The Worlds Greatest Mod
From Mod Mania
Throughout the history of man we have been constantly developing techniques and ways of creating things. Every now and then something groundbreaking pop’s up, and re-defines the way everything in everyone’s lives works. These developments change everything so radically that they are defined as new ‘ages’ of mankind. The Stone Age, the Iron Age, the middle ages and currently the technological age are some of history’s most recognised periods of development. Sometime during the 18th and 19th centuries however, within the space of a hundred years, something happened which so radically changed everything in human life that it was later called a revolution.
== The Industrial Revolution ==
Although there was no official start, or end, or even a reason for the industrial revolution (henceforth referred to as the iR) it is generally slated as having started between 1760 and 1780. However because there was no one particular innovation which started it (such as iron forging for the iron age) it could be said that the iR started in the middle ages with the invention of the printing press and the clock (Lewis Mumford), with one with one holding the title of the first form of true universal communication, and the other a means with which to define the way we organise our lives. Or it could have just been lurking in the shadows waiting for the right level of technology to come along to pick it up. If that was the case, then James Watt’s steam engine was the light that pushed the idea into reality. Although it was not the first steam engine, it was the first with the strength to pressurise the steam to atmospheric levels. This device very quickly replaced the waterwheel for practical reasons, and enabled the even more important steam train to come into existence.
In its purest form, the iR was the period in which people moved away from hand made products, and moved into mass production. The steam engine was essential for this jump to happen, as it brought the cost of machines down radically, made it feasible to create complex machines (such as the spinning jenny) and allowed for transport of both the fuels and building materials for the machines, as well as the products they produced. Before this happened all clothing was made by hand, and all food served from the local farms. Suddenly manufacturers were able to produce their goods in bulk, and for marginal prices. This of course was great for the consumer, but resulted in many artisans becoming unemployed. This ended up sparking the Luddite social movement which originated with the lace workers near Nottingham who spoke up about the issue, and as the movement grew, they began rioting, and in some cases destroying factories.
Human life overall has benefited from the iR. The percentage of infants and children that survive has risen drastically, we have access to a huge variety of fresh produce from around the globe, and have such a massive choice of products that we can access almost anything needed. Most importantly however is the fact that society in the western world is now no longer so starkly divided between the rich and the poor, as the middle class now dominates spectrum, and even the poor are better off now than they ever have been. The iR resulted in the creation of factories, and brought people from the countryside into their major cities, which in itself allowed social innovation to rocket forwards.
