What the Victorians Did for Us
I have a new favorite show (along with Ugly Betty and The Office): What the Victorians Did for Us. It's a British show that airs on History International, and it's a cheeky (literally ... on the most recent episode, the host Adam Hart-Davis ended the show naked, enjoying a bicycle-powered shower) look at the Victorian innovations that made life the way it is today.
Technology is moving so fast today that we - or I anyway - often think of this time as the most innovative, the most quickly changing. It's easy to consider our ancestors primitive and wonder how they survived in a world with no Internet.
But What the Victorians Did for Us points out just how many of the technologies we take for granted - the indoor bathroom, aspirin, ice cream, and the sewer system - originated with the Victorians. Sure, we come out with a new version of the iPod or Motorola Razr every five minutes, but we're not so superior. We still don't know how to cure the common cold, let alone cancer or Alzheimer's or Lou Gehrig's disease. We still fight wars that go nowhere, and we still burn fossil fuels to travel.
I wonder ... in 100 years, what will the TV shows say about us? Will TV even still exist? Will someone have finally invented that teleporter? And for all the new technology, will the world be any kinder? Will humans be any better?
Technology is moving so fast today that we - or I anyway - often think of this time as the most innovative, the most quickly changing. It's easy to consider our ancestors primitive and wonder how they survived in a world with no Internet.
But What the Victorians Did for Us points out just how many of the technologies we take for granted - the indoor bathroom, aspirin, ice cream, and the sewer system - originated with the Victorians. Sure, we come out with a new version of the iPod or Motorola Razr every five minutes, but we're not so superior. We still don't know how to cure the common cold, let alone cancer or Alzheimer's or Lou Gehrig's disease. We still fight wars that go nowhere, and we still burn fossil fuels to travel.
I wonder ... in 100 years, what will the TV shows say about us? Will TV even still exist? Will someone have finally invented that teleporter? And for all the new technology, will the world be any kinder? Will humans be any better?
Labels: commentary, history
posted by K | 9:48 AM
2 Comments:
I am personally very pro-teleporter. That way you can pop by for a glass of mint tea...?
Mmm, mint tea! I've had that before at Miss Melissa's, yum yum!
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