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"Global Hegemony and the Rise of Technology as the Main Measure of Human Achievement" |
After the 18th century, technology became more useful for economic needs, or the beginnings of capitalism, than for its original purpose, agriculture needs and survival. Michael Adas’ article states that the ruler of mankind was no longer nature or even government but science and technology. He uses primary documents written by educated Europeans and statistics to prove that the more technology advanced the more superior European nations felt. Great Britain ’s successes in mass production and technological advances led writers like Charles Kingsley to honor Britain as a powerful and great nation. Kingsley's character in his novel Yeast represents the political economist, the sanitary reformer, and the engineers whose inventions like the spinning jenny, railroads, ocean liners, and electric telegraphs proved to the world Britain’s power and superiority. (pg 139.) Michael Adas uses the production of iron to show Britain’s technological achievement as well. The production of iron ore, with the help of Henry Cort’s “puddling” process which uses coke instead of charcoal, had gone from an estimated 61,000 tons in 1788 to over 227,000 tons in 1806. Iron began to replace wood as building material, leading to the world’s first five and six story buildings in the 1790s. (pg 135) Cotton textile production increased ten times as much in 1822 than it had been in 1785. Britain had no choice now but to find new markets for their products which led to a hunger for lands overseas. In an 1839 essay, Thomas Carlyle stated that industrialization showed, “the triumph of man over nature.” In some ways he was right. Europeans now had better means of transportation, cloth production, and mass production of agriculture. If the British were better fed and clothed than any other people, why shouldn’t they feel superior? Europeans transported their ideas and technology to other parts of the world, even if it meant using force. They now saw the once impressive cultures of Asia as backwards or stagnant. Advances in weapon design and production allowed Europeans to forcibly put down civilizations who resisted trade, conversion, and exploration. The French were not far behind the British. They founded universities for the study of technology such as l’Ecole Polytechnique and l’Ecole des Ponts et Chausses (an engineering school.) In Germany scientists and advanced laboratories became an integral part of German industries. Nowhere in the world had such emphasis on technology had been previously observed. Chinese education was based on Confucian ideas, Indian universities did not place an emphasis on technology, and African societies had not been exposed to advanced technologies as in Europe or even other nations. Europe was advancing at a faster and more productive pace than all of them (at least in their mind.) Delaville Lacepede even states that “civilizations fringing the Mediterranean especially those that had arisen in Europe represented the height of human accomplishment.” (pg 141) They now had the upper hand and the ability to colonize and civilize other civilizations. European imperialist could now justify their endeavors by pointing out European technological advances such as oceangoing steamships, textile production using Watt’s rotative engine, and the Bessemer process for steel production. Michael Adas also points out how there were some people who felt a twinge of uncertainty at the prospect of technology taking over the economy. They feared that the working-class would be abused by the new system. However, even some of them saw the advantages that technology could bring to them as well. Thomas Carlyle , at first, was a critic of industrialization but later urged the masses to embrace technology. As colonization spread, Europeans began to use technology as the ultimate comparison between civilized nations and uncivilized nations. These nations were pressured into embracing technology as Europeans had already done. The ultimate comparisons between civilizations were “metal vs. wood, machine vs. human or animal power, science vs. superstition and myth, synthetic vs. organic, progressive vs. stagnant” (pg 144) whereas it used to be religion and political systems. A shift had occurred as a result of the industrial revolution. Asian civilizations, like China, were once considered stable and impressive. European nations now viewed the world through the eyes of technology which left no room for anything else. As their technology advanced, Europeans expanded to other nations in order to spread their superior ideas and inventions.
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Questions or comments? E-mail me at [email protected]. |