Review Over: The Organic Machine
Richard White, the author of The Organic Machine, is an American author and historian with over 119 works published. He earned his Bachelor 's degree at the University of California, and his Ph.D at the Santa Cruz University of Washington. He has been a professor at four different universities since 1976. Over the course of his works, he has been honored with many awards. Just a few of his accomplishments are: Distinguished Scholar Award, American Society for Environmental History in 2013, the Los Angeles Times Book Award for History in 2012 the Kahn Award for Graduate Teaching at Stanford University in 2008, he was the President of the Organization of American Historians from 2006 to 2007, and he was also the …show more content…
Every inch of it is exerting energy in some sort. To navigate through this, not only was muscle needed, but also knowledge of how it works. This energy is often used throughout the flow of the river, which varies throughout. One thing that the newcomers had learned from the natives was to stay near the edge. This is because the current is not as strong near the edge, due to the friction caused by the land. The current of the river has a different measure throughout it, due to friction. The current also varies vertically. The farther the current is from the shore, the greater the velocity tends to be. Velocity increases as it near the middle of the river and toward the surface, however the greatest level of velocity is a layer below the surface. THe maximum velocity, is also on the deeper side. The greater the velocity meant a greater amount of energy would be produced. This is crucial knowledge that a navigator would need to imbed in their …show more content…
One view of theirs was put this way, “...putting land or water to work was opening, at least potentially, a new access to nature” (White, 1996, 35). As the machines that are created put the river to work, they reduce the human labor needed. These same machines that reduce the labor, also provide more labor in other ways. With the steamboat, humans no longer had to exert their muscle and strength to row across cross the river. Humans now had to exert their energy by controlling the engine and boilers. As labor was needed to create the boats and the fuels, White did notice of where the dividing line came about. White concurs that, “Labor became obvious only at the points where nature was becoming machine or when nature halted the progress of machines” (White, 1996, 38). The Emersonian view of machines as a part of nature was more prominent in Western society. Western society had dreams of abolishing labor and end social conflicts through the power harnessed by nature. Associated with this, is the dream of power. One dream of power that was sought after was to use to power of the river to generate electricity, not only for those within spitting distance, but those who were farther away as well. These dreams of hydroelectricity, which are now a necessity, gave birth to dams and turbines. From water wheels to turbines, the energy of the river is harnessed to move shafts, gears, and belts that direct the
Richard White, the author of The Organic Machine, is an American author and historian with over 119 works published. He earned his Bachelor 's degree at the University of California, and his Ph.D at the Santa Cruz University of Washington. He has been a professor at four different universities since 1976. Over the course of his works, he has been honored with many awards. Just a few of his accomplishments are: Distinguished Scholar Award, American Society for Environmental History in 2013, the Los Angeles Times Book Award for History in 2012 the Kahn Award for Graduate Teaching at Stanford University in 2008, he was the President of the Organization of American Historians from 2006 to 2007, and he was also the …show more content…
Every inch of it is exerting energy in some sort. To navigate through this, not only was muscle needed, but also knowledge of how it works. This energy is often used throughout the flow of the river, which varies throughout. One thing that the newcomers had learned from the natives was to stay near the edge. This is because the current is not as strong near the edge, due to the friction caused by the land. The current of the river has a different measure throughout it, due to friction. The current also varies vertically. The farther the current is from the shore, the greater the velocity tends to be. Velocity increases as it near the middle of the river and toward the surface, however the greatest level of velocity is a layer below the surface. THe maximum velocity, is also on the deeper side. The greater the velocity meant a greater amount of energy would be produced. This is crucial knowledge that a navigator would need to imbed in their …show more content…
One view of theirs was put this way, “...putting land or water to work was opening, at least potentially, a new access to nature” (White, 1996, 35). As the machines that are created put the river to work, they reduce the human labor needed. These same machines that reduce the labor, also provide more labor in other ways. With the steamboat, humans no longer had to exert their muscle and strength to row across cross the river. Humans now had to exert their energy by controlling the engine and boilers. As labor was needed to create the boats and the fuels, White did notice of where the dividing line came about. White concurs that, “Labor became obvious only at the points where nature was becoming machine or when nature halted the progress of machines” (White, 1996, 38). The Emersonian view of machines as a part of nature was more prominent in Western society. Western society had dreams of abolishing labor and end social conflicts through the power harnessed by nature. Associated with this, is the dream of power. One dream of power that was sought after was to use to power of the river to generate electricity, not only for those within spitting distance, but those who were farther away as well. These dreams of hydroelectricity, which are now a necessity, gave birth to dams and turbines. From water wheels to turbines, the energy of the river is harnessed to move shafts, gears, and belts that direct the