Impact of the Industrial Revolution

From the Industrial Revolution, there came a lot of misfortune and bad circumstances. By changing the very concept of work, the social, political, religious, and economic aspects of people's lives worsened. In the case of economy, as technology becomes more integrated, there is less work because the machines alone are able do what various humans cannot. For example, in China, the working class lost value because of the better technology that replaced workers. For social aspects, the technology integration makes the family life worse. For example, families became less unified because the males needed to leave farther away from their homes for work. For political aspects, the change doesn't just occur in America, it happens even in places across the world. However, some places didn't have an Industrial Revolution and never developed. In Africa for example, since there wasn't any political unity, there wasn't any Industrial Revolution that occurred because government never stabilized as it did in the U.S. For religious aspects, the integration of technology made a lot of people from different cultures move because work required them to, which caused more diverse cultures to appear. Technology is a negative aspect because it makes the lives of people harder than it already is and it changes the structure of life. For example, you see women beginning to work in textile factories, which is a man's job. For the concept of wealth, land is no longer very important because of agriculture being controlled by a minority of people; this in turn causes the demand for land to decrease.

The Industrial Revolution was responded by in various ways. For example, the Luddites were shocked and afraid by the new advances of technology in the work places. They thought the new technology would become a major obstacle to the textile craftsmen. In class last week, we learned about the spectrum of positions that people were catogorized in. In this case of the Luddites, they would be placed in the reactionary category because they did not want change.

TED Talk: Response On Niall Ferguson

Niall Ferguson really interested and taught me many things that I didn't even know. The best part of his lecture was that he was able to keep everyone entertained while giving accurate information. The most important part of his lecture is when he speaks of the 6 six killer apps that include: competition, the scientific revolution, property rights, modern medicine, the consumer society, and the work ethic. The 6 killer apps are what allowed many civilizations to improve their economies and they sum up The Great Divergence. Now, The Great Divergence is the difference in GDP of various countries like America, China, India, and Britain. From this, Niall explained how in the 1500s, countries like China were more wealthy and grew stronger than a lot of other countries. However, through the 1600s - 1900s, the difference in GDP in various countries became drastically different. Niall explains that this occurred because of the economic and techological changes. For example, Niall says that the average American in 1970 is 20 times richer than the average Chinese and he says this all ties together with the lifestyle of the country and its people. Overall, Niall supported all of his statements with concrete facts and explained them in an easily comprehensible way.

Fabian Fucan Rejects Christianity Response

It seems as though Fabian has experienced a great deal of misfortune throughout his life. In the beginning of his life, he was supposedly mislead on the wrong religious path and this angered him greatly because he wasted so many years for nothing. He hated the faith of Christianity and tried to attack the teachings of it through his work, Deus Destroyed. Fabian said that Japan is the Land of the Gods and that the adherents of Deus are trying to convert the people there. He also believes that Japan's rulers have received their instructions for rule from their own gods such as Amaterasu Omikami; this supports the fact that Japan has its own cultural and religious aspects which shape its political structure. Finally, Fabian says that other countries such as the Philippines and Mexico have already fallen under the conversion to Christianity, but Japan will not fall because it's much more fierce. Overall, Fabian shows the spread of Christianity in many places and tries to prove that it's a religion of false ideals.

Olaudah Equiano

From the reading of the passage, I can say that there was massive cruelty in all of this slave trade business. There wasn't any type of freedom or anything for the slaves, just sickness and suffering. The crews of slave ships took drastic measures to ensure the maximum profits from the business of transporting human cargoes. They did things like forcing slaves to eat by tying them up and hurting the ones that tried to escape the ship. However, there were many slave deaths that occurred during the first trips of bringing slaves over seas, but crews tried to decrease slave deaths with them still being in captivity. Basically, the crews did whatever they could to ensure that the slaves could be sold for money to various other places.

DBQ Response

The DBQ was unlike the other two essays in my opinion. The other two types of essays mainly had to deal with information that you needed to know beforehand, but in this essay, all the information is presented. I think it's pretty hard to deal with as of the moment because i'm not familiar with how to approach it. Also, putting passages together from the DBQ packet is quite hard because you need to understand them enough to support your argument (thesis). Finally, the last hard part of the DBQ is the time limit. This essay requires that you read information instead of using prior knowledge. This means that you'll be using up time to read and interpret the information before you actually write it up. Overall, I hope to be able to write the DBQ properly and get some high points on it.

Improved Map of Africa

Promotional Videos Response

I would assess the gold and silver aspect of the Europeans coming to the new world. Everyone from Europe wanted gold as it was the most precious metal that anyone could possess. However, when they saw the incredible amounts of gold in the South American continent, they knew that the jackpot had been found. Gold wasn't valuble in South America, but the Europeans were able to do so many things with it such getting wealthy and rising up in the social hierarchy. The most important aspect to this project is the ability to gather people up and have them do what you tell them. If you can convince others of the greatness from the new world, then you've successfully completed the task. The least important aspect is trying to make the video too comedic; too much comedy defeats the purpose of the argument. I believe everyone did a wonderful job with their promotional videos, but Paul's and Twinkle's stood out the most in my opinion. Their video stood out because they addressed each aspect of their topic in a very smooth and understandable way.

James Loewen: Chapter of Christopher Columbus

I don't find James Loewen's argument on Christopher Columbus convincing at all really. In all honesty, after reading his works, I realize that Columbus wasn't as great as everyone thought he was. People believed that he was this kind, hearted adventurous fellow, but in reality, he was the opposite. For example, he mistreated various amounts of people from both genders, male and female, when he reached certain places like the Carribean. Also, the very fact is that Columbus is supposedly the first person to reach the Americas, but this is just a speculation. After all, Zheng He and his fleet were also others who supposedly might have beaten Columbus at this game of hide and seek 70 years prior. However, Zheng He's expedition seems more legitimate because there is more information that supports his than Columbus'. Columbus' claims and supports were mainly backed by the Christian faith and there wasn't really concrete evidence of his achieving the Americas first.

Bentley and Ziegler present Columbus much better than what Loewen accuses textbooks of doing. They are much better because of their strict adherence to not their or anyone's beliefs or opinions, but mainly solid facts and evidence. They don't sugarcoat achievements and make people such as Columbus look even better than what he is.