The History of Technology

The History of Technology: 480 Years in 5 Minutes

A Mnemonic Device

By Lynn Koller

Years 1450 – 1930

Our story of Technology begins in the Renaissance

While light came from sun, fire, and the wall-mounted sconce

A time when Leo da Vinci built with nonchalance

Bombards, mortars, and weapons for martial response

Leo’s focus, it seems

Was not art but dreams

Of war and of power and building regimes

How Leo and other technologists got their support

Was through the complex, convoluted workings of the Royal Court

The kings, the queens, and the good prince consorts

Grew as fond of Technology as they did of their port

In addition to military weapons and stuff

Leo focused on court entertainment, strangely enough

He entertained the royal crowds, which could at times be tough

The royals demanded that Technology serve their fancy

In ways that to some in this day seem chancy

They appear to care not for industrial or laborsaving machines

But to defense of their nations did their desires lean

And for things that gave them great pleasure, they were really quite keen

They remained centuries away from the automated teller machine

Which offers no defense or courtly pleasure, but now is routine

The remaining history of technology, the next four hundred years

Chronicles the Dutch, Germans, and British drinking too many beers

It documents the telegraph, the railways, and the electric engineers

And the way that tulips blossomed an array of hopeful racketeers

But wait, before that, when the late 16^th century came along

Those who bought into technology sang a new song

The influence of commerce was distinctly rising

And the Dutch people’s focus on high quality goods was surprising

They paid workers well and were uncompromising

The Dutch fostered a way of technological devising

That the next hundred years would go about revising

The mid 18^th century for over a century

Would put many workers into a penitentiary

The jail did not keep criminals in

Rather it kept hold of its workers to their own chagrin

The industrial revolution in London, Manchester, and Sheffield

Changed the ways of production and what factories would yield

High production low cost became the things that congealed

With pollution and labor abuses not even concealed

During the whole revolution, it was again beer that appealed

To the masses of people whose fates were in fact sealed

Many would die in the terrible, dangerous trades

They would fall into vats and slice themselves up with blades

They knew nothing of insurance, sick days, and 401Ks

They lived in a time before enriching software upgrades

The conditions would shock social commentators for years

They fretted and commented and shed big, wet tears

But it took Technology itself to move us to new frontiers

Technology turned into instruments of empire

And god what a mess this imperialism would sire

The opium wars were particularly dire

When the British forced the Chinese to acquire

A tragic taste for narcotics that they could not help but desire

The rampant and compulsory Westernization

And the push by the Brits to overtake every nation

Caused our friends in the East a great deal of frustration

They saw their way of life at risk for annihilation

Technology seemed to reinforce the status quo

Telegraphs and railroads brought control and the flow

Of money and culture and things from the West

To Africa, India, and lands that possessed

The potential of status for an imperial quest

With which politicians and kings were obsessed

The weird thing about this unbridled building of nations

Was that it failed to increase its parent country’s financial valuations

Imperialism may be another outcome of human conceit

Driven by the egos of men who seem to excrete

The need to possess others and make them concede defeat

It seems that the conquest is what makes war so sweet

Whatever … we must move into the systems and science

That began our fervent and unwavering reliance

On what would soon grow into a cult for the kitchen appliance

But before we would have the Maytag washer and dryer

There would be great advances in dyes, gases, light bulbs, and wire

The wire is big, in some ways bigger than all of those prior

Because the wire would take us ever more higher

Into the world of electronics and advancing telecommunications

The wire has a great number of significant applications

By any account, it has exceeded our expectations

In the way that the wire has affected human machinations

Thomas Edison and that phone guy, Alexander Graham Bell

Took the whole world by storm and placed them under a spell

The spell they fell under was to lust for light bulbs and phones

While now in our day we yearn for special ring tones

Back then and now, we are worth as much as we own

Technology’s story goes on and on

But I’m afraid that this is the end of this song

It has to end somewhere, it’s already too long.

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