About to finish Elting Morison's book 'Men, Machines, and Modern Times' (1974). Pretty good. That part in a country's history where it gets to industrialize is always interesting to me. I have a general idea of it with regards to Japan and Korea because of Alejandro Lichauco's book arguing for the need for nationalist industrialization, which he claims hinges on a country's control of its own steel manufacturing industry. In the Philippines, we had a sort of burgeoning national steel industry, I think in the 50s. Its main factory being in Iligan in the island of Mindanao. But it wasn't really that 'national' later on as it become neoliberalized with it finally being owned by foreign entities until it was shut down I can't recall exactly when. Morison's book showed that by the 1880s or so, the United States have surpassed Britain in the production of steel by the Bessemer method, or at least one of the components of steel production being the Bessemer method. There were other components that were developed and added to the whole industrial production of steel in the United States, several of which were homegrown. Or at least that's how I understood it.
The early part of the book was pretty specific - it talked about how the navy at the immediate post-Civil war period was having issues with its aiming system. And there was this one guy who because of his abilities was able to put two and two together and improved the aiming system. He first learned it from some British navy guy, and the brought it into the United States navy. But it was not smooth sailing, as he faced opposition from the higher brass regarding the adoption of the novel method of aiming. The chapter shows that advances in technology is disruptive of societies, and oftentimes societies have a difficult time adapting to these changes.
The book gets somewhat boring later on when it talked of all the business aspects of steel production in the United States. Lots of machinations and dealings amongst engineers and industrialists regarding patents and licensing. It also kind of became pretty fawning on these 'attractive' men as he called them. It could just be my Luddite and anti-capitalist tendencies pushing me to hold this kind of perspective regarding it. I don't know, what does my feeling have to do with all of these. My main takes on this book so far: (1) the Philippines really did not have a chance during the Philippine-American War considering that by this time, the United States already was for a decade the leading industrial manufacturer in the world (2) the control of a country's own steel industry is really crucial, as it ties to other industries like mining, logging, the construction of railroad and telecommunication facilities, and shipping to mention a crucial few, and (3) technocrats and specialists oftentimes seem to be in alliance with capitalists. I don't know if the latter is that true to be honest. I could be wrong, and just interpreting prima facie from the limited perspective presented in the book by Morison.
It's interesting stuff, and provides a counter to my recent or rather long-time interests of anti-civilization critiques like that advanced by Zerzan. Is it possible to have a kind of 'green industrialization'? Probably not, as the primitivists would claim because it is the technological mindset itself that is problematic, the subjugation of nature using technics and under the service of profit, not so much for the welfare of the nation or people. I liked the kind of psychological descriptions of the various engineers and innovators in Morison's book. It harkens to a kind of archetype - that of the metal forger Gods or heroes or figures like Tubalcain, or the Greek God Haphaestus. I wonder how these archetypes are interpreted under the anti-civilization (anti-industrialization?) critique of primitivists like Zerzan and Kaczynski.
Morison, Elting E. Men, Machines, and Modern Times. Seventh Printing. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England: The M.I.T. Press, 1974.
12 OCT 2022
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