humhw6topic.docx

Be sure you read through all the topics in this module, and watch the videos, first. There are three videos – each about 30 seconds long. There is also a link to an animation of the four stroke engine to look at.

Then read chapter 5 of this article (Rise of the Machines). It gives a picture of what people began to think about when machines started to show their real potential in the 1800s. We'll talk about the more practical application of machines in later modules, but this history of how machines were viewed in popular life and media looks kind of familiar.: 

Note that there are other chapters to this article before and after this chapter. They are interesting but not required, so go as far as the bottom of the page, which is chapter 5. You do not need to click to the right or left for previous and later chapters.

Discussions questions for homework assignments

Machines and People. Is there a difference between how people perceive machines and what machines can actually do? The idea of the machine distinguished human beings from the rest of nature, and with this, came a relationship between machines and people that does not exist anywhere else in nature. And, while it's mechanical, it's more than that, too. What does this relationship imply? This is an ambiguous question, I know, and you will need both the Smithsonian article and the content in the topics in module 6 to address the question