Artifact 1: the French revolution of 1789~A Prezi: Featuring a short overview of the Reign of Terror, a news article, and Political Cartoons!
reign of terror on Prezi
Artifact 2: The Scramble for Africa Cartoon:
This is a simple cartoon I drew that basically sums up what the Scramble for Africa is. I'm sorry if you have trouble reading the words, as the picture quality could've been reduced. I'm working on drawing a version using the computer, but unfortunately, I haven't gotten good enough at drawing on the computer to make anything presentable yet, so that will have to wait.
Artifact 3: Rockefeller Pamphlet
For this presentation, I experimented with an absolutely amazing, beautiful presentation tool I found online - sliderocket. The graphics are great, and everything you make on sliderocket is easy to share. It's basically one level up from using powerpoints. I hope you like it!
Artifact 5: Profile of Thomas Malthus
Artifact 6: Yochai Benkler on the New Open-Source Economics
My Response:
The video was very interesting and inspiring, and it matched perfectly with what we've been talking about it class: a completely free economy, both in rights and price. Humans are finally moving on from the capitalistic economy that developed in the 19th century. The video highlights the fact that with today's technology and infrastructure, we can meet our wants and needs without using our time and energy because of external motivation. The idea of sharing and doing only what we want, is, I have to say, appealing. However, there will be some difficulties to implementing this technology/information based economy successfully. The change will not be able to take place quickly, within the next few decades, because there will be people who are high up in society that don't want to give up their power. Furthermore, a completely free society will develop from our advancing technology (internet), but that could also mean that the society will develop into a system where how much freedom you have is defined by how well you can use technology. In this, I want to say that even though the video tells about freedom with software/ technology, we have to make sure that this freedom will extend to encompass other aspects of life. Another problem I have is that I have my doubts about an economy that is based off technology. Studies have shown that people today are actually more unhappy than people in the 19th century. This is partially due to the increasing usage of technologies like the internet in our life. If we have a completely free society, but that freedom is dependent on the internet or other technologies, then humans could become dependent on technology, and lose their connection with nature.
Artifact 7: Economics & Education:
Ken Robinson: Changing Education Paradigms
Though this video might not seem to have a direct relation to economics at first, it ties in to a very important aspect of the changing economy of today: education. This video talks about how our education system was shaped in the model of the industrial revolution of the 19th century, and how that is now outdated. Since the future economy is unpredictable, educators must teach students in a way where they can flourish in this new economy, an economy of information, freedom, and intrinsic motivation. As it is, education today is doing just the opposite. Many education systems are designed in a way that the students are only good students when they have achieved a certain standard. This is horrible, because nobody is equal, and doing so will only deaden a person's true value; his or her passions and talents. Is this not just like creating an army of dolls? In my opinion, to change the school system, the school's structure should become more flexible, and not just be based on age. People should be separated into groups based on skill and individual talents. Even then, these groups should be loose groups, and students should be able to interact normally with other students without being separated into different grades. Of course, doing so will be hard, because there is a limited amount of teachers in one school that can support the wide range of students.
Artifact 8: Primary Source Analysis
Mazzini's An Essay of the Duties of Men
Look at the article below:
This means was provided for you by God when He gave you a country; . . . he divided
Humanity into distinct groups or nuclei upon the face of the earth, thus creating the
germ of nationalities. Evil governments have disfigured the Divine design . . . by their
conquests, their greed, and their jealousy even of the righteous power of others. . . .
But the Divine design will infallibly be realized; natural divisions and the spontaneous,
innate tendencies of the peoples will take the place of the arbitrary divisions, sanctioned
by evil governments. The map of Europe will be redrawn. The countries of the peoples,
defined by the vote of free men, will arise upon the ruins of the countries of kings and
privileged castes, and between these countries harmony and fraternity will exist. . . . Then
may each one of you, fortified by the power and affection of many millions, all speaking
the same language, gifted with the same tendencies, and educated by the same historical
tradition, hope even by your own single efforts to be able to benefit all Humanity.
O, my brothers, love your Country! Our country is our Home, a house God has given
us, placing therein a numerous family that loves us, and whom we love; a family with
whom we sympathize more readily and whom we understand more quickly than we do
others. . . . Our Country is our common workshop, whence the products of our activity
are sent forth for the benefit of the whole world; wherein the tools and implements of
labour we can most usefully employ are gathered together; nor may we reject them without disobeying the plan of the Almighty, and diminishing our own strength.
—Giuseppe Mazzini, An Essay On the Duties of Man, Addressed to Workingmen, 185
Origin:
This primary source is an excerpt from Mazzini’s “an essay on the duties of man addressed to working men.” This essay was published in 1898, in New York Italy
Purpose:
This document was created in order to galvanize the citizens of the various Italian states, instilling nationalism and patriotism. The author’s intent was to achieve the unification of Italy Italy Italy Italy have a responsibility to help unify Italy Italy Europe , and were beginning to undermine the Conservative rule of the aristocrats. This is because of the revolutions that had been going on with Europe . Even though the French Revolution, and most of the revolutions in the Spring of Nations failed, they implanted a seed: the ideas of liberty and freedom for all.
Value:
From this article, we can tell that the author, Mazzini, supports the Italian Unification and was a leader in the unification process. You can see that Mazzini’s perspective is that Italy Italy Europe was a time of many revolutions. The article talks about breaking free from unjust rulers, and realizing the Divine Design by unifying Italy Europe was beginning to break away from old conservative rule and begin to move towards the democratic governments of today. We can also tell that people from this time period were very religious, as they viewed the unification of Italy
Limitations:
From this article, we can’t actually see a very complete picture of the unification of Italy Italy , such as the earlier revolutions in France Europe , such as in the line “Our Country is our common workshop, whence the products of our activity are sent forth for the benefit of the whole world.” It gives an idea that the world is globalized and peaceful, without any real wars, while in reality, there was colonialism in Africa and the still fresh remnants of slavery. The article also gives people an impression that the aristocrats weren’t a real threat, and that the unification of Italy Europe , and many previous revolutions, such as the French Revolution of 1789, had almost all failed completely. The author leaves out a lot of historical information, but this is because it was an article addressed to the people of the time, who were familiar with the current events of the time. Furthermore, the author mainly focuses on generating nationalism through inspirational speech, leaving out a lot of the more complicated sides of the political situation at the time. The author purposefully does not support the aristocrats’ perspective on things, because he doesn’t wants people to support his opinions, and not the aristocrats’.
Post 10: A Study of Paris
This post basically explores the idea of how the government can abuse or use their money. This ties into economics strongly, because it goes to the topic of finding the balance between government spending and tax, which we have been discussing in our Nation's simulation. This post also explores the growth of the city, as the rebuilding of Paris started just around the start of city planning; before, cities were built organically, over time, not carefully planned.
Paris is one of the greatest examples of a city that was torn up, pulled down, ripped apart, and rebuilt—all on purpose, and all under the direction of a single man. Some people may see Paris as the epitome of the cities of the 19th century, beautiful and orderly, but the Paris we know today, with its grand architecture and monumental beauty, was essentially built in only seventeen years in the middle of the 19th century. During those years, entire neighborhoods of “old” Paris were bulldozed, and the city transformed from a tightly packed collection of neighborhoods into a modern “City of Lights”. From 1800 and 1850, population in Paris doubled to a million. The Industrial Revolution brought new technologies and new jobs, including railways linking Paris to the countryside. Just as in London, many rural laborers flocked to the city to find work in factories and once again, the city was unprepared to deal with so many people. The lack of a sewer system to process all that human waste was a deadly problem. Cholera raged through Paris’s overcrowded neighborhoods. Many Parisians in the early 19th century viewed the city as distasteful, unhealthy, chaotic, and dirty. Napoleon III wanted to upgrade Paris, which still had a medieval layout, narrow streets, and no way to accommodate its booming population and new industries, into a modern city deserving to be the capital of a grand nation. Napoleon III appointed lawyer Georges-Eugene Haussmann to mastermind a total overhaul of the city. Haussmann faced a colossal task: essentially building a new city where an existing city already stood. Undaunted, in the 1850s and 1860s, he extended the boundaries of Paris to include nearby villages, erected bridges over the Seine River, built sewers, arranged for two new parks and a grand opera house, and tore apart old, narrow streets in favor of grand new boulevards. Entire residential areas were wiped out. Many of the city’s poorest tenants were ejected. Thousands of buildings, including some stunning examples of medieval architecture, were destroyed. French writers and artists of the time lambasted Haussmann for wiping out so much of the older, quirkier Paris they loved. Haussmann invented a new visual style: the “street-wall”. He imagined buildings not as separate entities, but as a wall of structures, built at precise angles, that would give streets a sense of order and cleanliness. He created wide avenues perfect for promenading in public and for stores to display products to wealthy consumers. He also made use of a new technology—gas lights—to illuminate Paris’s streets at night. The project had an important political purpose, too: to make it harder for potential rioters and revolutionaries to block streets with barricades. Haussmann’s work produced some undeniably positive results. The rate of infectious disease dropped and Paris’s new sewer system was praised as one of the wonders of the civilized world, and traffic circulation and infrastructure improved. However, there are still some negative sides of Haussmann’s transformation of Paris. For one, his changes imposed the desires and cold rationality of capitalism on an entire city, and generated complaint because the public thought that the project was too costly.
Artifact 9: Essay on the Past, Present, and Future of the Economy
During the 19th century, many reforms and revolutions took place in Europe . One of the most important developments in the 19th century was in economics; economics evolved to become the economic system that we are familiar with today, a combination of free enterprise and capitalism. This change can be attributed to many factors, such as expanding industries, the start of globalization, and political revolutions. In exploring the events that caused the European economic systems to develop, we can better understand capitalism, and also how capitalism fits in (or doesn’t fit in) in today’s world.
One important cause of the change in European economic systems lies in the early 19th century. Many European nations, mainly Great Britain Great Britain Great Britain
The development of the economies in Europe can also be attributed to the growing use of technologies like railroads and steam engines due to the Industrial Revolution. During the industrial revolution, new technologies like railroads enabled trade to be much more widespread. Other machines, such as the spinning jenny, reduced the value of small, domestic industries and put focus on businesses in factories. The widespread trade and growth of factories combined changed business, and it became that there were entrepreneurs that invested in businesses, and laborers that worked for the entrepreneurs. This was the basis of capitalism, which began to form during the 19th century. Other economic systems of today also developed in the 19th century as a result of the industrial revolution. For one, the idea of insurance became more important to people in the 19th century. The increased use of technologies also meant higher risks for the people involved. Entrepreneurs would want insurance in case their investments didn’t work out, and workers, who were exposed to physical harm due to working with machines in factories, would also want to insure their financial and physical well-being. Furthermore, the growing of industries also led to the formation of trusts and labor unions. Trusts, such as the Standard Oil Company, were able to gain a monopoly on their aspects of industries. With this growth in business, laborers and farmers began to feel oppressed and lacking basic workers’ rights. Laborers all over Europe and America
From the previous two paragraphs, we can understand that with the growth and technology in the 19th century, economic systems developed from mercantilist to capitalist, removing certain limits in wealth. Without the Gold Standard, wealth became more attainable to commoners, and the middle class appeared. The economy that was created, a combination of capitalism and free enterprise, is still used today in many countries. However, compared to the 19th century, technology has evolved today in a way that the role of machines in the economy today is different than it was in the 19th century. During the 19th century, technology came in the form of machines like spinning jennies and steam-powered engines. While these machines made production easier, they still required repetitive human work to keep working. In contrast, technology today is so advanced today that this role of doing repetitive work can easily be replaced by technology. This means that humans no longer have a role in many jobs, such as accounting and medical aid. At the same time, due to advanced technology, humanity thrives in a way it has never done before, and will soon reach a population of seven billion. In a capitalist economy, how will this huge population be able to survive without depleting the Earth’s resources? This leads to a question of how the economy will develop in the near future, and what it will become many years from now on in order for Nations to survive. There are first some basic steps to take in evolving the economy that will help humans work sustainably, with benefit to all people, in the near future. First of all, education should become more flexible, giving equal respect to all talents instead of just academic talents, and move away from the factory-style organization that many schools have today. This means that schools can not categorize people as much, teach students based off of their individual talents, and allow room for divergent thinking. Next, we can make use of today’s information based society (one of the most important effects of the Internet and other such technology) to encourage the idea of intrinsic motivation, and wealth based on ideas rather than limited capital. With this, humans will be able to move away from capitalistic economies, and have an economy where people share and do what they want, meeting wants and needs without external motivation. Another important aspect of this change in economy is the fact that management systems, not just in schools, but in workplaces, have to change dramatically. Instead of having a strict ranking or placement system, where control is held by a boss, the working system could become looser, with more collaborations and room for creativity. This will give people intrinsic motivation, widening peoples’ range of potential and raising the efficiency in workplaces. With these basic steps, economies world wide will become much more effective and sustainable. As the economies open up to collaboration and sharing, Nations will also interact more with each other, and the division of races, classes, and cultures will be closer than ever. There is the possibility that one day, there will be a sustainable, free, and unlimited economy within a empathic civilization where Nations all thrive.
Overall, this essay has explored and analyzed the change from mercantilism to capitalism in the 19th century, and how that change compares to the economy of today. During the 19th century, due to the advance in technology, the economy began to move away from a limited system of mercantilism. Today, one again, there are great advances of technology that call for a change in economies all around the world, as we can see there is a way beyond capitalism where wealth will no longer be limited. To achieve this idea of an economy of unlimited wealth, changes have to be made in all aspects of society, from education to work. If these changes are made, the world could be built around a sustainable, free and unlimited economy.
Post 10: A Study of Paris
This post basically explores the idea of how the government can abuse or use their money. This ties into economics strongly, because it goes to the topic of finding the balance between government spending and tax, which we have been discussing in our Nation's simulation. This post also explores the growth of the city, as the rebuilding of Paris started just around the start of city planning; before, cities were built organically, over time, not carefully planned.
Paris is one of the greatest examples of a city that was torn up, pulled down, ripped apart, and rebuilt—all on purpose, and all under the direction of a single man. Some people may see Paris as the epitome of the cities of the 19th century, beautiful and orderly, but the Paris we know today, with its grand architecture and monumental beauty, was essentially built in only seventeen years in the middle of the 19th century. During those years, entire neighborhoods of “old” Paris were bulldozed, and the city transformed from a tightly packed collection of neighborhoods into a modern “City of Lights”. From 1800 and 1850, population in Paris doubled to a million. The Industrial Revolution brought new technologies and new jobs, including railways linking Paris to the countryside. Just as in London, many rural laborers flocked to the city to find work in factories and once again, the city was unprepared to deal with so many people. The lack of a sewer system to process all that human waste was a deadly problem. Cholera raged through Paris’s overcrowded neighborhoods. Many Parisians in the early 19th century viewed the city as distasteful, unhealthy, chaotic, and dirty. Napoleon III wanted to upgrade Paris, which still had a medieval layout, narrow streets, and no way to accommodate its booming population and new industries, into a modern city deserving to be the capital of a grand nation. Napoleon III appointed lawyer Georges-Eugene Haussmann to mastermind a total overhaul of the city. Haussmann faced a colossal task: essentially building a new city where an existing city already stood. Undaunted, in the 1850s and 1860s, he extended the boundaries of Paris to include nearby villages, erected bridges over the Seine River, built sewers, arranged for two new parks and a grand opera house, and tore apart old, narrow streets in favor of grand new boulevards. Entire residential areas were wiped out. Many of the city’s poorest tenants were ejected. Thousands of buildings, including some stunning examples of medieval architecture, were destroyed. French writers and artists of the time lambasted Haussmann for wiping out so much of the older, quirkier Paris they loved. Haussmann invented a new visual style: the “street-wall”. He imagined buildings not as separate entities, but as a wall of structures, built at precise angles, that would give streets a sense of order and cleanliness. He created wide avenues perfect for promenading in public and for stores to display products to wealthy consumers. He also made use of a new technology—gas lights—to illuminate Paris’s streets at night. The project had an important political purpose, too: to make it harder for potential rioters and revolutionaries to block streets with barricades. Haussmann’s work produced some undeniably positive results. The rate of infectious disease dropped and Paris’s new sewer system was praised as one of the wonders of the civilized world, and traffic circulation and infrastructure improved. However, there are still some negative sides of Haussmann’s transformation of Paris. For one, his changes imposed the desires and cold rationality of capitalism on an entire city, and generated complaint because the public thought that the project was too costly.
Before Haussmann:
After Haussmann
Today:
