Some pundits would describe this age as one with no sense of history! In fact, it is assumed that where technology is going is where history is going - as if they are one and the same! Karl Mannheim s famous distinction: ideology is a set of wish-images intended to evolve the existing order into a better one…Utopia represents a wish to break with bonds of the existing order, to overturn it for a new reality….The Utopia of the ascendant bourgeoisie was the idea of freedom. (Text p. 61). The question is raised whether history is merely the record of technological change! While advances in technology contribute to change in societies? Is it not man who is the mover in these modifications? It seems we link technology to the concept of inevitable and relentless change. But what is its purpose? What is its end? People often resist change - sometimes with good reason. Some progress noted in the past has revisited human kind in later generations as crisis: remembering how well received antibiotics were for their curative benefits, until over-prescribed and resistant germ strains infected people in later years or generations. Throughout history we found technological advances which were deemed useful and good, and gradually they needed to be replaced because their effectiveness had waned. One example: irrigation canals would help with making water available for crops and animals, but over the years could contribute to salinity of the soil lessening its fertility. The Aswan High Dam in Egypt (seen below) which was supposed to bring amazing results to Egyptian fellah (farmers) and provide hydroelectric power to the area both had poor initial results. The dam prevented the silt from being deposited, fertilizing the soil and actually clogged the turbines preventing efficient energy generation. Oh, and then there was the Lake Nasser which is south of the dam - the increased humidity due to the lake began showing up in erosion and moving of the antiquities: Temple of Abu Simbel. Perhaps the main issue within this discussion of history and technology is the fact we look it at as various episodes or events, not as a whole. Medical technology has made tremendous advances, but some of this progress has grave moral and ethical ramifications. As surgical practice 200 years ago is viewed as primitive at best by students today, the laser technology today in the retina doctors and other surgeons offices have made success in delicate procedures achievable with minimal side effects in the patients recovery. Indeed, technological advances in the navigation and operation of automobiles by computer may make it possible for a person with severely diminished vision to operate a motor vehicle. Need a maid to vacuum your home? Not necessarily with the programmable robotic vacuums on sale today! (see image on left) The media occasionally announces developments in genetics and the number of students entering the field of genetic engineering - does this give you pause, or incr.

1. Some pundits would describe this age as one with no sense of
history! In fact, it is assumed that where technology is going is
where history is going - as if they are one and the same!
Karl Mannheim s famous distinction: ideology is a set of wish-
images intended to evolve the existing order into a better
one…Utopia represents a wish to break with bonds of the
existing order, to overturn it for a new reality….The Utopia of
the ascendant bourgeoisie was the idea of freedom. (Text p. 61).
The question is raised whether history is merely the record of
technological change! While advances in technology contribute
to change in societies? Is it not man who is the mover in these
modifications?
It seems we link technology to the concept of inevitable and
relentless change. But what is its purpose? What is its end?
People often resist change - sometimes with good reason. Some
progress noted in the past has revisited human kind in later
generations as crisis: remembering how well received
antibiotics were for their curative benefits, until over-prescribed
and resistant germ strains infected people in later years or
generations.
Throughout history we found technological advances which
were deemed useful and good, and gradually they needed to be
replaced because their effectiveness had waned. One example:
irrigation canals would help with making water available for
crops and animals, but over the years could contribute to
salinity of the soil lessening its fertility. The Aswan High Dam
in Egypt (seen below) which was supposed to bring amazing
results to Egyptian fellah (farmers) and provide hydroelectric
power to the area both had poor initial results.
The dam prevented the silt from being deposited, fertilizing the
soil and actually clogged the turbines preventing efficient
energy generation. Oh, and then there was the Lake Nasser
which is south of the dam - the increased humidity due to the

2. lake began showing up in erosion and moving of the antiquities:
Temple of Abu Simbel.
Perhaps the main issue within this discussion of history and
technology is the fact we look it at as various episodes or
events, not as a whole. Medical technology has made
tremendous advances, but some of this progress has grave moral
and ethical ramifications. As surgical practice 200 years ago is
viewed as primitive at best by students today, the laser
technology today in the retina doctors and other surgeons
offices have made success in delicate procedures achievable
with minimal side effects in the patients recovery.
Indeed, technological advances in the navigation and operation
of automobiles by computer may make it possible for a person
with severely diminished vision to operate a motor vehicle.
Need a maid to vacuum your home? Not necessarily with the
programmable robotic vacuums on sale today! (see image on
left)
The media occasionally announces developments in genetics and
the number of students entering the field of genetic engineering
- does this give you pause, or increased hope for a future free of
some illnesses and diseases, and the need for donors and
transplants? And take the media - how does it influence
perception in this discussion of history and technology?
Actually as this lesson was being prepared, a news report of the
tropical cyclone affecting India (October 2013) can give us
pause to reflect: the technology is available, but not in the
location needed to have given timely warning to the people to
get out of harm s way. The same argument came about in 2004
when the Christmas tsunami affected Thailand - the warning
was given, but not received early enough to allow people to
move to higher ground. Is this an Eastern versus Western value
difference?
Dramatic changes took place after the beginning and expansion

3. of the Industrial Revolution. In this reading in your text, the
author looks at five different technological systems which were
developed over a 50-year period from 1870s to the 1920s. A
theory was proposed that with these technologies, man has
become more dependent than independent, making our economy
and our lives more globally mixed than before.
The industrialization of the United States most likely began
with the ending of the Civil War. The United States had been
seen as a nation of farmers and the nation itself financially
weak and unstable; by 1920 the United States would be
the world s largest industrial economy. In an agricultural
society, weather and natural cycle perils are often the culprit
blamed for poor harvests and hardships, while in an industrial
society, society ills are blamed on the whims of the market and
other social forces. Early in the industrialization, people saw
themselves as independent.
As the energy sources and transportation improvements
expanded the network, it gave some flexibility and mobility.
Devices would offer time to pursue other interests. Sadly by the
end of the 20th century, some people had come to the
conclusion that industrialization had not actually liberated
them, but had made them more dependent! People living in
agricultural societies are dependent upon natural processes.
People who live in industrial societies are not completely
independent of the natural process, but are more so than their
predecessors. Natural forces can in fact upend a society and an
economy. Recent hurricanes, earthquakes and other tectonic
activities can wreak havoc upon communications,
transportation, utilities, as well as factories, markets and homes.
You will find the discussion of a woman providing food for her
child an interesting comparison from primitive societies (hunter
gatherers) to colonial days, to modern times. Those who help
provide and prepare food will change from personal to
impersonal involvement. In times past, most daily food
consumption was based upon products locally harvested and
prepared. Today, we can find commodities from around the

4. world in our super mega marts. We may recognize the brand or
logo, but not know the people who prepared what we are about
to consume. And even more recently, we worry about illnesses
and other hazards in goods originating in foreign lands!
Benefits to living in a modern industrial society
Among the benefits of the more modern, industrialized society
is the longer life expectancy and higher standards of living,
although some might consider a simpler, more primitive or basic
life style to be more desirable today. Until the age of
computers, Western Union and the telephone companies were
critical players in political and economic life of the United
States from the 1840s for wire service (Western Union) to the
late 1880s (telephone service origins). The iron horse
(railroads) in the 19th century had a similar role to the building
of gothic cathedrals in the late Middle Ages - if your town was
a stop along a rail line, it was adjudged to be an important
economic center (the larger the cathedral the more pilgrim
traffic, and more economic benefits to the region).
Looking at the improvement in travel brought about by the
railroads: among the benefits was that rail lines did not depend
upon availability of waterways - so the availability of rivers,
lakes, canals were not geographic limitations for rail service.
And with rail service came other support industries such as
hotels, iron works, wood carving/processing for carriages and
replacement ties, and the expansion of markets including
hospitality and general stores and the growth that would bring.
(See George Westinghouse inventor of railway airbrake in
image on right.)
Whether moving raw materials or finished product, the train
would be a prime player in the economy until Orville and
Wilbur Wright, and Henry Ford came on the scene with their
sets of inventions and modifications to the manufacturing
process. Most railroads utilized the joint-stock venture form of
business ownership. Capital was raised through sale of stock for
the purchase of rights of way, building of bridges and in some

5. cases tunnels along miles of track. It is no odd occurrence that
telegraph lines would often parallel or abut railway track.
Indeed the project required too much initial investment for a
sole proprietorship or partnership to afford the massive outlay
of cash. Sale of stock to numbers of people would be the
answer. A new breed of financial barons would emerge: JP
Morgan (image on right), Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, and
George Crocker, among others. They were not rail engineers,
but rather financial managers who knew how to invest, formed
trunk lines (major carriers) forcing smaller feeder lines to
merge with trunk lines. Actually we see the same happening
today in a number of industries - such as the merger of financial
institutions, and airline companies. The danger here - in a
capitalistic economy, is too much efficiency at the expense of
open competition! Obviously the bigger companies could get
access to more goods/services cheaper than a smaller company.
A docent at the Wright Bicycle shop at Carillon Park in Dayton,
Ohio recently asked a group of visitors what was different about
the bicycle from the trolleys. Sure, trolleys could be pulled by
horses (and you know what by-product that will bring on the
roads) or were limited to main thoroughfares. The not-so-
obvious response was that you could ride a bicycle from point A
to destination point B directly - and it was not often the case
that you could do this on a trolley. You may have to walk
to/from stops, or transfer, or use another form of conveyance if
you used the trolley. This would change in short time once
Henry Ford found a way to manufacture the horseless carriage
for general purchase and ownership.
By the early 1860s prospectors had dug a well in Titusville,
Pennsylvania (see first oil well in image on right) - it was not
water they were searching for, rather it was a reservoir of an
oily substance which had been seeping up to the service of
nearby lands and streams. Oddly, Native Americans had used
this combustible substance as a lubricant for many years. The
prospectors thought perhaps this substance could be used as a
machine lubricant in factories or the products of factories as a

6. substitute for animal fat. A bonanza for profiteers - it was
discovered that there was a mixture of oils of varying weight
and characteristics, and they could be separated via distillation
processes. This distillation (refinement) process could
distinguish between different portions in the distillate and only
the economically useful bottled and sent to market.
Exploitation of this new product was difficult - the oil reserves
were not close to urban areas rather in rural, hard to reach areas
given the transportation grid established. Barrels and carts and
barges were replaced eventually by tanker cars on trains, and
then a network of petroleum pipelines would take the fuel from
its source to the market where it would be used by consumers.
Control of availability and refining would be important as
recognized by John D. Rockefeller. Construction of a pipeline
from the oil fields to New Jersey wherein oil product arrived
independent of the railroad was a major advancement.
The arrival of the telephone, while similar to the telegraphy,
was approached differently. Samuel Morse, it is claimed, had no
business sense, and therefore lost much of the profit he could
have accrued from his invention. Railroad, telegraph, and
petroleum networks were integrated by corporate takeovers;
Alexander Graham Bell, on the other hand, (pictured in image
on right) turned over the financial and administrative network
and the equipment was manufactured then leased to the
customers on the network. Telephone exchanges were licensed
to Bell who held the patent, and under the licensing agreements
common technologies for all local telephone services would see
that costs of telephone service was controlled. By the 1890s,
standardization of profitable business saw expansion to long
distance service, and Bell hired physicists and electrical
engineers to handle technical problems involved in maintaining
the voice-over clarity. While charges may have been perceived
as being high - it was a corporate decision to operate in this
manner to keep the service as reliable as possible. And until a
federal judge dismantled the Bell system in the 1980s, the
United States was viewed by international observers of having

7. the most dependable telephone service in the world.
Given that this technology in communication was new, the
similarities between telegraph and telephone communications
were fundamentally different: telegraph was not person to
person - there were intermediaries to receive, transmit, and
deliver messages. The telephone on the other hand, was
individual to individual - albeit in the early years before
technological advances took place, the operators to connect one
line to another would eventually be phased out. When viewing
early television broadcasts, the crank phone on the wall saw the
individuals speaking to an operator to make the connection and
in some cases, invading the privacy of the callers. Party lines
which may have been around in the early years of the baby-
boomers, would be eventually replaced by direct dial service,
even in rural areas. Independent companies would even bring
service to remote/rural areas that Bell did not find profitable to
offer service. It would seem that in recent years, the same
argument was made for expansion of the internet and cable
service!
Transporting goods from one place to another has been with us
since hunting and gathering days. Memories of the Great Silk
Road with merchant and nomadic caravans making the trek East
to West, South to North brings many visions and legends.
Over the centuries changes have occurred in how much time this
movement has taken, what modern devices substituted for the
original, and the implications of the modifications: are they
indeed improvements or do they bring about more or less
change? In some cases, improvements in navigation brought
about more economic ways to transport goods and personnel.
Creative engineering projects brought forth two major
international waterways - the Suez and Panama Canals each
impacting global trade and balance of economic and political
power! Reliance on manufactured engines to propel various
forms of transportation would bring about choices: air, land, or

8. sea?
Innovation would provide some interesting changes in the
shipment of goods. Containerization - a term used
for standardization and efficient packaging goods for shipment
would have an impact on freight handling from the late 1950 s
through the early 2000 s. Malcolm McLean who had a trucking
company operating along the eastern seaboard of the United
States was aware of the deterioration of the highways prior to
the construction of the United States interstate road system.
With increasing numbers of semi-trucks towing trailers, and
hauling goods, the roadway was starting to crumble. Finding
more efficient ways to move goods without loading/unloading
as each method of conveyance was changed, was imperative.
Sealed containers would solve this dilemma. It would make it
possible for ships to load and unload secure cargo in shorter
time periods, cutting down on heavy lifting and crime along the
water front, and in some cases, changing the meaning of joining
the merchant marine and see the world! Of course, we know that
technological changes can have positive and negative impact
when applied. Remember what happened when railroads no
longer required the services of fire-men (who shoveled coal into
the engines.
Containerization is a fundamental component in today s global
economy. Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Target and other big box
stores import goods produced overseas. But even with this
improvement in shipping, global trade is at risk from the
unexpected: violence and terrorism; piracy can interrupt trade,
just as raids and attacks by roving bands of Vikings and
Germanic tribes did to the Roman Empire in olden days. In
order to safeguard the country s trade and commerce the United
States Homeland Security department is spending large amount
of its budget to minimize the economic and financial
vulnerability, and protect the successful generation of wealth
that comes from the growth of trade. (Winston p. 57)
Case studies have shown that innovation, especially in
containerization can bring surprising financial results. One

9. company considered hauling sand in multi-hulled cargo
freighters to beaches in areas badly eroded by storms from
Saudi Arabia, in return for transporting ice or water in
containers to the Arab state. Some of the more recent
entrepreneurs are helping establish a new middle class
(burgeoning bourgeoisie is the term used) in newly emerging
nations that benefit from globalization