Thoughts & Reflections: The Human Story Chapter 14 - We make more and live better.
This chapter in the human story otulines the changes humanty underwent during the industrial revolution and what some of those consequenses might have been. Before the industrial revolution humanity had low living conditions. This was because Textiles, food, and tools produced so little even though the people who made them were skilled and the tools were solid. This was becasue the tools were simple and people worked alone or in small groups each person working on all of the tasks rather than specializing on one. In 1615 there were three distinct social classes, the top was about a hundred families that were able to help those in need, but they were not considered rich. The second group was made of 160 families that could feed themselves and didn't need to beg, and the third group was considered barely, or not self sufficient. The main problem that we needed to fix was how to produce more so people can have more.
In order to fix this issue of low productivity, we would need production aids, worker specialization, and organization. The first country to have an industrial revolution is England. England was able to start an industrial revolution in the 1700s becasue they were isolatedd from the wars which allowed them to raise their population. This rise in population also saw the rise in demand for basic goods. The textile trade was the first one to take off. in the 1730s a new and improved loom was designed by a man named Kay. The introduction of a new and improved loom meant that the demand for thread also had to keep up. In 1764 a man named james hargreaves invented a spinner tthat could spin 16 threads at once. Eventually they were able to produce water powered mills that ran day and night. this again created a supply and demand problem again. A clergy man in 1815 also made a water powered weaver. At this time England was using charcoal to power it's iron furnaces, which meant that most of England's forests were disappearing. They eventually switched to coal, which England had a large surplus of. This coupled with another water powered bellow inveted by a man named Darby allowed furnaces to be super heated and more efficient. This made iron readily available and allowed britian to build more railroads and machines. Steam powered cylinder engines allowed for even more power. Busness men handled the orgnisation side of production, building cramped and overcrowded worker dorms, so the factories could be ran 24/7. The new organisation also allowed workers to specialize and focus on one job.
One characteristic of the industrial revolution was the ability to mass produce uniform products. This allowed for better marketing and easier brand recognition.
Many Lives were effected by the industrial revolution. The demand for railroads displaced native americans, but also made a small town named Phoenixville rich. Railroad bridges were made using per-fabricated steel beams making construction quicker and faster. This meant an influx of people into the west. Railroads were constructed using almost slave labor, but the wages did help to increase the standard of living, many Native Americans were displaced.
The industrial revolution meant that we would eventually be able to reach the moon our ancestors once thought was a god. However this progress comes at a cost. Currently we are dealing with diminishing natural resources and runaway climate change. We might never be able to fix the damage we caused during the industrial revolution.
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