READING QUESTIONS
Marvin, Carolyn. 1988. When Old Technologies Were New.
(Chap. 5 & Epilogue)

1. What kinds of "difference" is Marvin referring to in the chapter title, and how, in her view, was it annihilated? (Hint: look at the chapter sub-title).
2. Find at least three examples of this annihilation of difference in Marvin's text.
3. One might argue that time and space have indeed been annihilated by communication and transportation technologies, not only in, but especially since, the era Marvin discusses. Give some examples of ways more modern tech.s do so.
4. How about difference? Have more modern technologies annihilated that yet? Think of examples form the moderns world to support your answer.

 

5. Based on the section of this chapter entitled "implementing the future" one might argue that telephones could have developed to be used in a very different way than they did. What is this way? Find some examples.

 

6. What social class/ethnic group were the subscribers of Telephone Hirmondo from?

 

7. Why did the Telephone Herald of Newark New Jersey fail, in the end? Was it because he audience in the U.S. was not ready for such a use of the telephone, or some other reason?

1. According to Marvin, were the electrical experts she has discussed in her text primarily conservative or radical? In what way were they one or the other?
2. What, according to Marvin, were the three "key dimensions in the world of electrical imagination" (p. 233).

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