This week we delved deeper into understanding what this course is about and how we will go about learning more in this subject.
Our readings this week was the entirety of Mark Twain’s ‘Connecticut Yankee’ as well as the first chapter of ‘The Human Machine’ both readings held significant meaning to the course.
‘Connecticut Yankee’ was a discussion of how technology is accepted and produced, in the setting of King Arthur’s court this topic took a very interesting approach. We were able to see the hypothetical progress that an entire civilization might undergo if there was a huge shift in the technological situation of those people. I personally enjoyed the book due to the progress we saw in the characters. Sandy as well as Clarence are prefect examples of individuals who fully exemplified the progress one might see from the exposure to such advanced technology.
The other subject I would like to touch on is the documentary of the White City. The grandeur and scale of the exposition was incredible and is likely something we will never see again. But by far the most important part of the fair was the technology put on display. The only modern equivalent to the expo we might see today is a conference put on by companies and research organizations, but those conferences are very narrow in scope and would never see such diversity as what was at the 1893 fair. The fair personified the momentum that technology had during that time period. There were new discoveries being made every year which helped the fair to be as extravagant and impactful as it was.