The history and future of technology : can technology save humanity from extinction? / Robert U. Ayres.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ayres, Robert U., author.

Contributor:

ProQuest ebook central.

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Technology--History.

Technology.

History.

Technology--Social aspects.

Technology and civilization.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations (chiefly color)

Place of Publication:

Cham : Springer, [2021]

[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], [2021]

System Details:

text file

Contents:

Intro

Preface

Acknowledgments

Contents

Part I: Before the Industrial Revolution

1: Introduction

2: Fire and Water: Technologies Extending Nature

2.1 Bipedalism: Down from the Trees

2.2 Pottery, Cooking, and Mobility

2.3 Keeping the Dark at Bay

2.4 Pain, Anesthesia, and Surgery

2.5 Water Management and Farming

2.6 Agriculture

2.7 Extensions of the Legs: Mobility and Transport

3: Extensions of the Body

3.1 From Skin to Fibers

3.2 From Fibers to Fabrics and Clothing

3.3 From Caves to Walls to Settlements

3.4 From Teeth and Claws to Bows and Arrows

3.5 Metallurgy

3.6 Firearms and Explosives

4: Words and Music

4.1 Cave Art

4.2 Writing and Stories

4.3 Tokens, Numbers, Ideographs, Pictographs, and Cuneiform

4.4 Logography: Shift from Visual to Aural

4.5 The Alphabet: Segmentation of Sounds

4.6 Musical Notation

4.7 Musical Instruments

4.8 From Numbers to Arithmetic And Algebra

5: Printing, Movable Type, and Books

5.1 Precursors of Paper

5.2 Gutenberg, Movable Type, and the Bible

5.3 The Protestant Reformation and the Rise of Knowledge

Part II: The Age of Fossile Fuels

6: The Enlightenment: The Rise of Science

6.1 Money and Credit

6.2 Universities and "Higher Learning"

6.3 Alchemy and Chemistry

6.4 Magnetism and Electricity

6.5 Philosophy and Astronomy

6.6 Entropy, Complexity, and the Universe as a "Heat Engine"

7: The First Stage of Industrialization: Coking and Canals (1712-1820)

7.1 Coking and Iron Smelting

7.2 Coal and Canals

7.3 Foundations of Chemistry

7.4 The Alkali Industry and Soap Making

7.5 Phosphorus and "Safety Matches"

7.6 Rubber

8: Machine Tools and Mechanization

8.1 Attaching Metals: Welding, Soldering and Brazing, Riveting

8.2 Screws, Machines, and Machine Tools

8.3 Ball Bearings and Roller Bearings

8.4 Printing Inventions

8.5 Clocks, Automata, and Watches

8.6 Locks and Keys

8.7 The Repeating Rifle and the Safety Pin

8.8 The Zipper Fastener

8.9 The Bicycle

9: The Triumph of Steam and Steel (1820-1876)

9.1 From a Pump to an Engine

9.2 Trevithick's High-Pressure Steam Engine

9.3 Mechanization of Textile Manufacturing

9.4 George Stephenson and the Railway Boom

9.5 The Hot Blast and Cheap Steel

10: Petroleum and Petrochemicals

10.1 Petroleum, the New "Black Gold"

10.2 Coal Gas for Streetlighting

10.3 Aniline Dyes

10.4 Synthetic Fibers: From Rayon to Orlon

10.5 Fertilizers and Nitrogen Fixation

10.6 Petroleum Refining Technology

11: Anesthesia, Surgery, and Modern Medicine

11.1 Anesthesia, Analgesics, and the Conquest of Pain

11.2 Antiseptics and Antibiotics

11.3 Immunology and Vaccines

11.4 Opiates and Drug Injection

11.5 Sulfa Drugs

12: Mobility: From Rails to Roads to Space Travel

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI Available via World Wide Web.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (SpringerLink, viewed August 6, 2021).

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9783030713935

3030713938

Publisher Number:

99988144244

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.