1/14/05

difference in technological advancements between the north and the south
why? don't need labor-saving machines if you have slaves, agriculture was a better investment in the south, attitudes of the people (south didn't want change)

the need for transportation systems to unify the country
railroad--how they adapted the technology to suit U.S. geography, U.S. leadership in steamboats,  adapting steamboats to the Mississippi river, industry needed efficient transportation--you can't have large factories without ways of bringing products to consumers, streetcar re-arranges the city, who invests the money needed to build these systems?

why the United States advanced differently:
geographic differences, political differences, socio-economic differences (weaker class system, democracy rather than privilege), belief in the possibility of upward mobility

labor:
shortage of labor, balance between farming and factory work, different ways of organizing factories, coming of large numbers of immigrants

mass production:
1. textile factories
2. American system of manufacture (machines with interchangeable parts)
3. assembly line
4. robots

overall question: what shaped American technology?
geography, political ideas, necessity is the mother of invention

invention:
before civil war--ordinary people who see a need for something
civil war to WWI--inventors
after WWI--corporations looking to make money

demand pull vs. technology push (invent it first then create a need for it)

government incentives and regulation:
patent system
better laws for incorporating businesses
steam boat regulation
beginnings of government intervention

impact of technology on society
impact of society on technology