I love the tech but have much the same feelings. AI maybe improve the world eventually, but I predict a painful future in the intervening time. I hope investors turn sooner than later to slow this train but we’ll see. Lot of big players betting the farm on AI, to the point where they’ll do everything to see it through.
This is probably more of a failing of infrastructure and planning than technology. But I think if we only handle advances in technology as a thing on paper and not a thing in society used by people, then we miss an important, but simple point. Technologies are used by people and they is the only way they can change society.
As the population of Britain increased during the 19th century, the number of toilets did not match this expansion. In overcrowded cities, such as London and Manchester, up to 100 people might share a single toilet. Sewage, therefore, spilled into the streets and the rivers.
This found its way back into the drinking water supply (which was brown when it came out of the pipes) and was further polluted by chemicals, horse manure and dead animals; as a result, tens of thousands died of water-borne disease, especially during the cholera outbreaks of the 1830s and 1850s.
In 1848, the government decreed that every new house should have a water-closet (WC) or ash-pit privy. “Night soil men” were engaged to empty the ash pits. However, after a particularly hot summer in 1858, when rotting sewage resulted in “the great stink (pictured right in a cartoon of the day)”, the government commissioned the building of a system of sewers in London; construction was completed in 1865. At last, deaths from cholera, typhoid and other waterborne diseases dropped spectacularly.
The Great Stink only arises because of the development of a sewer system that piped all the sewage to the Thames. And it didn’t stop with the stink:
Despite Bazalgette’s ingenuity, the system still dumped tons of raw sewage into the Thames - sometimes with unfortunate results. The death toll from the sinking of the pleasure boat Princess Alice in 1878 would certainly have been smaller if it had sunk elsewhere on the Thames. As it was, it went down close to one of the main sewage outfalls. Approximately 640 passengers died, many poisoned rather than drowned. Horror at the deaths was instrumental in the building of a series of riverside sewage treatment plants. [Science Museum]
So that’s just one example of toilet technology causing a mess. I bet there are others such as the need for an ‘S’ pipe. But ultimately, technological improvements require a little foresight, insight, feedback and a lot of social power.
Name 5 that did not have sweeping adverse consequences, with accompanying sources. I will even accept Wikipedia pages if they have attributions. Make sure they are major ones that really shaped the course of human existence moving forward from their introduction.
I love the tech but have much the same feelings. AI maybe improve the world eventually, but I predict a painful future in the intervening time. I hope investors turn sooner than later to slow this train but we’ll see. Lot of big players betting the farm on AI, to the point where they’ll do everything to see it through.
Every advance in technology (see all the Luddites in history) have been accompanied with a wake of pain.
What about toilet technology?
Especially toilets. They know what they did…
Imagine having to raise an entire city 6 feet so there’s room to install a sewage system.
This is probably more of a failing of infrastructure and planning than technology. But I think if we only handle advances in technology as a thing on paper and not a thing in society used by people, then we miss an important, but simple point. Technologies are used by people and they is the only way they can change society.
Any case, toilets ruined London for a couple of decades:
The Great Stink only arises because of the development of a sewer system that piped all the sewage to the Thames. And it didn’t stop with the stink:
So that’s just one example of toilet technology causing a mess. I bet there are others such as the need for an ‘S’ pipe. But ultimately, technological improvements require a little foresight, insight, feedback and a lot of social power.
Haha wow I had no idea, just was being a smart ass and got a fun fact out of it. Thanks for sharing!
Not every new piece of technology is actually an advancement. You have an extreme case of selection bias in your assessment.
Name 5 that did not have sweeping adverse consequences, with accompanying sources. I will even accept Wikipedia pages if they have attributions. Make sure they are major ones that really shaped the course of human existence moving forward from their introduction.