How inventions reshape society through technology

The history of technology is the history of human invention, from simple tools to complex techniques such as genetic engineering and information technology. These lessons answer how inventions reshape society and help readers understand the changes they bring. They trace this relationship through energy, industry, urban life, and communication.

2 articles, 1 video, 1 book · about 1 hr 13 min of reading and viewing

The reading path

1. Read
   

   the history of technology · Wikipedia · 49 min read

   The British Industrial Revolution, a period characterized by developments in textile machinery, mining, metallurgy, transport, and machine tools, was driven by cheap energy from coal produced in ever-increasing amounts from Britain's abundant resources. Wind-powered machines used to grind grain and pump water, the windmill and wind pump, first appeared in what are now Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan by the 9th century. Used in gristmilling and sugarcane industries, the windmill helped make agriculture more productive. WDM is wavelength-division multiplexing, a technology that increased Internet transmission capacity by orders of magnitude, enabling the mass commercialization and popularization of the Internet.

2. Read
   

   Industrial Revolution: Definition, Inventions & Dates - HISTORY | HISTORY · HISTORY · 7 min read

   The Industrial Revolution transformed largely rural, agrarian societies, especially in Europe and North America, into industrialized, urban ones. Machines and factory production made goods that had been crafted by hand in mass quantities. Industrialization accelerated migration from Britain's rural areas to cities, as large factories turned smaller towns into major cities over decades. The resulting rapid urbanization brought overcrowding, pollution, inadequate sanitation, miserable housing and a lack of safe drinking water.

3. Watch
   

   The Industrial Revolution: Crash Course European History #24 · YouTube · 17 min watch

   Steam power and mechanization drove the Industrial Revolution, and they also produced labor and social movements.

4. Book
   

   The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution · Bookshop.org

   The Innovators by Walter Isaacson summarizes the contributions of innovators in computer technology and its applications, from Ada Lovelace, the world's first computer programmer, through the Information Age of the present.

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