Difference between revisions of "325--2011--Week 6 Questions/Comments"
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Nye mentions how technology improved the work of farmers and how productivity increased. Technology also had an effect on the family life of the farmer. Nye claims, “A TVA study showed that electric lights added two to four hours a day to a family’s potential working time, giving them more flexibility in planning the day’s activities . . . . Refrigerators retarded food spoilage and improved the family diet” (323-24). It is important that eventually electricity was not restricted to the cities because its use in rural areas increased productivity on farms. However it also was beneficial in factories. As Dr. McClurken mentioned in class, the use of electricity in factories made it possible for machines to run longer and the factories did not have to be built near rivers. | Nye mentions how technology improved the work of farmers and how productivity increased. Technology also had an effect on the family life of the farmer. Nye claims, “A TVA study showed that electric lights added two to four hours a day to a family’s potential working time, giving them more flexibility in planning the day’s activities . . . . Refrigerators retarded food spoilage and improved the family diet” (323-24). It is important that eventually electricity was not restricted to the cities because its use in rural areas increased productivity on farms. However it also was beneficial in factories. As Dr. McClurken mentioned in class, the use of electricity in factories made it possible for machines to run longer and the factories did not have to be built near rivers. | ||
–Samantha W. | –Samantha W. | ||
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| + | I found the most interesting part of this reading to be the comparison between American and European electricity principles. The Europeans were all for getting electricity to every home, especially to rural homes, while America was set on private initiatives. Nye states, "American government only pointed to the problem, and expected farmers to organize and secure electrical service for themselves," (p 288). Why did the government leave it to the farmers to deal with this alone? Why was electricity so easily accessible in urban areas? Why were rural areas readily able to accept new technologies, but when it came to electricity it was not as important? And once again we look back to man vs. nature when Nye states, "From the viewpoint of conservative critics, rural electrification meant more than sanitation, comfort, and higher production; it threatened the balance between man and nature," (p. 290). Man already new how to deal with nature agriculturally, they had been doing it now for centuries. But when you alter how man interacts with nature, you may have created another problem all together.--Claire Brooks | ||
== Building the Electrical System -- What Was Electricity? == | == Building the Electrical System -- What Was Electricity? == | ||
