The Industrial Revolutions

Dec 02 2024 73 ep. 50 mins 4.9k

The Industrial Revolutions Podcast artwork

The story of how a primate species created a world full of skyscrapers, airplanes, nuclear weapons, and vaccines. From the mass production of cotton weaving in the first industrial revolution of the 18th Century, to the digital revolution of today, this podcast will explore the ways our world has rapidly changed.

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Introduction

Jan 06 2019 3 mins

When the founding fathers wrote the U.S. Constitution in the 1780s, life on planet earth had changed very slowly over the previous 10,000 years. Life in 1780 wasn’t all that different from life in 1500. Life in 1500 wasn’t all that different from life in 1250. Life in 1250 wasn’t all that different from life in 1000. And so on, and so on.But then the human experience changed

Chapter 1: Genesis

Jan 30 2019 40 mins

In this episode, we cover the origins of human society, which remained relatively unchanged until the Industrial Revolutions:How we evolved into “smart man”How we stopped foraging and started farmingHow we started building citiesHow we developed trade and moneyHow we developed government and religionHow we invented writingHow we developed a system of social inequalityHow our id

Chapter 2: Europe in the Middle Ages

Jan 31 2019 28 mins

Europe was (rightly or wrongly) considered the backwater of the civilized world for most of history. So how is it the Europeans built global empires and changed the world with industrialization?In this 25-minute episode, I’m going to run through the developments of the Middle Ages and the circumstances of life in Europe that gradually led to a new world order. Topics include:The

Chapter 3: The Rise of the Global Empires

Feb 07 2019 42 mins

Beginning in the 1300s, a rivalry between two kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula led to a whole lot of exploring, trading, and conquering. Before long, other European powers were getting in on the action. Not only did it transfer the gravity of the world’s political and economic power toward Europe, it set Europe on a path toward industrialization.In this episode, we’ll explore:

Chapter 4: Creating Utopia

Feb 14 2019 36 mins

Are we living in Thomas More’s Utopia? In this chapter, we’ll explore his book and his life to chart the path toward the industrialized world we inhabit today, including: The rise of cottage industry; Mechanical innovations; Increasing specialization; The war industry’s impact on mass production; The impact of the Protestant Reformation.

Chapter 5: The Textile Industry

Feb 21 2019 38 mins

We’ll never know the names of the first farmers of the Neolithic Revolution, but we do know the names of the inventors who kick-started the Industrial Revolutions. Their simple innovations gave us a new world of nearly constant, explosive economic growth and a total restructuring of society everywhere and forever. This is how it happened.In this episode, we’ll cover: The growth

Chapter 6: Agriculture, Metal, and Mining

Mar 07 2019 43 mins

During the 18th Century, the British came up with many innovations that allowed them to get more out of the land. Not only did the increased production of food, iron, and coal make the first industrial revolution possible, but many innovations had indirect applications for new technologies.In this episode, we’ll cover: Jethro Tull’s seed drill; Turnip Townshend’s crop rotatio

Chapter 7: The Steam Engine

Mar 14 2019 43 mins

The steam engine was the product of centuries of experimentation, economic necessities, strong business acumen, and colorful personalities. This is how it happened.

Chapter 8: Mill Towns Become Mill Cities

Mar 21 2019 25 mins

Nearly half the world’s population today lives in an urban area. Before the first Industrial Revolution, only about 3% did. Industrialization created urbanization. Not only did it create incentives for people to pack themselves into dense cities, it also created the means to overcome the challenges of density.What’s most amazing about this process is that many new metropolises

Chapter 9: Economic Ideas (Part 1: The Oldies)

Mar 28 2019 28 mins

At the dawn of the First Industrial Revolution, a new academic field emerged: Economics. (Well, something called “Political Economy” anyway.) But centuries of economic thought had to be supplanted first.In this Chapter, we review some of the ideas that permeated Europe leading up to the Industrial Revolutions. We’ll discuss the works of Plato and Aristotle, the Scholastics, t