Difference between revisions of "325--2011--Week 6 Questions/Comments"
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One of the most interesting things that I found from this reading was the quote, "As could be heard in everyday metaphors describing the body as an electrical machine that could be overloaded, burned out, recharged, and shorted out." (p. 184) It reminded me of two things, one being the McEvoy reading about the ecological approach to industry and how the worker's body is the biological core or the industrial ecosystem. It also reminded me of the constant man vs. nature issue that we have been seeing all throughout this semester with the new technologies that are produced. Nye's, and the general public's metaphors really can show the importance of the growing technologies in America through this time. But going back to the main question of what is electricity, is it a commodity? This brings up Nye's statement, "One consequence of defining it as a commodity was that most farmers were excluded from the electrified world." (p. 184). The majority of Americans at this time, I believe I read were farmers, thus the majority of American were without electricity, and all because the electricity at the time was privately owned. --Claire Brooks | One of the most interesting things that I found from this reading was the quote, "As could be heard in everyday metaphors describing the body as an electrical machine that could be overloaded, burned out, recharged, and shorted out." (p. 184) It reminded me of two things, one being the McEvoy reading about the ecological approach to industry and how the worker's body is the biological core or the industrial ecosystem. It also reminded me of the constant man vs. nature issue that we have been seeing all throughout this semester with the new technologies that are produced. Nye's, and the general public's metaphors really can show the importance of the growing technologies in America through this time. But going back to the main question of what is electricity, is it a commodity? This brings up Nye's statement, "One consequence of defining it as a commodity was that most farmers were excluded from the electrified world." (p. 184). The majority of Americans at this time, I believe I read were farmers, thus the majority of American were without electricity, and all because the electricity at the time was privately owned. --Claire Brooks | ||
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| + | Electrification in America was in no way an easy or “natural” process. It shaped every aspect of American life involving social, political, and technical interactions. American electrification was primarily a private enterprise, and because electricity was privately owned, it had to make a profit. Adding electricity in homes only allowed the upper class Americans to begin electrification and eventually as time progressed, electrifying homes slowly spreading on. Nye mentions in chapter four that “Electricity was not a mere matter of profits; it helped to define modernity, progress, and physical and social well-being.” – Megan Gallagher | ||
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| + | Since its “invention” the American electric system was primarily part of the private industry (139). Unlike the electric system in Europe which was developed in the context of a welfare state and was often public, the American system was focused on gaining profit. This went hand in hand with other privately owned major industries, the telephone, the railroad, and the telegraph, industries that in other countries were state controlled. The private utilities in America were better equipped to pay for the costs of electricity and so the government’s role became primarily to regulate utilities (140). In America under the private system of ownership the majority of American farmers obtained electrical service only after the intervention of government run programs. | ||
| + | The public opinion on electrification was complex and there were differing views. “Electricity was not merely a matter of profits; it helped to define modernity, progress, and physical and social well-being (141).” Businessmen institutionalized electrification as a commodity, the general public initially viewed electricity as an “enlivening” juice that would help to turn America into a Utopia, and the technical elite saw electricity as a tool for social improvement (182-183). -Kathleen Mead | ||
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| + | I feel like electricity started a culture of its own, or perhaps started various cultures of its own. I also feel that electricity, like so many other items in American culture, started out as nothing but a large picture in how to make this as profitable as possible. Yes, it ended up shaping American culture into the "social well-being" as we look on it in retrospect, but this was a for-profit venture. So I have to ask, is this a pattern that we'll encounter with every invention, or is there anything that was truley made for the good of American kind? ==Stephanie Lipscomb | ||
