I particularly enjoyed the Atlantic article from 1945. One line in particular jumped out at me;
“Mendel’s concept of the laws of genetics was lost to the world for a generation because his publication did not reach the few who were capable of grasping and extending it; and this sort of catastrophe is undoubtedly being repeated all about us, as truly significant attainments become lost in the mass of the inconsequential.”
This is very reflective of the conversation that went on during the first class. It seems that scholars have not learned from their mistakes as far as this example is concerned. Language is extremely important when writing an article and the reason that more people do not read scholarly articles is because they simply cannot understand the specialized jargon being used. This dramatically limits the audience that is willing to read the article. In doing this, people from outside the increasingly specialized fields within academia, may not benefit from the research and therefore, it may take much longer for advancements to take place.
Three potential historical topics that I would like to see covered during this course would be:
1) The impact of technology on Politics (Radio on speeches, TV for debates, etc)
2) The history of electronics being used for coercive things (Electronic Warfare, Code Breaking, etc)
3) What will be the next internet in the progression of radio, TV, internet, etc (maybe this can’t be answered)