Electricity as Power (1880) [pdf](science.sciencemag.org)
science.sciencemag.org
Electricity as Power (1880) [pdf]
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/os-1/1/5.full.pdf
13 comments
I love old timey articles like this. I remember reading something from Charles Babbage about how the means through which coal is cycled back out of the atmosphere are as yet unknown. Oh if only he knew.
I also like old (although mainly physics) papers like that. Even relatively recent things prior to the deep scattering of the proton (the discovery of the quarks) - Feynman pondering in a completely incorrect direction is quite fun.
It's slightly depressing how far we've come and how willfully stupid some people are (anything from denying global warming to hippies and 5G), although I wouldn't disagree if you were to argue that the only thing that really matters is medicine and food at the end of day.
It's slightly depressing how far we've come and how willfully stupid some people are (anything from denying global warming to hippies and 5G), although I wouldn't disagree if you were to argue that the only thing that really matters is medicine and food at the end of day.
Reading this article has a flow. It feels easier to read than what I expect a modern article of equivalent content would be like.
Am I crazy, or is there a technique to the ease of reading we've forgotten?
Am I crazy, or is there a technique to the ease of reading we've forgotten?
I think just more effort went into drafting it. Every word conveys meaning, and the aim was to maximize the information conveyed per word.
Contrast to modern articles where journalists are told "You have 1 hour to write 500 words. Go!"
Contrast to modern articles where journalists are told "You have 1 hour to write 500 words. Go!"
There were editors, proof readers, and typesetters involved. These were people not products. Not machines. The technique was human labor.
The tradeoff is this little box I am typing into and the ability to read what you wrote three hours later from anywhere in the world. We don't have to coordinate all those people. Or pay them. But the output is unlikely to be as good as what a team can do.
The tradeoff is this little box I am typing into and the ability to read what you wrote three hours later from anywhere in the world. We don't have to coordinate all those people. Or pay them. But the output is unlikely to be as good as what a team can do.
Fact check: The Wheel Bug is not an “electrical insect” as reported under the linked article. Rather, it’s painful venomous bite is often described as feeling like an electric shock. Don’t believe everything you read in Science!
On Wikipedia's it's known as a "{{Update|inaccurate=yes}}".
> The factual accuracy of parts of this article may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.
> The factual accuracy of parts of this article may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.
I think it's humbling to see how much he understands that people of his time lack knowledge in so many areas. Like the source of electricity in certain bugs. I feel like modern authors would just do this little bit of research to find an answer they could cite, but back then the availability of that information just wasn't there. If you didn't personally already possess some knowledge, you were hard pressed to find that knowledge.
I also got a chuckle that the text becomes condensed near the end of the article. What could be the reason for that?
I also got a chuckle that the text becomes condensed near the end of the article. What could be the reason for that?
I imagine it could be quite difficult to estimate ahead of time how much of the page would be filled by the text. I can picture the typesetter cursing when he realises he's going to run out of room and switching to a smaller font, rather than re-setting the whole page.
I figured it was something like that.
It's also kind of ironic that the more people become involved in the refinement of documents like this the less and less obvious their contributions become. For example, old official hand-written documents were delegated to scribes. Then authors in this era sent their work out to type-setters who used hand crafted tools created by another layer of artisans. Then to printing presses full of machines which were designed by artisans, built by artisans, and operated by artisans. Now in modern times the layers are as deep as the technology sector, with thousands of people having contributed to digital publishing equipment and thousands of programmers writing and re-writing better and better software to create a better and better product.
It's interesting seeing generations of compounded human knowledge side by side with earlier generations.
It's also kind of ironic that the more people become involved in the refinement of documents like this the less and less obvious their contributions become. For example, old official hand-written documents were delegated to scribes. Then authors in this era sent their work out to type-setters who used hand crafted tools created by another layer of artisans. Then to printing presses full of machines which were designed by artisans, built by artisans, and operated by artisans. Now in modern times the layers are as deep as the technology sector, with thousands of people having contributed to digital publishing equipment and thousands of programmers writing and re-writing better and better software to create a better and better product.
It's interesting seeing generations of compounded human knowledge side by side with earlier generations.
This is so sick. It's interesting to see how people saw things back in the day. Thanks for sharing
This is mind-blowing. Thanks for sharing, never thought I would read something like this.
This is delightful