Month: January 2017

After reading Anson Rabinbach’s book, “The Human Motor”, I began to wonder if society’s perception of work and its value it brings to one’s life should be viewed as a positive or negative thing. I have always believed in hard work and the places it can take you. I have put myself through more than a fair amount of pain and discomfort to know that fatigue is a very real thing. So, when Rabinbach walked the reader through the history of multiple physicians, sociologists and philosopher’s views on the battle between fatigue and idleness, I was very intrigued. Towards the beginning of his discussion, Rabinbach introduced some groundwork with how fatigue was discovered and how it heavily affected the way society functions.

Fatigue was considered the start point of social disorder and moral decay because the world depended on a constant working system. It was a sign of weakness and an absence of will. Reflecting on the law of thermodynamics has caused people to think that the human body is a machine and the ideal worker never gets tired. So, work hours were increased and the pressure to perform at an optimal rate was very high. But this in turn led people to realize that fatigue is an important factor and that in order to function, people need rest. People began to push for change and reform. The social, economic, and political benefits were unlocked when they discovered the most efficient way to work.  They opted for shorter hours and considerable breaks in order to maximize the worker’s energy. This caused a new perception of the word “idleness”. Instead of thinking of it as committing a sin, being idle was accepted as a natural process that the body needed to go through.

A good example of the balance between work and leisure is evident in the film, “Expo of the White City”, which documents the extravagant displays of the World Fair put on in Chicago during the late 19th century. So much effort, time, and money was put into this grand expo in which countries from all over the world were given the opportunity to show everyone “what they were made of”. This ranged from material goods, technological inventions, and cultural backgrounds that worked in a paradoxical way. People were given the chance to experience something new and different. It opened their eyes to other parts of the world. But, some things provoked feelings of revulsion and fear. I think the World Fair had an undertone of competition and was utilized as a means of measuring who was at the top and who had the most power. In all the glory and show of the fair, we have to consider the work that was behind it. The preparation of putting on this show was hard to even conceive. They created the displays in record time by developing efficient techniques that have stuck with us to today. This gave way to the pleasure and leisure the fair-goers experienced. Without the hard work and effort, there would have been nothing to enjoy. Therefore, work and leisure are two processes that have to converse in order to bring order to the world.

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 19^th century, was transported to 6^th century England. There he used his knowledge of 19^th 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 6^th 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.

A common theme I noticed in this week’s classes was the idea of difference and variation. We often dream of meeting aliens, beings from another far off location in the vast, infinite universe with customs and ways of life we couldn’t and wouldn’t be able to fathom. We in fact, do not have to look so far to be as equally bewildered. Hank Morgan’s adventures in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court show that the world was a vastly different place just a few thousand years ago, with as equally different people and customs of their own. Sure, they’re our ancestors, same species, but Hank Morgan’s experience as a person from the relatively distant future being pulled back many centuries sort of shows us how “alien” the past can be. There was a time we thought the earth was flat, that certain people were lesser because of skin color, that climate change was a myth (well, some still believe that one). The earth and all of its inhabitants, are weird. We’re strange. All of us. We just have to alter our perspective. The many cultures that exhibited themselves in Expo: Magic of the White City also seemed odd to the people not native to the United States. Belly-dancing, circus acts, strange technology from every corner of the globe. It’s not hard to imagine the gaping jaws of citizens during this time upon seeing the grandeur of German weapon engineering. We often so get caught up in technology that we barely take the time to appreciate it every once in a while. A piece of machinery that can connect you to most anyone on the entire planet, that has access to exponentially that of what a library can physically hold, is currently in your pocket! We do not have to stretch our imagination very far to be amazed at what is around us. Perspective can make things weird and fascinating; it can make the smallest animal so complexly structured, and the universe, as we know it, a tiny speck. It’s why we stress the idea of an open mind, to accept difference and live in solidarity amongst ourselves.

Another concept that stuck out to me the most of our two classes was the notion of energy balance and the basic laws of physics and thermodynamics. How everything, from meditation, life, and quantum mechanics, all rely and succeed with balance. Even socially, as The Human Motor described, the balance of the pace of technology and social norms is important in society; one cannot outweigh the other without repercussions (labor strikes, working conditions, etc.). From labor workers during the Industrial Revolution, to the infant stages of fusion energy we are currently engineering today, humans and life itself searches for the most efficient use of energy.

Prof. Perrone’s thoughts on string theory and the idea of multiple dimensions also left me scratching my head. Michio Kaku’s book Hyperspace is something I have attempted to read in the past but left me in a similarly confused state. Biologically, we apparently cannot fathom the idea of the infinite size of the universe, it is but an arbitrary thought we can only attempt to understand. The idea that there is even another galaxy containing life as complex as ours is something hard to accept, but after all, life is but a recipe in the universe’s cookbook containing ingredients like water, carbon and oxygen right? With the aftermath of the Hubble Telescope and our current understanding of math and statistical probability, the conditions that created life here shouldn’t be too hard for the universe to do again in another far off solar system, should it? With the idea of there being more universes is incredibly awesome. That these grandiose bubbles of universe act theoretically in the same way molecules of water interact with each other is absolutely amazing. And who’s to say our laws of physics apply to other universes? Could the very physical laws everything in existence that we know of in our universe follows whether they like it or not somehow be different in others? The fact that we know gravity can bend time, something we see as so structure and rigid in our daily lives, makes it seem like these two concepts are some sort of magic. We theorize science in on such an imaginative, almost fictional level that we make it seem like a sort of magic bestowed upon us by a higher being. Although, after all, magic is just science that we don’t understand, right?

One theme that fascinates me was the introductions of technology to people that have never seen something before. This was a common theme in both Mark Twain’s novel and the Worlds Fair documentary. It blows my mind to think that slightly over 100 years ago people had never seen artificial light, and were being exposed to the brightest event in the history of the Earth. Also, the biggest building ever created on this planet was showcased at the worlds fair. The sheer awe of seeing something like this first hand is unfathomable, and hopefully will be replicated in our lifetime with the advancements we have made. Another point that was made in the film is that this was the Western Hemisphere’s first exposure to the Far East, such as Japan. In today’s world, we have movies and other references, so little surprises us about the cultures and customs of other people around the world. It is weird to think that my great-grandfather’s parents did not know anything about the Japanese until adulthood. Thinking like this really puts the human timescale into perspective about how far we have come in such a short period of time, in good and bad ways.

Thinking about The Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Hank Mason goes back in time to the 6^th Century and takes for granted little things that are now commonplace. Not having glass is the thing that really stuck with me. No windows, mirrors, cups, or anything that we use everyday were not anywhere to be found. I look at myself in the mirror everyday before I go to class or work, and some of these people might not have a good idea of what they look like for their entire lives. This book puts things into perspective just as the documentary did, if not more.

During my sophomore year of high school I was enrolled in AP US History and we read the book, Devil in the White City, in class. It was through this novel that I first learned about the Columbian Exposition of 1893, and when I walked into class on Tuesday I was genuinely excited when I found out that we would be watching a documentary on the Chicago World’s Fair. In high school, at only 15 years old, my ability to understand the magnitude of the exposition was limited. Now, after watching the documentary in class, I have a much deeper understanding for what the effects of the fair were, both technologically and culturally.

The Chicago World’s Fair took place 124 years ago from present day, which seems like an extended period of time relative to my own life. In reality though, 124 years is a minute period of time when compared to the lifetime of the earth. But it is in these last few centuries that the greatest advancements in society have been seen. After reflecting on the documentary, I pondered over what has caused this rapid boost in technological expansion, and I settled on the one thing that drives most people: competition. Nearly every major country was given their own building at the fair, and each country’s goal was to highlight who they are to the world, and show why they were the best. This heightened since of competition drove architects to construct the largest and most outlandish buildings, and it drove innovators to design products for the future. This was all done out of a sense of pride for one’s country.

During the operation of the fair, countless designs of new products were revealed and showcased by each country. At the time, everything seemed perfect, and there was a constant peace felt around the park. Visitors were head-over-heels for rides on the large Ferris wheel; they were blown away by the heights the air balloon could take them; they were enlightened by Thomas Edison’s light-bulb; and they were shell-shocked by the immense size and destructive power of Germany’s guns. No visitor took the time to think about what implications may follow this rapid advancement in technology and production, and it is ironic to think about how this drive for success has actually led to war and destruction of world peace.

Although the push and drive for individuals to create the ‘next best thing’ has resulted in far advancements in technological production, it has also granted countries the ability to devastate entire populations of people during a war. It is ironic that the German gun that received high acclaim at Chicago’s World’s Fair, was used just twenty years later during WWI to cause massive death and destruction. It makes you wonder, at what point do we need to focus on the present, rather than worrying so much about creating something for the future.