Period (MY = Million years) | Number of great ideas | Average population for period |
| 2.5 MY BC - 1.4 MY BC | 4 | 200,000 people |
| .5 MY BC - 30,000 BC | 10 | 2,000,000 |
| 30,000 BC - 10,000 BC | 5 | 4,000,000 |
| 10,000 BC - 0 | 12 | 125,000,000 |
| 1000 AD - 1800 AD | 9 | 600,000,000 |
| 1801 AD - 1930 AD | 10 | 1,500,000,000 |
| 1931 AD - 1973 AD | 4 | 3,000,000,000 |
| 1974 AD - present | 1 | 5,000,000,000 |