7 ms·

>We have forgotten how unrelentingly dark the pre-industrial world was. It’s amusing how often these sorts of exposés start off with this “the transformation t

>We have forgotten how unrelentingly dark the pre-industrial world was. It’s amusing how often these sorts of exposés start off with this “the transformation that the world forgot” meme. There are enough writers out there who are making ends meet writing boring articles for publications like BT instead that, in all honesty, not enough time passes from one article to another on the same subject that gives enough time to forget. We constantly have to be reminded of some absolutely astonishing fact. Perpetually. I suppose this defines the 24-hour news cycle as applied to the internet. The actual article itself is empty on juicy content and shills a book instead. Skip. Maybe the author forgot what good article writing is like, but that fact certainly won’t be lost on civilization as a whole.

shiroiushi 2y ago
>There are enough writers out there who are making ends meet writing boring articles for publications like BT There's too many people doing bullshit jobs like this, creating useless content, when they should be doing something more productive instead, like cleaning public bathrooms or picking crops.
Animats 2y ago
Yes. It's a poor history of lighting. They missed the incandescent lamp mantle, the limelight, and the arc light. That's when light output finally got serious. Gas lamps were dim, and generated more heat than light. You need more than just a flame. You need to get up to incandescence temperature. The arc light changed cities from dark to bright.[1] Suddenly, for the first time in history, major city streets were brilliantly lit. If someone had been able to see the earth from space, for the first time there would be lights at night. Arc street lights worked fine. Way too much light for your house, of course. Arc lights remain a thing, but today the arc is run in xenon or sodium vapor rather than air. Incandescent lamps came later. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcpS_Vz0BiA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcpS_Vz0BiA
- AdamN 2y ago
  Arc lights also enabled fascism in the early 20th century. A spectacle like the Cathedral of Light and the new technologies used by the Nazi party were transformative in terms of mass rallying: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Light https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Light
  - sriacha 2y ago
    Interesting.
  - blackhawkC17 2y ago
    By this logic, cars and industrialization also enabled fascism.
    - kragen 2y ago
      I don't think that's a controversial thesis at all. The Manifesto of the Futurist Painters specifically cited cars and industrialization among its main inspirations, and both Mussolini and Hitler largely garnered public support from their opposition to Communism. Communism was profoundly a response to industrialization. Moreover, the kind of state regimentation that was central to authoritarianism of all kinds, including Fascism, would have been impossible without cars and impossible without industrialization. Fascism without cars or industrialization would have had nothing in common with the Fascism we actually got.
    - ElevenLathe 2y ago
      There are many historians that would agree with this. Technology availability and adoption is definitely an input into the equation determining the types of social organization that are possible. One accessible example is that Federal power in the US really took off post-Civil War. Part of this story is that the war had greatly expanded the size and power of the Federal government, as well as weakening the old slaveocracy, but another is that centralized control of a territory as vast as the US basically requires telegraphs and railroads. Even if there were a political appetite for centralization in 1810s America, it just wasn't possible except where existing lines of communication were already adequate (coastal cities and those on major navigable waterways or canals).
- ForHackernews 2y ago
  You can still see arc lights in Austin's "moonlight towers" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlight_towers_(Austin%2C_Texas) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlight_towers_(Austin%2C_Te...
LargoLasskhyfv 2y ago
Can't all aspire to the slow cadence of https://www.damninteresting.com/archives/ https://www.damninteresting.com/archives/

shiroiushi 2y ago

>There are enough writers out there who are making ends meet writing boring articles for publications like BT There's too many people doing bullshit jobs like this, creating useless content, when they should be doing something more productive instead, like cleaning public bathrooms or picking crops.

Animats 2y ago

Yes. It's a poor history of lighting. They missed the incandescent lamp mantle, the limelight, and the arc light. That's when light output finally got serious. Gas lamps were dim, and generated more heat than light. You need more than just a flame. You need to get up to incandescence temperature. The arc light changed cities from dark to bright.[1] Suddenly, for the first time in history, major city streets were brilliantly lit. If someone had been able to see the earth from space, for the first time there would be lights at night. Arc street lights worked fine. Way too much light for your house, of course. Arc lights remain a thing, but today the arc is run in xenon or sodium vapor rather than air. Incandescent lamps came later. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcpS_Vz0BiA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcpS_Vz0BiA

AdamN 2y ago
Arc lights also enabled fascism in the early 20th century. A spectacle like the Cathedral of Light and the new technologies used by the Nazi party were transformative in terms of mass rallying: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Light https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Light
- sriacha 2y ago
  Interesting.
- blackhawkC17 2y ago
  By this logic, cars and industrialization also enabled fascism.
  - kragen 2y ago
    I don't think that's a controversial thesis at all. The Manifesto of the Futurist Painters specifically cited cars and industrialization among its main inspirations, and both Mussolini and Hitler largely garnered public support from their opposition to Communism. Communism was profoundly a response to industrialization. Moreover, the kind of state regimentation that was central to authoritarianism of all kinds, including Fascism, would have been impossible without cars and impossible without industrialization. Fascism without cars or industrialization would have had nothing in common with the Fascism we actually got.
  - ElevenLathe 2y ago
    There are many historians that would agree with this. Technology availability and adoption is definitely an input into the equation determining the types of social organization that are possible. One accessible example is that Federal power in the US really took off post-Civil War. Part of this story is that the war had greatly expanded the size and power of the Federal government, as well as weakening the old slaveocracy, but another is that centralized control of a territory as vast as the US basically requires telegraphs and railroads. Even if there were a political appetite for centralization in 1810s America, it just wasn't possible except where existing lines of communication were already adequate (coastal cities and those on major navigable waterways or canals).
ForHackernews 2y ago
You can still see arc lights in Austin's "moonlight towers" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlight_towers_(Austin%2C_Texas) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlight_towers_(Austin%2C_Te...

LargoLasskhyfv 2y ago

Can't all aspire to the slow cadence of https://www.damninteresting.com/archives/ https://www.damninteresting.com/archives/