Category: Uncategorized

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.

After watching the film on the 1983 Chicago World’s Fair and discussing both readings, the main ideas focus on the display of energy and power in developing societies. At the World’s fair, the displays of both Germany and the United States were teeming with military weapons and technology, hoping to demonstrate the power and prowess of each nation. As a result, most other nations, in addition to the United States and Germany, began a race to become more innovation and advanced in military technology and warfare, possibly initiating World War I far earlier than necessary. While proving to be deadly in the war, these military advancements and weapons were initially developed because “peace is kept by being prepared for war,” according to one general. This display of power by several nations at the fair serves to show the dominance and superiority that these nations are capable of. In addition to the Chicago World’s Fair, Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court portrays the use of energy and power for personal gain. With the development of technology and the improved harnessing of energy, Hank Morgan was able to develop hospitals, schools, and newspapers to improve the lives of the 6th century citizens. However, Morgan also used his superior sophistication and technological expertise to fool and gain the utmost respect from King Arthur’s court. Hank proves Merlin to be a fraud while using modern technology to fix the fountain, use guns and explosives to both harm fellow knights and for dramatic effect, and claims future inventions as his own to seem almost God-like amongst Arthur’s court. While this new harnessed energy and power led to healthier, more efficient lifestyles for the citizens of Camelot, Hank also utilized it for personal gain and greed to rise to power in the Court, viewed as almost equals to King Arthur. This display of power promotes fear and admiration to allow for the few to rise to power and control the masses. Finally, when discussing The Human Machine, the trade-off between work and leisure became a major issue in society. When looking at humans as a energy system, fatigue begins to set in after a certain amount of time, requiring rest to regain and resupply the energy. As technology began to develop, human labor became obsolete compared to the ability of machines to produce and manufacture goods. The ideal worker would never get tired, yet humans suffer from fatigue while machines can constantly conserve energy to function constantly. This harnessing of energy allowed for more leisure in everyday life and brought new goods to make life more efficient; however, on the downside, the industrial revolution and the development of new technologies paved the way for advanced warfare and dangerous technology.

Another topic of interest is the disparity of cultural and social norms amongst members of different societies or cultures. At the Chicago World’s Fair, the exotic, belly dancers covered in little clothing at the Cairo bizarre was a sight to see for the American public. Social norms in the United States at the time viewed sex as taboo. While the men were enthused by this exotic culture, the females looked upon the dancers with shame and judgment. The culture and history of Egypt stems from these roots, yet the Americans weren’t socially and sexually advanced enough to look upon the exhibit with favor. The lack of acceptance and understanding of other cultures leads to segregation and social hierarchy at the fair, marked by each nation trying to out-do one another. Similarly, in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, the disparity in social norms and practices between the 6th century and the 18th century becomes clearly evident. Hank looks down upon King Arthur’s court with shame, frustrated by their lack of hygiene and sophistication and baffled by the incompetence of the court. Morgan disregards the knights’ stories of glory and honor as false, and while he respects and likes King Arthur, he still views him as less-educated and somewhat irrational. In contrast, the members of King Arthur’s court view Hank as a God-like figure, marveled by his “magic” and his vast contributions to society. The citizens view him as infallible and treat him with the utmost respect and admiration. This disparity and cultures and social sophistication allows for Hank to basically usurp power from King Arthur and hold one of the highest positions in Camelot, a common problem when one culture views themselves as superior to one another (slavery and colonization).

Evolution is often wrongly defined as progress within a population over time. The key problem here is the word progress– evolution is a directionless process that is simply change over time. But due to common human infatuation with progression, it’s easy for people to hope that the natural selection process deciding our populations’ future is pushing us forward as well. If we’re going to be moving in any sort of direction, it better be forward. Otherwise, we’ll just be wasting energy.
In The Human Motor, energy is conveyed as a currency. Since it is the means by which work can be done, to maximize work profits energy must be utilized to the fullest. Therefore, there should be no wasted motions and no backward steps. And as Rabinbach continues to portray humans as motors, it is clear that we are a flawed machine. Like all things in our natural world, the human body follows the principles of thermodynamics– for energy to be exerted, it must at some point be imported. You can’t get something from nothing, the same way that the human body can only work on the terms that it is “fueled” by sleep and food. Humans are not perfect, tireless work machines, but strive for efficiency anyway as a strong work ethic is presently a respected and admired trait.
Hard work has not always been as highly valued as it is today, as in the past it has been negatively linked to working out of financial necessity, and idleness was admired due to its link to high-class privilege. Now, it is considered a “disease of will”, as compared to fatigue which is viewed more positively as an indicator of hard work (Rabinbach 23).
Looking into A Connecticut Yankee, this malappraisal of idleness therefore explains why Hank is so taken aback and concerned to see so much laziness within the world of King Arthur’s Court. Unable to explain the lazy people’s lack of motivation to work, Hank can only resort to deeming them insane and potential inhabitants of an asylum, as a product of their “disease of will”. These people do not value the energy they hold, and live in a directionless, progress-less community that Hank could only view with disapproval and with hopes to steer it in a forward direction.
As addressed by the The Chicago World’s Fair documentary, sometimes progress can inadvertently lead to retrogression. Specifically looking at the war technologies displayed so proudly by each nation, it was terrifying to know that the German cannons the guest gawked at would be ones utilized just two decades later to attack most of Europe. The celebration of progress soon turned into a period of fear and war, only highlighting the terrible progressions humans are capable of.

Throughout this week one of the themes that really stuck with me was the contradiction between work and leisure and how the definitions of these words have changed over time. I studied Latin for 6 years before coming to Bucknell and we always talked about the fact that the Romans did not have a true word for “work”. They had words for vacation, leisure, rest, and slavery but they did not have a word for “work”. To them the only people that were supposed to truly work were slaves and that already had a word: slavery. To them, their time should be spent in leisure. Of course many of them had a craft that they kept up with to make a living, but to them it was not important to strain themselves making a lot of money. They sold their craft when they needed to and other than that they enjoyed life.

I see a similar mentality shared by the people of the 6th century. When Hank first arrived he was so astonished that nobody was working. They were all wandering around with no sense of where they had come from or where they were going, and they lacked all sorts of drive or motivation. Hank presumed that he must be in an insane asylum because nobody of their right mind would spend the day just walking around with no purpose, destination or any sort of work. Hank’s view bring us to the more modern view of our definition of work and leisure. To us work is a necessity for all to live. We believe in the “American Dream” where if you work hard, you can move up in the world and in society and make a good life for yourself. We see leisure as a time of reward and something that is earned. It does not come around all the time and it must be earned and it is enjoyed in small doses. However, leisure is not always so accepted when it is abused or when it becomes the focus of ones life. In modern day we see work as the main time commitment and leisure as a small reward at the end. Most of our lives are spent in work not leisure. In contrast, the Romans saw work as a time when they weren’t in leisure, we see leisure as a time when we are not in work.

These are two very different viewpoints and shows that throughout time, work and leisure took up a different amount of people’s time and was regarded much differently in their lives. Currently, those who are unemployed are seen to be in a state of unrest. They are looked down upon by society for not having the ways and means for providing for a family, and they rush to the unemployment office or their next interview to try and fix this. It is very interesting how work has evolved from something only for the slaves, to a coveted position in life that ensures (or we hope that it will ensure) stability for our lives and our families.

The Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 displayed the extravagance found in all corners of the globe to some twenty-eight million visitors in six months time. Each country in attendance aimed to amaze visitors, displaying attributes of their culture, both old and new. The World’s Fair is a time for global connection and an opportunity to display technological advancement; the Chicago Fair came with an undertone of competition which served as a precursor to the nationalism and resulting disputes of the 20th Century. The display of innovation and competitive nature of the Fair was considered the first event of the 20th Century, and paved the road for exponential technological growth and innovation for the following century.

The ability to harness nature for energy generation and production was on full display at the World’s Fair. From the vast array of lights lining the White City to the Midway displays, countries were itching to show their innovative abilities and “one-up” the next. The Fair was the first time that countries could display their dominance over others in a collective environment; intimidation was full throttle as the 19th Century came to a close. Most notable was the Krupp firearm building built by Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. The building consisted of artillery cannons, guns, and military materials that were far beyond their time. The intimidation factor of this German display was evident, it was as if Germany intended to send their subordinates a message of power and progress. The Germans had made great strides in military technology; harnessing energy and nature to increase production and develop new technologies.

America had their own swagger about them, however. The massive city was theorized, and constructed in just under three years, a seemingly unmanageable feat proved feasible by the Americans. The sheer size, beauty, and extravagance provided a mirage of productivity in America; it seemed that Germany was not the only world player that would enter the new century with high hopes of innovation. The egos of Germany, America, and many other countries whom were present at the fair would largely create environment of competition, achievement, and advancement in the 20th Century. As a result of their abilities to increase power through mobilizing man power and harnessing more efficient usages of nature, new world leaders emerged and proved to be a pinnacle piece of 20th Century global affairs.