Technologies of the Past TECHNOSPHERES
Hunting Gathering Societies
Energy sources: human muscle power, fire Total energy use: 2, kcal / person / day (mostly from diet) World population: less than 1 million people Life expectancy: ~ 30 years Social grouping: communal ~50 individuals, nomadic Food sources: fruits, seeds, berries, wild animals (subsistence) Material culture: stone (Paleolithic), bone, leather, fur Environmental problems: related to basic survival, extreme vulnerability to predators, natural disasters, environmental changes
Agricultural Societies The Gleaners , Jean-François Millet
Agricultural Societies Energy sources: animal power, water power, wind, fire Total energy use: 12,000-20,000 kcal / person / day World population: growing to 500 million by 1500 AD Life expectancy: ~ 35 years Social grouping: villages, towns, cities -- sedentary Food sources: domesticated crops and animals Material culture: (Neolithic) bronze, iron, wood, wool, leather, accumulation of goods Cultural products: writing, mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, religions Social problems: centralization of power, war, slavery Environmental problems: disease, pestilence, overgrazing, desertification, overshoot and collapse
Industrial Societies LATE
Industrial Societies EARLYLATE Energy sources:charcoal, coaloil, nuclear Energy use (kcal/p/d): 60,000230,000 (U.S.) World population:1 billion billion billion – billion Life expectancy:~ 45 years in 1900~ 60 in 1990 ~ 75 in U.S. Material culture:iron and steelaluminum, plastics disposables mass mass production consumption
Social grouping:increasingly urban with vastly more international travel, breakdown of tribal and family groups. Food sources: Increasingly processed, mass produced, and marketed. Humanity separated from the land; genetically engineered crops. Cultural products: Techno-science, info-tainment, individualism. Social problems: Haves and have-nots, total industrial war, racial & ethnic hatreds. Environ. problems: Urban air and water pollution, deforestation, increasingly toxic wastes, regional and global pollution, threats to ozone and oceans. World rate of population growth: 3 per second, 10,000 per class period, 250,000 per day, 1.8 million per week, 100 million per year, 1 billion per decade. LATE INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES
ERAENERGYMATERIALSARTIFACTSMETAPHOR PaleolithicMuscleStone/BoneStone toolsSurvival 40,000-10,000 BC Eotechnic or NeolithicWaterMetalsClipper ShipAgriculture 10,000 BC WindWood Water WheelArtisans AD AnimalsCloth/ Leather Violin PaleotechnicSteamCoalRailroadsIndustry SteelFactoriesPollution NeotechnicElectricityAluminumAutomobilesHigh-tech OilPlasticsAirplanesToxics EcotechnicRenewableRecyclableLess is moreSustainabilty 21st C? Solar/ WindBiodegradable Or Biotechnic, Nanotechnic, Cybertechnic, Geotechnic, etc.? Adapted from Lewis Mumford, Technics and Civilization(1934).
Eo-Technic Era
Industrial Societies EARLY
Paleo-Technic Era
Neo-Technic Era
Going beyond Mumford: Eco-Technic* Era? *The term “Eco-technic” implies that humans will always engage in technological innovation, yet we must always live within an ecosystem.
Eco-technic? Bio-technic? Nano-technic? Cyber-technic? Geo-technic?
Assignment Start reading Snow, Two Cultures Nye chapter 4