Eli Whitney's Inventions: The Benefits Of Machines

When Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, he pictured increased profits and decreased labor. In fact, when an inventor creates technology or machines that would decrease labor, they usually keep in mind the amount of money they could make with the machine. This era of industry has turned our mind to inventing only when in need of profit. For instance, Thomas Edison invented the light bulb; however, he not only decreased the amount of wax that was used for candles but also increased the unemployment rates of candle makers. This may not seem significant now, but, at the time, some hated Edison for his idea. As W.H. Auden wrote, “Machines are beneficial to the degree that they eliminate the need for labor, harmful to the degree that they eliminate …show more content…
While these developments may seem very beneficial, they are harmful in that unemployment rates increase every time another machine is created. Vacuum cleaners replaced the jobs of those who would toil away and make sure every fiber of an expensive rug was properly cleaned and colored. Some of these carpet workers could even restore carpets to their original grandeur. One could also say that, with the creation of the vacuum cleaner, people became lazier. In fact, this is one point that affects the human life today. Machines may help us in the short term, but they are also unhealthy for us in the long term. This is seen in the sharp and continued increase in Type I Diabetes in children in the past century. Also, while some may think that tea bags were not very significant in the way that tea is made today, the workers who made the beautiful tin cans that tea was first transported in would disagree. Overall, even the most immaterial objects affected the workforce throughout …show more content…
It is a continuous cycle that hurts some people while benefitting others. Goods and services are both interconnected in this cycle. The world without machines would look nearly apocalyptic to us today, but the world without machines may be just what we need. From cars to jars of baby food, we have increased our standard of living and also the amount of money we spend on various types of insurance. When Auden wrote that “machines are beneficial to the degree that they eliminate the need for labor, harmful to the degree that they eliminate the need for skill”, he knew that a world of machines is also a world missing skill in its