05 - Modernity and Beyond

Engineering and Society:
Modernity and Beyond
Dr. Gershon Weltman

Engineering 183EW, UCLA SEAS
Lecture 5
Copyright Gershon Weltman, 2015
Modernity Begins
The end of the 19th century and

the beginning of the 20th century
defined who we are now. It is
the transition from the old world
values to the modern world.
Guillermo del Toro
Film Director
LA Times Calendar, Oct 11, 2015
Technology Timeline: The Modern Age Begins

1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
Skyscraper
Mass Production
Mass Car
Public Radio
Heavier than Air Flight
Wright Flyer ~1904
Skyscraper: Synthesis of New Technologies

Elevator
Air
Conditioning
Steel Bridge
Plate Glass
Typewriter
Telephone
St. Louis,1899
1887
Chicago,
Louis Sullivan
(18561924)
The Private Car: Mobility Expands
1903 Cadillac Model A
1902 White-Stanhope
Mobility for the Masses

Henry Fords Car Improvements:
Standardized - Model T
Simplified - E.g., Black Only
Improvable Company R&D
Affordable -- $750 (down to $250)
Henry Fords Social Innovations:
Moving Assembly Line
Single-Task Workers
$5 Per Day Wage
$2.50 Basic
$2.50 Morality Bonus
Identification of Consumer Class
Mass Production vs. Craft Production
Mechanization of Human Work
The Assembly Line
Humans as machines
Time and Motion to optimize
Unskilled are preferred
Only the needy survive
Scientific Management
Expertise moves upward

Wages move downward
Democratic participation is
widely touted
Labor contribution is actually
discouraged
Commentators
Commentatorshave
haverecognized
recognized
these
thesechanges
changesas
asenhancing
enhancingthe
the
separation
separationofofthinking
thinkingfrom
fromdoing
doing
Matthew
Crawford,
Copyright
Gershon
Weltman, Shop
2015
Class as Soulcraft, Penguin Books: New York, 2009
Positive Effects of the Mass Automobile
Autonomy: Mobility, Individuality, Independence
Connectivity: The USA as a Whole
Transportation: People, Produce, Products
Jobs: Manufacture, Sales, Service, Driver, Construction
Status: Ford and Chevy vs. Lincoln and Cadillac
Entertainment and Sport: Racing, Contests, Stunts, Film
Hobby: Repair, Restoration, Augmentation
Art Objects: Street Rods, Lowriders, Customs
Technical Education: A Framework of Understanding
and Some Negatives
Los Angeles downtown in the 1920s
Congestion and Pollutions; Smog and Gridlock

Traffic Accidents; Growing to >40,000 Deaths Annually
10
Mass Production Effects
Restructuring of Social Strata
Increased Flow of Consumer Goods
A steady factory paycheck

Growth of a new middle class
New societal divisions
Labor vs. Capital
Blue Collar vs. White Collar

Large and powerful unions
Affordable quality
Almost all levels of society
New Distribution and Marketing Channels
Mail order and department stores

Food super markets
National as well as local advertising
The
TheAmerican
Americanfrugal
frugalcharacter
characterisisrewired
rewiredfor
foraspirational
aspirationalconsumerism.
consumerism.
Instead
Insteadofofrioting,
rioting,American
Americanfactory
factoryworkers
workersorganize
organizeininorder
ordertotobenefit.
benefit.
11
Broadcast Radio: Societal

Communication Expands
First commercial broadcast in 1920
Tremendous demand for receivers
600 stations by 1922
>60% of households by 1930
Broad variety of drama, sports, news
and opinion
Advertising soon follows
12
Technology Timeline
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
Mass Production
Mass Car
Skyscraper
World War I
Industrialization
Futurism
Public Radio
Heavier than Air Flight
Electrification
13
Futurism: The Practical Philosophies of Modernism
The Futurists
Design Movements
Constructivism
Modernism/Art Deco
Bauhaus
Industrial Design
The Machine in Culture
Futurism
Futurismappreciates
appreciatesthe
theradical
radicalnature
natureof
oftechnological
technologicalchange,
change,
and
andstates
statesthat
thatthe
thenewly
newlyintroduced
introducedtechnologies
technologiescan
can
contribute
contributeto
tomodernizing
modernizingall
allaspects
aspectsof
ofsociety
societyfor
forthe
thebetter!
better!
14
The Futurist Manifesto (19091915)

We intend to sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and fearlessness.
We affirm that the worlds magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty: the
beauty of speed. A racing car whose hood is adorned with great pipes, like serpents
of explosive breatha roaring car that seems to ride on grapeshot is more
beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace.
We want to hymn the man at the wheel, who hurls the lance of his spirit across the
Earth, along the circle of its orbit.
We will sing of great crowds excited by work, by pleasure, and by riot; we will sing of
the multicolored, polyphonic tides of revolution in the modern capitals; we will sing of
the vibrant nightly fervor of arsenals and shipyards blazing with violent electric moons;
greedy railway stations that devour smoke-plumed serpents; factories hung on clouds by
the crooked lines of their smoke; bridges that stride the rivers like giant gymnasts,
flashing in the sun with a glitter of knives; adventurous steamers that sniff the horizon;
deep-chested locomotives whose wheels paw the tracks like the hooves of enormous
steel horses bridled by tubing; and the sleek flight of planes whose propellers chatter in
the wind like banners and seem to cheer like an enthusiastic crowd
15
Futurist Art and Speed
Superman with Speed lines
Umberto Boccioni, Unique Form of

Continuity in Space, 1913
16
The Futurist Manifesto (19091915)

We intend to sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and fearlessness.
We affirm that the worlds magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty: the
beauty of speed. A racing car whose hood is adorned with great pipes, like serpents
of explosive breatha roaring car that seems to ride on grapeshot is more
beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace.
We want to hymn the man at the wheel, who hurls the lance of his spirit across the
Earth, along the circle of its orbit.
We will sing of great crowds excited by work, by pleasure, and by riot; we will sing of
the multicolored, polyphonic tides of revolution in the modern capitals; we will sing of
the vibrant nightly fervor of arsenals and shipyards blazing with violent electric moons;
greedy railway stations that devour smoke-plumed serpents; factories hung on clouds by
the crooked lines of their smoke; bridges that stride the rivers like giant gymnasts,
flashing in the sun with a glitter of knives; adventurous steamers that sniff the horizon;
deep-chested locomotives whose wheels paw the tracks like the hooves of enormous
steel horses bridled by tubing; and the sleek flight of planes whose propellers chatter in
the wind like banners and seem to cheer like an enthusiastic crowd
We will glorify warthe worlds only hygienemilitarism, patriotism, the
destructive gesture of freedom-bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for.
17
Constructivist Design (1914-1932)
Konstruktsiia denotes a mode of thinking, a certain ordering of the process of

thought. Mechanical engineering was the basic logical paradigm of thinking, the same
way our age of information uses systems analysis today. A scientific theory of the
design of form is possible through the dialectical method of thinking by the application
of mathematical methods of analysis.
18
Modernism: Some Inspirations
Streamlined Aircraft,
Stop Motion Photography

19
Modernism:
New Ways of Seeing
Cubist Art
Marcel Duchamp
Nude descending a staircase - 1912
20
Modernism: New Ways of Building
Einstein Tower, Potsdam, 1921
Design for a Department Store

Architect: Eric Mendelsohn
Shocken Department Store Chemnitz, 1928
21
Modernism: Style vs. Economy (~1927)
LaSalle Roadster $2100

Ford Model T Roadster $300
22
Modernism: Defining New Luxury
Delehaye V-12
Dubonnet Xenia
23
Modernism: In Transport
Above, Ford Zephyr, 1934; top right, Cord Sedan, 1936;

bottom right, Norman Bel Geddes concept car, 1933
24
Modernism: Everyday Structures
John Baeder, Diner, Camp Hill, Pa.

25
Modernism: Consumer Products
26
Modernism: Real Skyscrapers of New York City.
40 Wall Street 1928

Empire State Building 1931
Chrysler Building 1930
27
and Some Distinctive Los Angeles Buildings
Bullocks Wilshire, 19291

Pan Pacific Auditorium, 19322
Now Southwest Law School, 2Now LACMA West
28
Bauhaus Design: Form Follows Function
Marcel Beuer, Wassily Chair, 1925
Marcel Beuer, Cesca Chair, 1928
Mies van der Rohe , Barcelona Chair, 1929

W.M. Dudok, School, Netherlands
29
Bauhaus Home Design: A Machine for Living
Richard Neutra, Lovell House, Los Angeles, 1929

30
Bauhaus Today The Los Angeles Look
31
Industrial Design: The Art of Consumer Products

Raymond Loewy
1934
Raymond Loewy
Coldspot, 1938
John Vassos
Turnstile, 1932
32
Raymond Loewy Icons
Lucky Strike Packages
Studebaker Avanti Car

Coca Cola Logo
Shell Oil Logo
33
The Machine
in Culture - Art 1
Frank Hulzberg
Fantasy New York, 1935
34
The Machine in Culture Art 2
Thomas Hart Benton, Catalytic Cracker, 1936

35
Grant Wood, Iowa State College Library, 1930s
36
Thomas Hart Benton, City Activities, 1935

37
Mass Art The Growth of Popular Culture
38
Imagining the Future: Cities of Tomorrow
39
Imagining the Future: Technology of Tomorrow
ItIttook
tookaawhile,
while,but
butreality
realityhas
has(almost)
(almost)caught
caughtup
upwith
withanticipation
anticipation
40
Imagining the Future:

Government by
The Second Culture
Technocracy was a cultural

and political movement of the
1930s and 1940s that
advocated management of
society by technical methods
through a government made
up of engineers and scientists.
41
Re-Imagining Current Society: Superheroes
Four
FourMen
Men(and
(andaaWoman)
Woman)with
withthe
thePowers
Powersof
ofFuturistic
FuturisticMachines
Machines
42
Technological and Societal Timeline

1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
Mass Automobile
Mass Production
World War I
Chemical Fertilizer
Public Radio
Great Depression
Futurism
Electrification
43
The Depression: Technology as Symptom

Once I built a railroad
Made it run
Made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad
Now its done.
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower
To the sun
Brick and rivets and lime.
Once I built a tower
Now theres none.
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Yip Harburg
1932
44
The Depression: Technology as Cure
The Work Projects Administration

(WPA) put America back to work on
a broad range of public projects
involving art as well as technology.
These ranged from giant dams and
large buildings to murals, socially
relevant plays and photographic
essays documenting the hard times.
Fort Peck Dam, Montana, 1936
45
Contrary Voices
Literary Critics: Cultural Defects of Progress
Sinclair Lewis: The Vacuousness of the Middle Class
H.L. Mencken: Deterioration of the American Language
Sherwood Anderson: Circumscribed Small Town Lives
John Steinbeck: People Cast Loose to Poverty
The Muckrakers: Dangers of Unregulated Big Business
Lincoln Steffens: Shame of the Cities
Ida Tarbell: History of Standard Oil
David Graham Phillips: Great God Success
Samuel Hopkins Adams: Revelry
Upton Sinclair: The Jungle, King Coal, Oil, Little Steel
46

1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
Mass Automobile
Mass Production
World War I
Chemical Fertilizer
Public Radio
Futurism
Great Depression
New York Worlds Fair
Electrification
47
Futurisms Apex: New York Worlds Fair of 1939

World Expositions
London 1851
New York 1853
Paris 1855
Philadelphia 1876
Paris 1889
Chicago 1893
Chicago 1933
Brussels 1935
San Diego 1935
Dallas 1936
Cleveland 1937
Paris 1937
San Francisco 1939
48
Layout of the Fair

Exhibits
ExhibitsInclude:
Include:
U.S.
U.S.Steel
Steel
GM,
GM,Ford,
Ford,Chrysler
Chrysler
Firestone,
Firestone,Goodrich
Goodrich
GE,
GE,Westinghouse
Westinghouse
AT&T,
AT&T,RCA
RCA
Dupont
Dupont
Borden,
Borden,Beech
BeechNut
Nut
Swift
Swift&&Co.
Co.
Elgin
ElginWatch
Watch
Industries
Industries
Nations
Nations
Agencies
Agencies
Organizations
Organizations
Amusements
Amusements
49
Modernist Pavilions
British Pavilion
Brazil Pavilion
50
Worlds Fair Zones
Theme Center
Communications and Business Systems
Interdependence: production, distribution and peoples

Fashion and cosmetics
Transportation
Media: Mail, print, telegraph, radio, film, television

Equipment: Business, fax broadcast, electronic alarms
Production and Distribution
Democracity: The World of Tomorrow
Speed: Railroads, airplanes and ships

GM Futurama: The automobile in 1960
Food
Nutrition: The science of good health

Packaged products: Milk, bread, breakfast cereal, etc.
51
Democracity: City of the Future Panorama
52
TV Communications
53
Transportation Giants
54
GM Futurama: 1960 Intersection
55
Seeing The World of Tomorrow
I think that there are moments where you can see the world
turning from what it is into what it will be. For me, the New
York World's Fair is such a moment. It is a compass rose
pointing in all directions, toward imaginary future and real
past, false future and immutable present, a world of tomorrow
contained in the lost American yesterday.
- John Crowley, from the film The World of Tomorrow
The
The1939
1939New
NewYork
YorkWorlds
WorldsFair
Fairhas
hasbeen
beencalled
calledthe
thepeak
peakof
ofFuturism
Futurism
because
becauseWorld
WorldWar
WarII,
II,which
whichstarted
startedwhile
whilethe
theFair
Fairwas
wasstill
stillon,
on,
showed
us
the
limits
of
enthusiasm
for
the
effects
showed us the limits of enthusiasm for the effectsofoftechnology
technology
on
onsociety.
society.
56

1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
Mass Automobile
Mass Production
World War I
Aircraft Industry
Rocketry
Public Radio
Great Depression
Futurism
World War II
New York Worlds Fair
Electrification
57
A True World War.
The Pacific Theater
The European Theater
58
.Against Societies Prepared for War.
59
.Fought by Americas Average Joes.
Cartoon
by BillWeltman,
Mauldin,
Copyright Gershon
2015 circa 1944
60
.and Americas Mass Production of Weaponry
Adaptation of car
assembly methods
250 million sq. feet
>5 million workforce
50,000 aircraft/year
21,000 tanks/year
B-25 Bomber Production Line

Rosie the Riveter, J. Howard Miller & G.E.
61
Military Technology of World War II
Small Arms: Rifle, machine gun, bazooka (RPG)

Armor & Transport: Battle tank, long range artillery, jeep
Aircraft: Heavy bomber, fighter, close air support, jet
Ships: Submarine, aircraft carrier, battleship, destroyer,
Electronics & Computation: Radar, bomb sights, cryptography
Genocide: Concentration & extermination camps
Weapons of Mass Destruction:
Saturation and incendiary bombing
Ballistic and semi-guided missiles
62
Cryptography: Breaking the Enigma Code
Above, the Colossus computer at Bletchley Park,

Buckinghamshire, England, c. 1943. Funding for this
code-breaking machine came from the Ultra project. The
movie The Imitation Game tells the story, focusing on
Alan Turing, shown at left below an Enigma machine.
63
Missiles & Space

V1 Jet powered Buzz Bomb
V2 Rocket Bomb
Early US
Test Rocket
Rocket Scientist
Werner Von Braun
64
Military Technology of World War II
Small Arms: Rifle, machine gun, bazooka (RPG)

Armor & Transport: Battle tank, long range artillery, jeep
Aircraft: Heavy bomber, fighter, close air support, jet
Ships: Submarine, aircraft carrier, battleship, destroyer,
Electronics & Computation: Radar, bomb sights, cryptography
Genocide: Concentration & extermination camps
Weapons of Mass Destruction:
Saturation and incendiary bombing
Ballistic and semi-guided missiles
The Atomic Bomb!
65
The Atomic Bomb
Hiroshima Bomb
The Manhattan Project
Two Bombs
- Hiroshima (Aug 6, 1945)
- Nagasaki (Aug 9, 1945]
One Purpose
- Produce Shock & Awe
- Force Japanese Surrender to
save millions of lives
Many Effects
- Started MAD Arms Race

- Defined the Cold War
- Ignited Moral Controversy
Hiroshima Explosion
66
A New Weapon of Mass Destruction.
Explosion and firestorm engulfed 4.4 sq. mi.
About 70,000 people killed immediately
Hiroshima
Hiroshimadestruction
destructionand
anddeath
deathunprecedented
unprecedentedfor
foraasingle
singleevent
eventininwarfare
warfare
67
.vs. Old Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Nazi Concentration Camp Victims
Dresden, Germany, US Bombing Victims
Moral
Moraland
andevil
evilpurpose
purposeare
areoften
oftenhard
hardtotodistinguish
distinguishby
bytheir
theirproducts
productsalone
alone
68
and More
69
Lessons of World War II
Technology can be used to support dictators, totalitarianism

and purposes of pure evil
Science-based weapons and their production

key factors in modern warfare
New capabilities for planet wide destruction
need some form of international regulation, hence the

United Nations, formed before the war ends
Renewed desire to build the World of the Future, now

called the Post War World
But..
are the
Futurism is never quite the same again!
70

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05 - Modernity and Beyond

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Engineering and Society:

Modernity and Beyond

Dr. Gershon Weltman

Copyright Gershon Weltman, 2015

The end of the 19th century and

Copyright Gershon Weltman, 2015

Technology Timeline: The Modern Age Begins

Heavier than Air Flight

Copyright Gershon Weltman, 2015

Wright Flyer ~1904

Skyscraper: Synthesis of New Technologies

The Private Car: Mobility Expands

1903 Cadillac Model A

Mobility for the Masses

Simplified - E.g., Black Only

Improvable Company R&D

Affordable -- $750 (down to $250)

Henry Fords Social Innovations:

Moving Assembly Line

$5 Per Day Wage

$2.50 Morality Bonus

Identification of Consumer Class

Copyright Gershon Weltman, 2015

Mass Production vs. Craft Production

Copyright Gershon Weltman, 2015

Mechanization of Human Work

The Assembly Line

Expertise moves upward

Class as Soulcraft, Penguin Books: New York, 2009

Positive Effects of the Mass Automobile

Autonomy: Mobility, Individuality, Independence

Connectivity: The USA as a Whole

Transportation: People, Produce, Products

Jobs: Manufacture, Sales, Service, Driver, Construction

Status: Ford and Chevy vs. Lincoln and Cadillac

Entertainment and Sport: Racing, Contests, Stunts, Film

Hobby: Repair, Restoration, Augmentation

Art Objects: Street Rods, Lowriders, Customs

Technical Education: A Framework of Understanding

Copyright Gershon Weltman, 2015

and Some Negatives

Los Angeles downtown in the 1920s

Congestion and Pollutions; Smog and Gridlock

Copyright Gershon Weltman, 2015

Mass Production Effects

Restructuring of Social Strata

Increased Flow of Consumer Goods

A steady factory paycheck

Labor vs. Capital

Blue Collar vs. White Collar

New Distribution and Marketing Channels

Mail order and department stores

Broadcast Radio: Societal

Copyright Gershon Weltman, 2014

Futurism: The Practical Philosophies of Modernism

The Futurist Manifesto (19091915)

Copyright Gershon Weltman, 2015

Futurist Art and Speed

Superman with Speed lines

Umberto Boccioni, Unique Form of

The Futurist Manifesto (19091915)

Constructivist Design (1914-1932)

Konstruktsiia denotes a mode of thinking, a certain ordering of the process of

Modernism: Some Inspirations