Turning points 1. The world of man-made objects

As we suggested in a recent blog [6 September 2015], we love reasoned debate in the Sempringham eLearning office; debate is fundamental to good study in History. We don’t retreat before the bigger issues but we do have a tendency, some will have noticed, to a ‘broad-brush’ approach. We decided to share what we thought on the theme of ‘turning points’: readers and classes who engage in debate may take up the challenge and agree or disagree with our conclusions. As with the original Olympics ideal, it is the participation that is more important than the conclusion. Here is the first 'turning points' blog: others will follow.

Turning points debate 1. The world of man-made objects.

In the Sempringham eLearning office we concluded that, in  the post-classical world, there have been only two turning points in the history of man-made objects; first, the replacement of man power by mechanical power [through water wheels, steam power, petrol and electrical engines and so on]. All changes and developments after the 'switch', from man power to mechanical power after the ‘turning point’, were extensions and applications of the initial change and led incrementally to a transformation of the world of work and of society, and not separate turning points. The second turning point was the creation of digitisation [based on the discovery of the electron in the structure of the atom] and its application to computing, programming and the world wide web.

What is the significance of the restriction of turning points to only two? If the time period for the first was some  200 years it is reasonable to conclude the digital ‘revolution’, only some 40 years of age, has a long distance to run and that the extent of applications has only just begun.

Contributor: Geoff Williams. Sempringham eLearning Office.

29 September 2015

The resilience of the major world belief systems

There is endless debate in the Sempringham eLearning office, as Sempringham blog followers would expect. Recently we concluded there were, in broad terms [based on numbers of people influenced and depth of belief] four major belief systems in the world; the Western liberal world view, the Islamic, the Indian subcontinent Hindu belief nexus and, fourthly, the embedded residual Confucian world view of China. Each embodies rigidities and contradictions but of the four we saw more potential and a greater resilience in the Indian/Hindu world view. Our judgement is partly based on the millennia-long history of the subcontinent.

Contributor: Geoff Williams. Sempringham eLearning Office.

6 September 2015