This week we read Twain’s The Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Rabinbach’s The Human Motor, and watched the film Expo: Magic of the White City, directed by Bussler.
Both The Connecticut Yankee and the World’s Fair film incorporate the theme of producing advanced technology and modernization in comparison to the era each scenario is set. In The Connecticut Yankee, Hank Morgan, man from the 19th century, was transported to 6th century England. There he used his knowledge of 19th century technology to accelerate the modernization of King Arthur’s land. In the World’s Fair film, states and countries came together in Chicago for the world fair. Each nation had their own extravagant displays, each trying to outdo the other displays. This competition led to many highly advanced technological innovations. These technologies ranged from innocent entertainment, like the invention of the Ferris wheel, to serious technologies, like the cannons built by the Germans.
The innovation in both these tales seem to be ahead of time. In The Connecticut Yankee, Hank uses his expertise of technology to help improve life in the 6th century, yet many deaths are due to the futuristic technology. During the world fair, the powerful cannons the Germans built that had all the visitors in awe were later used in war.
My question is, is technology advancing too quickly? The world is always changing, which means there is a certain amount of unpredictability that is expected; this can be in both positive and negative. My generation is used to rapidly changing technology. Electronics are constantly being updated and countries own very destructive weapons, such as nuclear bombs. Humans hold so much power, yet we don’t know the right thing to do with it. It’s a cycle of trial and error, fixing, and learning from mistakes. Technology advancement creates problems that are all interconnected. For example, new discoveries in medical research are always occurring, thus humans are able to live longer. Yet, this creates problems for our species such as overpopulation and climate change. We respond by inventing new technology to solve the problem and it in turn creates more problems. It is an ongoing pattern. The relationship between society and technology goes both ways, society shapes technology, yet at the same time technology shapes society.