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I I was born two months after the Sputnik was launched, in December 1957. In light of the cold war, it seemed that technology was a fearful thing. The shadow of the nuclear era caused society to view technical knowledge as the domain of the superpowers of the world. Meanwhile, Americans were saturated with the creature comforts of televisions, washing machines, and electric can openers. If it were not for the second world war, many of the technologies that became economic necessities, such as assembly lines, mass production, and automation would have suffered a decline back into the abyss of the great depression. Consequently, America was on the verge of a great consumer boom that inflated consumers, and societies , expectations of a Jetsons style civilization. It was with the launch of the Sputnik, that the world and America in particular, began to realize the terrifying implications that technology would portend. The space race was on, and as a child it seemed technology to me extended no further than the cartoons on television, it would seem that my family was tecnologically challenged. (click on image). |
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