I hope i'm not the only one who can see this. and i think its a little too late to reverse the damage that man/technology has caused.
2007-12-26 17:38:49 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
On the contrary: We're much better off than we were.
During the Industrial Revolution, income per person (adjusted for inflation and such) DOUBLED. The poor were making twice the income they were in the early 1800s than they were in the late 1700s.
Medical technology has led to drastically longer life expectancies and cures to a variety of diseases that were previously incurable. Literacy rates went WAY up, which means that the average person became smarter and better informed.
People no longer have to work 12-hour workdays to support themselves, and they suffer much less sexual or racial discrimination nowadays, in addition to various benefits like overtime pay and health benefits that have developed after the industrial revolution.
Now, we have federal laws dictating what and how food is made: no longer do we have to worry about the dubious contents of our food, as depicted in Sinclair's "The Jungle."
I could go on for hours with a list of benefits we reaped as a result of the industrial revolution, but I need to go to bed soon. Now, things weren't ALL good, because the revolution introduced pollution, urban crowding and (perhaps) higher levels of crime.
But overall? We are WAY more comfortable than we've ever been.
2007-12-26 18:02:10 · answer #1 · answered by n3rday 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It is not the technology that causes the damage but man. You can find pre-technological civilizations which essentially destroyed their own habitat and then vanished. No big deal.
If you want to get back to nature, feel free. Just don't come back asking for help when you are dying of a simple bacterial infection or your teeth are falling out because of scurvy or just poor oral hygiene.
Please turn off your computer now and shut off the lights in your house. No more heating. Tomorrow you will take off all your clothe and walk out into the wilderness naked. From there you have to figure out all by yourself how to survive since you don't want technology any more.
Good Luck!
2007-12-26 18:01:25 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
its apples and oranges. Before the industrial rev the largest polluter in a large city was possibly the horses used to move everyone around. Now it is the cars doing the same thing. The horses gave off???? Horse crap of course. Cars give off??? The exhaust gasses. So basically your choices have changed. You want to die of cancer at 55 or 60 years of age or typhoid at 7? Yes I know this generalizes but I think most thinking people get my point.
Advances in Medical science alone justify our progress. Look at all the portraits painted before the common use of a smallpox vaccine. Smallpox was endemic in European and American society. Every body was in some way affected. All those clear complexions, those scar-less faces,,, only existed in the portrait.
2007-12-26 17:50:04 · answer #3 · answered by WstCotter G 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
From what perspective?
Before the industrial revolution, and even for some
time after, life for the common man was, to quote a
contemporary sage; ".... nasty, brutish, and short".
2007-12-27 10:05:51 · answer #4 · answered by Irv S 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I kinda like the benefits of the industrial revolution.
2007-12-26 17:55:32 · answer #5 · answered by Paladin 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
"It is better to close your mouth and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt!" -anon-
2007-12-26 18:45:16 · answer #6 · answered by Helmut 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
how can you ask such a question on the INTERNET!
2007-12-26 17:43:34 · answer #7 · answered by 88ev88 3 · 5⤊ 0⤋