Technology Then to Now :: History Machines Papers

Technology Then to Now Throughout time, machines, no matter how simple or complex, have played a vital role in the development of civilization into the future. In other words, machines have played a part into helping our culture develop into what it has become today. This dates back to the beginning of time when early man used a stick and a fulcrum (rock) to make a simple lever. Technology: The application of scientific knowledge to serve man in industry, commerce, medicine and other fields. Humans have always searched for a way to make things faster, stronger, smarter, better....for mankind. This, it was widely thought, would make life easier. With the advancements made in technology throughout the millennium, the way of living did get easier. In the thousands of years that had passed, man had gone from living in caves to living in houses, from speaking in grunts to having a formal written and spoken language, from hunting and teaching, to hunt for mere survival, to going to school and working in a place of some sort to provide for your family, from barter and trade to a formal monetary system, from clans to cities and states; yes mankind was on the up and up, and blazing trails at record speed. In the U.S., the period between 1820 and 1840 marked the introduction of the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution marked a significant technological change for Western Europe and the United States. It meant the big switch from an agricultural society to a modernizing society based on factory production. This switch obviously meant the introduction of machines into the workplace, and the transformation of labor to fit the operation of these machines. Although the machines would increase productivity significantly, they were not viewed as a Godsend by all. Groups such as the Luddites in England in the early 19th century feared these machines because they understood that this new technology would destroy their way of life. They were not entirely wrong. The technologies introduced into the early factory system profoundly disrupted the ways in which people worked and the rewards they received for their work. For example, new machinery introduced as labor-saving devices from the point of view of owners, eliminated certain artisanal skills and displaced other workers. Many of those fortunate enough to still be working in the factories with this ground-breaking technology viewed themselves as machine tenders (someone whose sole purpose was to make sure that the machine did not get off course.