While watching the movie of the World’s Fair, I couldn’t stop myself from comparing the developments achieved to the theme explored by Anson Rabinbach in The Human Motor, where he views the human as a machine. It was surprising to see how these people could succeed in building such environment in such little time and how they were able to come up with innovations on the spot that would allow them to progress very rapidly with the project. Anson discusses how the worker or the “machine” desires to achieve infinite productivity because of the notion of wanting to progress and be the very best. In the movie, this could be seen when the workers worked from day to night in the construction of the fair. All the innovations and technology showcased were the product of the constant work put into such project and the desire to out-compete other nations. Even in today’s world, this notion of having to be in constant motion, achieving this “infinite productivity” keeps on revolutionizing the workforce. This is seen in the group of people that have characterized their work as a major priority in their lives, those who “stay late and come in early” to the office, those who can’t go on a family vacation without taking their computers or checking their emails because “you never know if there’s an emergency” and even those who believe that work is the key to success. I tend to disagree because if the work someone’s doing is not goal oriented, then how could that measure success? Today’s society is constantly working because of the profit they will receive in return, not particularly for the skills they acquire along the way. Anson refers to energy as a transcendental principle where it becomes the groundwork of an individual’s thoughts and actions. If you think about it, it seems like these people not desiring to be more proficient within their work field but rather are doing it for the money are just wasting their energy instead of taking advantage of it because at the end of the day these profits are just temporary. Its interesting to thinking on how society’s perspective about work has changed throughout time. Even in A Connecticut’s Yankee we see how at the beginning of the book Hank is judgmental about the laborers for being “foolish” people since they weren’t gaining any profit from their work. He also mentions that because of the power his knowledge granted him, he could govern the city and become the wealthiest man. His approach toward this uncivilized society then changes when he realizes that the skills he teaches the people is what would allow the city to develop and be successful, not necessarily the monetary profit he would gain from it. I believe people should stray away from the notion of using work just for monetary benefits and start seeing it as an arena where they could further expand their knowledge because knowledge, in turn, will govern the way social development is achieved in the next generations.