2-5-18

the stages of technological change:

1. invention
2. development--getting from new device to setting up manufacture
1. raising capital--funding to set up production
2. getting from prototype to practical device
3. building a factory to manufacture the new device or equivalent
4. raw materials, labor, starting production
   
3. convincing consumers to buy the new product
4. impact on society (different impacts on different groups within society)
   

Urbanization


what is driving urbanization: railroad creating a national market after the civil war

Technology:

gas lighting in public use about 1815

intention of the battery by Volta in 1800

telegraph into practical use around 1850

effective electrical generator to produce electricity from steam power or water power--mid 19th century

electric arc lights 1870s

Edison's incandescent light: first commercial use 1882

streetcar (trolley, tram): 1880s

electric motors:

• direct current: 1880s for streetcars
• alternating current: Tesla and Westinghouse, early 1890s
  

"To succeed, inventors must be creative on both sides--in how they negotiate with both nature and society." (p. 8)

Tesla's method started from ideals, not experiment
He tried to convince the public of the new world his inventions would make possible

central theme of the book--struggle between ideal and illusion