The Story of Industrial Civilization: Energy

Progress writer Jason Crawford is writing a book about the modern world and how it was invented. In a series of salons, we will explore this content together, chapter by chapter, and get an inside look at the author’s creative process.

Behind the world of our daily lives, there is a hidden world, one that keeps our world running. It is an industrial world, one of factories, engines, chemicals, and infrastructure, that most people rarely notice or appreciate. But every piece of it is a solution to a problem: a way to satisfy human needs in the face of nature’s constraints.

Session 4, Energy:

By now we’ve seen that energy is absolutely fundamental to the economy. It heats our furnaces and kilns, runs the machines in our factories and on our farms, drives transportation for passengers and cargo, and powers computing and communications infrastructure. It also provides light, heat and cooling for our homes, offices, malls, theaters, and stadiums. How did we get here, from a world with only wind, water, and animals for power, with only candles and oil lamps for lighting? In this session we’ll explore the whole story of energy, from steam, through oil and electricity, to the failed promise of nuclear power.

Crawford will open the salon by talking about his research and writing on the topic so far, followed by discussion and Q&A.

Image credit: Wikimedia / Cjp24

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