Most American students today cannot imagine life without cars,
without telephones, without television. Our
lives today revolve around very advanced technologies, none of which existed two
hundred years ago.
Some
of these technologies are obvious blessings:
where would we be without pasteurization, for example?
But other aspects of industrialization have been a curse: problems with pollution and the prospect of global warming
haunt us every day. Although this
particular lesson asked you to consider the evils of industrialization in
England in the 19th century, it should also lead you to think about
the role of industrialization in the modern world.
Are we really better off? Has
industrialization brought a blessing or a curse upon the earth?