Ch. 22 The First Two Industrial Revolutions

 "To say that people weren't aware, from the first,

of the effect the Industrial Revolution was having

on nature - and on themselves - is to commit a falsehood."

-Sara Barkat

A true Industrial Revolution is defined as a time period when advances in three specific areas (energy, transportation and communication) coincide and revolutionize the way we organize, power, produce and move goods and services in the world. 

The First Industrial Revolution: 1760

Scholars can’t quite agree on when the first Industrial Revolution kicked off, but most of them pick a date between 1750 and the early 1800s. Beginning in Britain, there were advances in all three of our specified areas. 

The advance in energy/power came with the invention of the steam engine. The steam engine allowed for the creation of the steam powered printing press, which revolutionized the education system through the mass production of books, and communication via the printed word. The telegraph, another revolutionary communication breakthrough, showed up towards the end of this period. A huge advance in transportation came when they used the steam engine to create steam powered trains. 

The biggest change of the First Industrial Revolution came in the form of mechanization. Processes which used to be performed by hand were industrialized to be more efficient, and therefore more profitable. The standard of living for the working class began to increase, but this also marked the emergence of modern capitalism. 

During the first Industrial Revolution, agriculture was slowly replaced by large-scale industry as the main backbone of the economy. Massive amounts of coal were extracted and burned in this period, which led to the manufacture of railroads and an acceleration of the economy. 

The Second Industrial Revolution: 1870

Roughly a century after the First Industrial Revolution began, the Second came into being. Energy expanded beyond steam and coal, in the form of electricity, gas, and oil. The development of the internal combustion engine provided a significant advance in transportation, and drove the hunger for fossil fuels to new, dizzying heights. The automobile has transformed our world in ways that are too myriad and involved to list here.

It was during this period that we also saw the development of the telephone. New communication methods caused the world to shrink, and helped foster the growth of a more globally-minded economy.

The Third Industrial Revolution: 1969 - present

Also called the dawn of the atomic age, the Third Industrial Revolution has thus far seen a world-changing breakthrough in communications with the rise of electronics, telecommunications, and the most dramatic invention of all, the computer. During this era we've seen space exploration, research, and biotech bring forth new technologies as well. 

We have also seen the invention of Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) lead to the rise of further mechanization in manufacturing processes. In other words, machines replaced human workers at a greater rate during the Third Industrial Revolution than any other period in history.

But despite these extraordinary breakthroughs in communication and productivity, we have seen very little (widespread) progress in the realms of energy or transportation. 

We are still mostly stuck with Second Industrial Revolution fossil fuels and internal combustion engines, and the massive amounts of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions associated with these two systems. 

Without a significant advance in these two areas (energy and transportation), there really is no Third Industrial Revolution 

Looking to the Future

Worldwide economies are based around the internet, and its reach is felt on every corner of the earth. 

In order to create a better world, we need a better economic system like the cooperative model exemplified by Cleveland and Mondragon. However, we also need a better energy system. Fossil fuels deplete over time, which means our new system needs to be from renewable sources. Our new energy system also needs to be green and have the least amount of adverse environmental impact possible.

If you’re thinking that this sounds like a complete overhaul of our current system, you’re right on the money. That’s exactly what we need. The status quo isn’t working, and is even causing outright harm. It’s time for radical yet rational solutions.

We will also have to see a dramatic shift in our transportation system and the way we move people and goods. And we're not just talking about electric cars (Every human owning their own individual electric car is also unsustainable.)

Each of the Industrial Revolutions represented a profound change in how society managed power, moved goods, and provided services. Each of these facets could be advanced on their own, but when all three converge, a revolution is born.

Communication advances like the telegraph and telephone were how we managed our service sector, coal and other sources provided energy, and transportation via rail lines and internal combustion engine vehicles is how we moved goods.

Back during the First Industrial Revolution, the invention of the steam powered printing press represented a radical paradigm shift in society. Prior to the printing press, books were done by hand and were hideously expensive. Only the well-off and aristocracy could afford them, and knowledge was therefore by and large limited to the upper classes of society.

But when the printing press became machinated, books could be mass-produced. Suddenly, knowledge was no longer held hostage by one specific ruling class. This led to a rise in literacy and provided a catalyst for the idea of public education.

In the First Industrial Revolution, you could receive an order via telegraph, print out a thousand copies of Hamlet to meet that order, and then put them on a coal powered steam train which zips away to the delivery location.

With a more literate workforce, the tasks they could be expected to perform grew more complex. This helped foster the conditions for the Second Industrial Revolution.

Henry Ford was a complicated individual. On one hand, he helped push the Second Industrial Revolution forward with his standardization of processes and mass production techniques. He is widely known as the father of modern production due to his work on the assembly line, for example.

On the other hand, he was a ruthless capitalist who gifted a pre-WWII Adolph Hitler 30,000 Deutsche Marks on the Fuhrer’s thirtieth birthday. 

Still, Ford was crucial to push America toward a mass-production model which led to economic success around the globe. With internal combustion engines making the world smaller and smaller, it was perhaps inevitable that there would be not just one but two world wars.

The Industrial Revolutions are often held up as some of mankind’s greatest achievements. While this is true, there are aspects that have hindered mankind in the long term.

We only have to look at the Second Industrial Revolution for an example. Most of the factories and industries that operated during the second Industrial Revolution ran on coal.

Coal as an energy medium is both expensive and inefficient. Getting the coal out of the ground is a monumental undertaking that is also incredibly risky. Even today, you don’t have to search long to find examples of coal mining disasters where workers are trapped underground or even killed.

On top of that, the coal industry is one of the worst offenders when it comes to pollution. Not just from burning coal, which is bad enough, but the waste products that come as a result of its mining and refinement have caused irreparable harm to the Appalachian Mountain range ecosystem.

Right now, we are stuck in the Second Industrial Revolution, but not because there is no better way to do things...

In fact, over the last 80 years, we have seen a real stagnation in progress in the areas of energy and transportation. 

Why?

Let's talk about that in the next chapter.