Author: Grant Accurso

The film we watched in class about the World’s Fair, which took place in 1893, was very interesting to me. The fair was held in Chicago. At the time, Chicago was known as the “white city” because of the white stucco which covered most of the buildings within the city.  The exposition was built to celebrate Columbus’s finding of America. It costed an approximate 22 million to build and operated for a total of 6 months. Twenty million people visited the fair throughout the 6 months. The fair actually was the biggest melting pot of ethnicities until the 20th century immigration to America. Countries across the globe displayed their culture through food, entertainment and technological advancements. One of the biggest displays at the fair was military technological advancements. The most powerful countries at the fair such as Germany, Britain and France demonstrated their most powerful weapons. It seems to me that this was the beginning of the arms race. Society at the time believed technological advancements only had benefits. Because of this, everyone present at the event thought military advancements would bring peace. However, twenty years after the fair, World War I took place and the technological advancements shown at the fair were put into action. Those weapons killed millions and created a huge force of destruction across the globe. In the novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, by Mark Twain, Hank Morgan, who is a manager at a munitions factory, took 19th century technology to areas that didn’t have access to that technology yet. Although it provided advancements, the technology used only caused carnage. Two more aspects that were present at the World’s Fair were work and leisure. At the time, laborers worked long hours with little pay and no rest. Leisure was considered a sin. However, over time, laborers became tired of the low wages and tedious work they were forced into so they formed labor unions. These labor unions were developed to bring workers together and strike against the boss if things became unfair. Right around the World’s Fair, labor strikes took place in Chicago. The Haymarket riot was the most famous strike that occurred. Chicago’s Haymarket Square turned into a riot after someone threw a bomb at police. At least eight people died as a result of the violence that day. Although demonstrations like this took place, society as a whole focused mainly on achievement. The concept of achievement was put into action while building the Fair. The Fair was built in record time by hundreds of laborers who held different skills. The labor power was also at an all time high for this event. Chicago’s World’s Fair started the century of progress in America.

Sigmund Freud discusses his opinion about the impact of technology on modern society in Civilization and Its Discontents. Freud states in the opening sentence that humans have made prominent advances in the sciences as well as technical application and this has increased control over nature tremendously. He goes on to say that these advancements may not be all optimistic. In fact, Freud believes technology leads to a sort of “cheap pleasure.” An example of cheap pleasure he offers is, “what is the good of reduction of infant mortality if it forces us to practice extreme restraint in the procreation of children.” He says by promoting this reduction, we are actually “imposing restraints on sexual life within marriage and worked against the benefits of natural selection.” Another example Freud offers is the prolonging of life. To him, this is seen as a “cheap pleasure” as well because what good is extending life if the person living is old, suffering, and joyless? Sigmund Freud and his contemporaries were overall pessimists about technological advancements due to what they experienced in WWI. The improved technology in warfare created during WWI lead to an outrageous amount of casualties compared to previous wars.

Personally, I agree but also disagree with Freud and his contemporaries on the argument involving technology. In my day and age, technology has taken over the world. Every task or activity one goes about involves some sort of technology. An example today of technology advancement is the transition of writing emails to sending texts. In the positive light, texting is much more convenient and consumes less time compared to emailing. However, by doing the simple task of texting, humans lose the personal connection of formal email interaction as well as face to face interaction with one another. The happiness humans get from saving time by texting is what I see as a positive aspect of technological advancement. The suffering of losing personal connection with each other is what creates a negative aspect of technological advancement.

The protagonist, Hank Morgan, in Mark Twain’s, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, favors technological advancements. Hank is described as a manager of a munitions factory in Connecticut. His goal is to remake England with the American model and correct all of the country’s injustices. Hank has diverse ideas of technological advancements including building factories, schools and railroads. He believes with these advancements he will be able to end slavery, raise men, and carry out truth and justice throughout the nation. Hank seems to be a supporter of technological advancements as of now. He believes they will make a positive difference in the world.