Technology

            There is no way the population could have grown without the development of technology to support the demands of a growing population. While the trend of the population is usually to grow (as can been seen with the agricultural revolution and industrial revolution), technology also is responsible for the decline of the population (through the creation of weapons and its uses in wartime).

            Before the agricultural revolution, man first started with primitive tools. It was the creation of fire that allows early homo sapiens to gather more food and cook different types of food. With better food, the human brains were allowed to develop more and thus were able to create new weapons to hunt larger and more nutrient rich animals (Strong Lecture 4/16/13).

            Fast forward thousands of years when technology helped the population grow through the agricultural revolution. While there have been many agricultural revolutions throughout time, the most notable one is the British Agricultural Revolution. This revolution describes the time period between the 15^th century and the 19^th century where there was an increase in productivity and output of crops. There were several new advances that helped push the agricultural revolution. The first advance was with the crop rotation system. This system worked around cycling different types of crops into fields instead of growing the same type of crop in one field thus being able to produce more products. Additionally new irrigation systems were created called water meadows. This system allowed for growing seasons to last longer and therefore increase the product from hay fields and in turn helped more animals to be raised. An additional advance was improved and new fertilizers in addition to manure to help maintain and renew land that would otherwise taken long periods of time to recover after being used for certain crops. Furthermore, big improvements were made for the primitive farming machines. A single machine called the combine combined a reaper and thresher into one object. Overall, the agricultural revolution meant there was better management of farms, improved and higher yield for crops, better agricultural devices to better utilize the farm work from oxen, foresee, steam power, and the use of selective breeding for larger livestock (Overton 1996).

            The agricultural revolution led the way to the industrial revolution. The Industrial Revolution was an era from 1800 to 1945. This time period marked the transition of antiquated techniques to new manufacturing processes. It is characterized by going from hand production methods to other methods such as machines, chemical manufacturing. There are also iron production processes, improved efficiency of water power, and the increase usage of steam power and other research and development processes such as machine and other tools. The Industrial Revolution is a major turning point in history. There were tons of major technological advances in the areas of: textile manufacture, metallurgy, mining, steam power, chemicals, machine tools, gas lighting, glass making, paper machine, agriculture, and other minor technology (Berg and Hudson 1992).

            In textile manufactures, there was a strict mandate from the government that they wanted more textiles to come from England and less to be imported from India. Demands were increasing for more textile and better quality. Spinning and weaving were done mostly in households and occasionally work was done in a workshop of a mast weaver. In 1769, the spinning frame or water frame was created making textile work a lot easier. But it was introduction of the power loom which combined other inventions such as the water frame and the spinning jenny that affected textile. These and many other inventions helped make life easier, but it was certain inventions such as the Haber process that truly made a difference (Berg and Hudson 1992).

            The Haber process also called the Haber-Bosch process is the implementation of the reaction of nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas. It is also the way to create ammonia. There had previously been other attempts to try to make ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen. The beginning steps of the process were discovered by Robert Le Rossignol and Fritz Haber. The process was then given to Carl Bosch. The Haber-Bosch process has been called the most important invention and the invention that detonated an explosion in the population. This process has increased the quality of fertilizer. The fertilizer that utilizes the Haber-Bosch process sustains one-third of the Earth’s population. Not only was enough food produced in order to sustain the growth of the population, but it was able to hold more nutrients so that those who did eat the crops had an higher energy yield. Additionally, with more crops available the prices of food decreased allowing poorer families to be able to afford buying their food (Smil 2001).

            Many advances were also made in the field of medicine. In addition to the creation of the smallpox vaccine (as was covered in the previous section), anesthetic, germ theory disease, and the development of aspirin amongst other small medical advances rocked the Industrial Revolution. Anesthetic is a drug that allows for the reduction of pain. These drugs are generally administered to help with surgeries. Previous to anesthesia, chloroform was used but unfortunately led to many deaths. The development of anesthesia allowed for people to safely experience surgeries without pain and caused fewer deaths (Miller and Stoelting 1994). The germ theory of disease refers to the discovery in the late 19^th century that infection diseases can be caused by small organisms that cannot be seen. With awareness of how the disease works and can be spread, people became more cautious of their living conditions and interactions with people around them. Previous to the Industrial Revolution, many families lived together in a small area. This allowed for any disease or viruses to easily spread. With the advancements made in the health awareness along with other technological advances, house structures were built to better isolate rooms so if people needed to be quarantined due to sickness, it was much easier (Gunn and Masellis 2008). The last major development in medical advances was the creation of aspirin. Aspirin is an analgesic to relieve minor aches and pains. It can also act as an anti-inflammatory medication to reduce fever. In small amounts aspirin can also helped prevent blood clotting, strokes, and heart attacks (Krumholz et al 1995). It was these medical advances as well as many others not listed that allowed for healthcare to improve by leaps and bounds. People were not dying from simple procedures. Life expectancy was increasing. Not only were deaths being prevented, but with people living longer, it meant more children could be born. And the population boom began.

            On the other hand, not all technology helped the population boom. With countries competing against each other for control of power, the best weapons, and the most land, certain technological advances, such as weaponry, killed many people. Weapons of mass destruction were used mercilessly during wartime. A weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that can kill and bring hard to a large number of humans. Many of the most well known weapons use chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear warfare. Some of the most destructive nuclear weapons have been the atomic bomb unleashed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki which decimated both towns to the point where even today they still feel the effects. There have been several times in history where nuclear weapons were used to threaten different countries but only the United States has official used it. While it is unclear the exact number of deaths connected to wartime technology, without a doubt, it has affected growth of the human population in certain areas (Wines 1990).

            Technology, while not the sole reason, has contributed greatly to the reason humans were able to procreate in better sanitary conditions, with longer life spans, and better healthcare. Without technology there would have been no way for humans to expand as thoroughly as they have done.