to
visions, theories and concepts about reality
imagination, including artistic imagination but also scientific imagination
Mathematics, which includes the study of numbers and forms and operates at a higher level of abstraction than Physics.
Recommended resources🔗
The history of computers and the digital revolution - The Astrological Journal
Computer - Wikipedia
History of computing - Wikipedia
History of computing hardware - Wikipedia
The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution - Walter Isaacson
Timeline of computing - Wikipedia