TECHNOLOGY IN THE WORLD HISTORY SURVEY
by David Smith
Technology is relevant to world history courses at all levels. My own experience has been in teaching the world history survey course at the freshman college level and in offering an upper division course on "Technology in World History." At both levels I make some effort to cover all of human experience. The phrase "some effort" is important here, because time restraints necessarily make selection an important part of the teaching and learning process. I will limit my discussion to the basic survey course, drawing upon my upper division course for examples only when relevant.
The structure of the lower divsion survey is an important part of how technology may be included, so I will briefly lay out the parameters of the courses. Chronological sequence is an important part of the survey, and our program divides history into three periods--Ancient (to 500 c.e.), Middle (500--1650 c.e.) and Modern (1650--present). A semester break at 1500 c.e. would work just as well with the themes discussed below. The Ancient period stresses the evolution from Paleolithic to Neolithic to Bronze and Iron Ages, culminating in the rise of the three great civilizations of antiquity-- Mediterranean, Indian and Chinese. Clearly, technological change is inherent in the designations of most of these periods, a point to which I will return shortly.
The Middle period focuses on the rise of the two great global civilizations: Islam and the West. It also treats the major regional civilizations-- China and East Asia, Greater India, and Byzantium and Eastern Europe--as well as the isolated areas of the world. The unifying element in the course is how Islam anticipated and influenced the expansion of western Europe. In spreading to Spain in the west to India and Southeast Asia in the east, Islam unified much of Eurasia and Africa and took over, if not created, the first global system. Through Islamic hands the technological achievements of China and India were diffused throughout North Africa and Western Europe. In turn Western Europe in the High Middle Ages began to surge economically, culturally and technically and eventually became the second global civilization.
In the modern period, Western Europe for the first time integrated the whole planet into a single world system. It also created the modern world, a unique period in world history. Hence, the theme for the Modern course is "modernity," a term whose definition we continually discuss and modify during the term. Technology plays an ever-intensifying role in this period, particularly in the Industrial Revolution and its changes in the modes of production which ultimately had immense social and demographic consequences. The shift to fossil fuel burning engines is critical in this process, as is the the discovery and harnessing of electricity. Technical revolutions affecting every area of life ensued, especially communications and transportation. A new era, qualitatively and quantitatively superior to earlier times, arose.
The outline of the survey courses makes it clear that technology plays an important role in every time period. Rather than treating the whole of history from a technological perspective, I would like to suggest four ideas for handling technology. It is also important to state at this point that my teaching technique involves students learning the Doing World History methods described elsewhere in this publication. As homework they are required to use the methods to write individual journal entries. In class they work in small groups to produce graphs and charts illustrating their efforts. By actively involving the students in doing world history I hope to make such an impression on them that they will take a world historical perspective away from the course along with a greater treasure of knowledge about the subject.
SIGNIFICANCE
The first of the four ideas is the concept of significance. One of the greatest difficulties that students have is in understanding the implications of a new trend or technological development. I think this is because rote learning of facts is over-emphasized at the expense of understanding how things fit together. Take the "Neolithic Revolution" as an example. The important point is not to date it to 8000 b.c.e., but to understand that this technological change fundamentally altered the economic and social structure of societies and eventually became dominant everywhere appropriate resources existed for it. Earlier forms of acquisition were pushed to marginal and useless land.
Another technological development that is often misunderstood is the appearance and diffusion of iron working in the second half of the second millenium b.c.e. As an isolated fact, students merely list it as a change that became generalized after 1000 b.c.e., overlooking its impact on other aspects of life. It helps students understand how events and processes fit together if some attention is devoted to the consequences of the introduction of iron. Due to its hardness and abundance in comparison to bronze, superior tools and weapons could be produced. The diffusion of iron contributed to greater agricultural productivity which led to population increases. Similarly, iron weapons helped create the first large empires in Assyria and Persia. A map comparison of the size of Bronze Age empires with Assyria and Persia makes this change in the scale of empires clear. A few centuries after the introduction of iron, a quantum leap in the size of populations and states became generalized throughout Eurasia, from the Hellenistic empires and their successor Rome to Han China and the Mauryan Empire in India. Care has to be taken to help the students understand that a long, slow process common to many civilizations was involved that contributed to these developments.
The appearance of the railroad in the period after 1825 is a parallel case where stressing the consequences of a technological development helps students understand the significance of an invention. For the first time in history the railroad made transportation of goods on land competitive in price with transportation by water. The economic consequences were enormous as barriers to internal and continental trade were smashed. Local, regional economies were forced to compete with outside producers for the first time, and national and even larger firms became more common. In addition, military and other transportation-related activities suddenly became more mobile. Politically, larger state units could be built and sustained because resources could be more rapidly transported. A true transportation revolution had begun.
In the late nineteenth century the internal combustion engine appeared as a competitor of the steam engine. The consequences of its application to transportation are well known, as it led to the appearance of both the automobile and airplane with revolutionary results. But it also became important in the field of agriculture when it was used in tractors in the period after 1910. This device made farm work much more efficient, eventually displacing the horse and other equine creatures from the production cycle. This efficiency in time and production contributed to the rise of modern agriculture which at least temporarily solved the problems of feeding an ever-growing population.
The Aspen World History Institute participants split up into groups to produce charts and graphs illustrating both the four concepts and Doing World History. Here is an example of their work that illustrates the impact that the invention of gunpowder had in world history:
PHOTO OF GUNPOWDER CHART
This group clearly shows the origins of gunpowder in China and its diffusion to the rest of the world and role in European colonialism. Around the outside of the diffusion chart are various arenas of life that were affected by gunpowder ranging from warfare to demographics, government, interchanges, social changes, military technology, culture and everyday uses. That is, the chart explains the ultimate significance of the invention and spread of gunpowder. In evaluating this kind of material, I look for creativity and independent thinking beyond the material in the textbook. This group had no book and came up with interpretations and applications of their own. On the whole this is an excellent demonstration about the significance of gunpowder's development and diffusion.
TECHNOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
The second concept is the notion of technological evolution. This phenomenon can be easily demonstrated through archaeological materials from almost any contintent. The changing nature of Iroquois pottery,for example, shows a clear evolution in form and decoration. The developmental sequence of prehistoric tools from various Amerindian cultures helps amplify this idea. Sometimes solutions to great problems can be reinforced by citing this kind of evolutionary evidence. For example, the similarity between Siberian Late Ice Age tools to more developed tools from North America supports the Bering Strait theory for explaining the origins of Amerindians.
Often students are taught about the great inventions and their inventors, but this can be deceptive in its oversimplification and neglect of the process involved in technical change. In my experience, students generally have trouble understanding processes or developments over long periods of time of any kind. This may be related to the emphasis in traditional history teaching on names, dates and particular civilizations. To overcome this problem, I have them write essays and create group charts and graphs that trace the evolution of various technological developments. Often I will require them to do a technological cut through three or four chapters from the textbook, using Doing World History.
In the Paleolithic period there were long periods when tools changed very slowly. From about 1.5 million to about 200,000 years ago the multi-purpose hand-ax was the dominant tool of the species. Eventually tools were down-sized and designed for specialized tasks, almost always leading toward smaller tools with more economical use of stone. This had the effect of freeing people from carrying around large quantities of stone and from frequently visiting the quarries. This process of down-sizing seems to be a universal phenomenon whenever a new technology is invented. Witness the shrinking of internal combustion engines in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, or more recently the miniaturization of computers and other electronic devices.
After the disappearnance of the big game, fine adjustments to local environments were made. This led to microlithic tool kits, highly specialized to meet tasks demanded by regional resources. In some areas, resources had to be carefully managed. This included harvesting wild grain at the appropriate time. Settlements appeared in various places in the eastern Mediterranean to take advantage of these grain harvests. Evidence from several sites reveals an evolution from a wild grain gathering society, still dependent on hunting wild animals for much of its food, to an agricultural community. We know this because wild grain has a hard husk that has to be baked to be removed. The roasting ovens for this process appear in early levels at several places. After a few thousand years these roasting ovens no longer appear in the archaelogical evidence. A new form of grain, moreover, does appear--the huskless kind, a domesticate. The selective breeding of grain over a long period of time eventually resulted in a new technological development, domesticated plants. The other areas where agriculture developed do not have the quantity of evidence that the eastern Mediterranean does, but a similar process of change through human intervention must have occurred in those areas also. A similar evolution appeared in the domestication of animals, and the process continues to the present for both plants and animals. The name "Neolithic Revolution" tends to obscure these processes that took thousands of years.
Similarly, the diffusion of agriculture was relatively slow, not reaching Greece for example until about 6000 b.c.e. In America it was even slower. Primitive maize was domesticated before 5000 b.c.e., but settled agriculture became significant only about 1500 b.c.e.
The "Pyrotechnic Revolution" that accompanied the Neolithic Revolution is often overlooked, or presented in such disconnected segments it is misunderstood. The Greeks as early as Hesiod in the eighth century b.c.e. recognized the importance of the use of fire in creating civilization. Interestingly, Zeus punished Prometheus, the fire giver, for revealing its secret to humankind. The use of fire goes back perhaps to Homo Erectus, mainly for warmth, cooking and lighting. Various accidental discoveries, scholars hypothesize, led to using fire to make ceramics. Perhaps unbaked clay dishes fell into the cooking fire. (Of course, unbaked clay dishes also were technological developments). Exact dates for fired ceramics are not available, but in some cultures they may antedate agriculture. In the Neolithic period, ceramics became very widespread. It is also possible that fire was used in tool making to make the materials easier to work. Here we must remember that materials like bone and leather were utilized in addition to stone. In any case, after a period of several thousand years, the experience in working with fire was applied to metals. By 3000 b.c.e. bronze, a compound of copper and arsenic or tin, was developed. High temperature ovens, originally used in ceramic firing, were needed for this process.
Iron was often a bi-product of bronze production, as it is very common and was present in some of the copper-bearing ores that were cooked in the production of bronze. In the period from 1600 b.c.e iron gradually became more common and was purposefully produced for reasons mentioned above. By the way, it is a common error in many world history texts to attribute iron to the Hittites or the Indo-European invaders of the Bronze Age world. This tendency is a left-over from earlier imaginative scholarly reconstructions of the Hittite expansion and the collapse of the Bronze Age, but it is not supported by the evidence.
All this supports the point that technological changes happen through an evolutionary process. The Pyrotechnic Revolution, like the Neolithic, was really an evolutionary process that lasted for thousands of years. The use of fire in cooking and ceramic production eventually led to metallurgy in the form of bronze and iron. Instead of treating the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages as separate entities, we can now see a process connecting between them. It is also worth pointing out here that when bronze and iron were produced, the older materials were not completely displaced. Neolithic materials continue to be used in many parts of the world even today.
A second group at the Aspen World History Institute chose to illustrate the notion of technological evolution by producing a time line about the development of "Numeracy."
PHOTO OF NUMERACY CHART
This group used the Big Picture method from Doing World History and hence produced a time line showing the development of counting systems. Not having access to books they have a few items outside of time, like the abacus, but on the whole I thought it was a creative effort to show evolution of human achievement in a significant subject.
Since I teach history as an activity that one pursues, I try to emphasize the controversies that rage in various fields. The goal is to stimulate the students to marshal evidence and construct arguments as practicing historians. History's nature as an open-ended process of inquiry is emphasized here, not the mere reciting of facts from the textbook. Similar views about science and science education are expressed in a recent Los Angeles Times article. Bruce M. Alberts, a cell biologist, complains that "We have turned people off on science because science education has all too often become a boring process of memorization that buries a child's natural desire to understand how things work." Things can be fixed "...if educators can be made to understand that good science is an investigative process." If we replace the words "science" and "science education" with "world history" and "history education", these statements would reflect the current situation in world history teaching.
GREAT PROBLEMS
In this light my third idea for teaching technology is to emphasize the great problems that historians address in the history of civilizations and technology. For example, Why the Neolithic Revolution? Why would people give up a life style that offered much freedom and leisure for the drudgery of agricultue? In making any momentous change of this nature, people must have had serious motivation. Climatic change was perhaps a factor, as the earth became warmer and big game disappeared. Alternatively, population pressure may have forced people to look for more efficient use of the available land. The point here is to get the students to look at the available evidence and to draw their own conclusions. Donald O. Henry's From Foraging to Agriculture: the Levant at the End of the Ice Age discusses this problem for the Eastern Mediterranean and briefly mentions areas outside the Levant. He suggests there are only local or regional , not worldwide, reasons for the shift to agriculture. It would be an interesting project for students to research the archaeology of those other early agricultural areas to challenge his opinion.
Another example from ancient history centers on the Roman Empire. Compared to all its political and cultural achievements, many scholars consider its technological and economic progress to be nil. This interpretation is called the "Finley/Jones model" after M.I. Finly and A.H.M.S. Jones, the two great historians of the ancient economy. They pointed to the dominant role of agriculture in Roman society and to the relative lack of achievement in developing a complex technology. Various reasons for this supposed backwardness are cited, including the dominance of society by the extremely small aristocratic class and the prominent role in the economy played by slavery.
In the mid-1980's this model began to be challenged as anachronistic and as relying too heavily on the literary evidence which overwhelmingly reflects the views of the aristocracy. Further, Finley and Jones down-played the value of archaeological evidence which potentially could offer correctives to the biases of the literary sources. The most prominent figure here is Kevin Greene who surveyed the archaeological evidence across several technologies, including agriculture, transport and architecture. He shows how clear evolutionary developments did occur in Roman technology at the very time that slavery was predominant, the first two centuries c.e. There are several technical areas where the Romans made substantial progress. For example, glass blowing became an important industry for the first time in the first century c.e. and continued to play an important role in the economy thereafter, even expanding from Italy into the provinces. The Romans were especially creative in the ship building industry, producing an incredible variety of specialized craft for various purposes. A particulary impressive, monstrous ship of more than 1000 tons capacity is described in the second century c.e. author Lucian. In the milling of grain, major advances in the first two centuries of the empire occurred as most production shifted from hand grinding in small mills to large animal-powered mills. Eventually water mills were invented, including a monstrous set of water wheels from southern France built in the early second century c.e. Continuing archaeological research will doubtless increase the appreciation of Roman technological and economic achievement. In the meantime, with what do we replace the Finley/Jones model?
A more focused problem, but still one of great interest, is the locale for the invention of gunpowder and cannons. A curious anomaly exists between two recent authorities in the history of technology, Arnold Pacey and Ahmad al-Hassan and Donald R. Hill. In his Technology in World Civilization, Pacey carefully traces the history of gunpowder and the development of guns and cannon through archaeological and written sources. He concludes that guns appeared in China about 1280, but the cannon was not developed until about 1325 in Italy. In contrast, al-Hassan and Hill's Islamic Technology: An Illustrated History quotes both Arabic and Christian authors who mention cannons as early as 1204. This is clearly a thorny anomaly that students will find exciting and interesting to ponder. One possible area of research would be to look at the possibility of independent invention of gunpowder and related weaponry in Islamic territory.
Another, more sweeping set of problems which bridges the Ancient , Medieval and Modern periods is the question about China's loss of technological leadership after about 1300. From the Han period until the thirteenth century c.e. the Chinese were the world leaders in developing new technologies. They developed the critical inventions of gunpowder, paper and compass, part of the technological material for the Middle period course. But thereafter they became technologically conservative and eventually lost the leadership to Western Europe. Why? This question is known as Needham's problem after Joseph Needham, the great scholar of Chinese science and technology. Various answers have been suggested, ranging from the dominance of society by the Confucian gentry, who were not interested in technological progress, to the effects of the Mongol conquest.
The corollary to this problem is Why did Western Europe take over as world leaders in technology? Here too there are an interesting number of suggested answers that students should be encouraged to research and discuss. These range from political and economic considerations, like the size of the Chinese empire compared to European states, to religious and philosophical differences, Christianity and Greek-derived philosophies versus Taoism and Neo-Confucianism. I am particularly fond of the notion that China was basically self-sufficient economically while the Europeans were attracted to goods from East Asia and hence had intense motives for trying to get there. Also the idea that capitalism had more political impact in the smaller European states where merchant wealth could be made available to the kings, while merchants had no influence in the huge Chinese empire. Attached in Appendix 1 is a short list of possible factors drawn from my reading and my own reflections on this topic.
The background to the Industrial Revolution offers another example of a Big Problem. Recent scholarship is finding several elements as critical in the making of the Industrial Revolution, particularly the harnessing of fossil fuel powered machines for production purposes and the development of a factory system of labor management. The fact that it was an evolutionary process is now becoming more commonly emphasized. But how does it relate to the expansion of the West in the early modern period and to the Scientific Revolution? Margaret Jacobs explored the latter question in a study of the educational background of the entrepreneurs and inventors in the first half of the eighteenth century and discovered that they all had been educated in the new scientific tradition. Due to their scientific knowledge they were willing to expend time and money on radical experiments with the production cycle. In the subsequent two centuries the cooperation between technology and science becomes the chararacterisc that separates western science and technology from other civilizations. Today it is common to hear the expression "science and technology" as if it were a simple entity, whereas in reality cooperation between the two is a historical phenomenon that happened fairly recently.
The emergence of the multiple engineering disciplines, particularly after 1850, is a product of this trend. And just what are engineers, scientists or technicians? Engineering is some kind of strange hybrid, involving both theoretical and mathematical studies of nature and practical application of knowledge to produce new artifacts. Engineers have become so involved with the theoretical and design functions of their discipline that a new field focusing on practical applications had to be developed, engineering technology.
The eighteenth and nineteenth century developments in the science of chemistry confirm this point about the harmony between science and technology in the emergence of modernity. Like engineering, chemistry involves both manipulation of materials (technology) and theoretical explantions of how things work. Its rise to prominence coincides with the discovery of electricity and the development of machinery that set the modern period off from previous eras. The development of batteries, fertilizers, petroleum and photography, to name only a few chemical developments, contributed to take-offs in many fields from transportation to electronics and agriculture.
A different take on the relation between science and technology emerges when we consider the reverse situation wherein technological advances lead to scientific progress. For example, near the beginning of the Scientific Revolution Galileo took advantage of progress in optics and lens grinding to build his telescope. This allowed him eventually to challenge traditional astronomical ideas. The other great figures of the Scientific Revolution similarly used new technologies. In the 1820's the discovery of the three laws of thermodynamics came about due to theoretical study of how steam engines operated. In the period after 1950 the advent of computers changed scientific (not to mention engineering) methods in fundamental ways. This raises the whole issue of the relationship between technology and science. There is a good recent article on this subject in Technology and Culture, where various definitions of technology are discussed in some detail.
From a historical perspective, Arnold Pacey believes that technological progress in the late Medieval and Early Modern period created a mental outlook emphasizing careful methodology and preparation, experimentation, efficiency studies and mathematical explanations for physical phenomena that prepared the ground for the emergence of the Scientific Revolution. So, perhaps a complete rethinking needs to done about the relationship between all these elements, from early modern technological progress to the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions up to the present.
Another important world historical element in the story of the expansion of the West and the Industrial Revolution involves the question of technological dialogue between other cultures and the West . Pacey points to a few examples of western borrowing from other cultures in the period of expansion. In the Industrial Revolution he suggests that the quality and cheapness of Indian textiles stimulated research into means of duplicating Indian products. This information seems to indicate that the technologies of the early Modern period as well as that of the Industrial Revolution should not be considered as western inventions independent of outside influences. A good problem for students to explore would be to look at cases of technological dialogue and mutual influences between western and non-western cultures. Currently, textbooks emphasize the role of technology in the West's expansion, over-simplifying a complex world historical phenomenon.
DEAD ENDS
In the enthusiasm to celebrate the achievements of technology, it is often overlooked that technological changes have not always panned out. There are many "dead-ends'' in technological development that are of some interest. This is my fourth concept for teaching technology in the world history survey. George Basalla in his book touting the evolutionary nature of technological invention mentions in great detail several fairly recent examples--the steam powered railway in England that overcame the problem of the heavy weight of steam engines by placing them on the ground and pulling the trains along by creating a vacuum to suck the trains forward. In the late 1950's and throughout the 1960's the United States government subsidized an atomic powered cargo ship which lost millions every year. It was built for political reasons rather than for economic and technological ones, and hence eventually was shelved when political will ran dry in the face of economic considerations.
The experiment in atomic power itself is another example of what, at least in 1996, appears to be a technological dead-end. The nation of India, in particular, bought into nuclear power in the late 1940's and 1950's and wasted precious start-up capital on what appears to be an expensive and dangerous experiment. Similar, but not as serious, efforts were made in the United States, France and other western nations. The defunct Soviet Union and its satellites may be the worst examples of the deadliness of nuclear power and how technology gone wrong can have fatal consequences.
In ancient times also there were some very costly technological bloopers. One of the earliest pyramids in Egypt had to be abandoned while the work was in progress because the inclination of the faces was too steep. The debris from the collapsed tomb is evident in the archaeological record. From the Hellenistic period, one of the Ptolemies of Egypt attempted to build a huge naval vessel powered by oars and sails and carrying marines. As it turned out, the ship was so huge that it couldn't move in the water.
In my modern course I like to have the students read the novel Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. It is very provocative for them because it both offers an interpretation of history and tackles the problem of the ecological crisis. Actually, these views are articulated by Quinn's hero, a gorilla named "Ishmael." The main point boils down to humanity's having taken a technological turn that leads to a dead end, although Quinn does not put it in those words. The big mistake that humans made was in buying into the Neolithic Revolution. All the other changes, including the Industrial Revolution, are determined by that one wrong turn. Pollution, global warming, the massive extinctions of the current scene all result from the shift from gathering and hunting to agriculture and the changed attitudes toward the environment that resulted. I try not to be intrusive when students write about and discuss these issues. Rather, I offer a series of questions designed to ensure that they understand the various factual points the author mentions and that they think about the questions he raises about human history. Appendix 2 has a list of my questions. I also supplement the information in the textbook by bringing in recent ecological articles from popular publications like the Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, Scientific American and the World Watch Institute's annualVital Signs.
Needless to say, a lot of controversy arises over Quinn's criticism of civilization as a "dead end." Some students challenge the environmental data and the negative consequences most scientists draw from it. Others embrace his point as a valid criticism of civilization and modernity. This controversy presents the students with an opportunity to discuss the nature of evidence and the problems civilizations face when traditional approaches to societal needs seem to be having consequences that threaten the very survival of society. Is modern society in a position similar to ancient Mesopotamia's where salt deposits from irrigation destroyed the soil's fertility? Or is it like most other civilizations whose methods of survival eventually destroyed them? Should massive changes be undertaken to prevent the negative consequences, or should the traditional system continue as is?
It is indeed ironic to finish a year's study of world history with the question of the possibility of people destroying life on the planet through the creation of technologies to make life easier, better and longer. History is a drama, a doing, and it can be interpreted as a tragedy. This conclusion for the modern world is certainly consistent with the way other civilizations turned out. And yet, a substantial number of my students think technology will save the world in the long run. Other means of salvation are never mentioned in the discussion of the current crisis. It seems to be a universally accepted axiom that the fate of the planet is tied to technology. This viewpoint is a characteristic of our times and reflects the experience of the last few generations which have seen the most dramatic technological changes in history.
I have attempted to present a limited number of ways to work technology into the world history survey while still suggesting its pervasive importance throughout human history. Personally there are other interesting topics like culture, social conditions, religions and philosophy, to name a few, that I like to spend time on. By carefully selecting these four concepts and tying them to students' participating in the historical process, I am able to use course time the most economically. I hope the readers will profit from these suggestions and perhaps work some of them into their own courses.
David R. Smith
History Department
California State University, Pomona
APPENDIX 1 WHY WESTERN EUROPE?
1. Geography
Atlantic coast-facing--experience in Azores et al; learned about winds
Escaped Mongol devastation
Failed Crusades--west and south the only directions to go in order to enter global trading network
2. Technology
learned from Islam, India and China--compass, gunpowder, shipping, paper, printing press....
take lead in 15th cent--astrolabe, improved compass, sails, ship-building; lens grinding, metallurgy
3. Economic
merchant capital expansion in late middle ages
rise of cities
decline of feudalism
demand for eastern products
technical innovation and borrowing--competition and copying
4. Political
small political units where merchants could have an impact
growth of monarch's power at expense of local dukes and lords
competition between monarchies
5. Demography
primogeniture meant many second and third sons had to look beyond homes for wealth and power (compare Normans in Sicily)
6. Religion
Christianity intolerant of other faiths
also was an aggressive missionary religion
Crusades had been based on religious justification for taking other societies' possessions
Bibliography
Knox, Paul and Agnew, John, The Geography of the World Economy. (London: Edward Arnold, 1989)
APPENDIX 2 HST 103 ISHMAEL QUESTIONS
1. What is the significance of the name "Ishmael?"
2. What makes Ishmael especially capable of teaching how to save the world?
3. What does Nazi Germany have to do with the point Ishmael is trying to make?
4. Who are the Takers and Leavers?
5 What story is Taker society enacting?
6. In Taker mythology why is there no certain knowledge about how to live?
7. How is the Taker Thunderbolt like a primitive flying machine?
8. What is the significance of Thomas Malthus and Robert Wallace?
9 What is the basic law about how to live?
10. How do the Takers violate this law?
11. What does the fundamental law ensure? and why is it important?
12. What will be the inevitable result of the Takers violating the fundamental law?
13. What does the example of Native American societies show?
14. According to Ishmael what kind of special knowledge do the gods have?
15. How does Ishmael interpret the Adam and Eve/Cain and Able stories?
16. Compare the Leavers' attitudes toward the past with the Takers'.
17. Is culture mindless? Has it started a process that has captured the human race?
18 What story are the Leavers enacting?
19. Who are the gods in Ishmael's reasoning about the creation and managing of the world?
20. To whom do the Leavers trust themselves?--the Takers?
21. What are the new names for the Takers and Leavers?
22. How did man become man? Why will Taker culture prevent him from becoming something more?
23. In the Leaver story, what is man's role?
24. How can the destruction of life be prevented?
25. What is the prison industry in Taker culture?
26. Since it is too late to go back to Leaver societies, how can the planet and universe be saved?
History of Technology Bibliography (AHA Guide)
Technology and Culture, 1959 ff
Eugene Ferguson, Bibliography of the history of technology. Cambridge, Mass, MIT Pr, 1968.
Maurice Daumas, ed. A History of technology and inventions: progress through the ages. 1969 ed., 3 vols. survey from origins to 1860. best survey of the field
George Basalla, The Evolution of Technology. N.Y.: Cambridge U. Pr, 1988
Joel Mokyr, The lever of riches: technological creativilty and economic progress. N.Y. Oford U. Pr., 1990
Arnold Pacey, Technology in world civilization: a thousand-year history. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Pr, 1990.
Arnold Pacey, The maze of ingenuity :ideas and idealism in the development of technology. 2nd ed., Cambridge, Mass: MIT Pr, 1992
Vaclav Smil, Energy in World History. Boulder et al, Westview Pr, 1994 ( Essays in World History, edited by Wm. H. McNeill and Ross E. Dunn)
R.A. Buchanan, The Power of the Machine: The Impact of Technology from 1700 to the Present. Penguin, 1994 (originally Viking, 1992)