The Importance Of Modernization

This course presents several examples human disasters and explores many concepts through them. However, one the most important concepts in regard to this class is the role of modernization, and whether or not it has helped or hindered human being in dealing with disasters. Modernization has helped humanity progress in many ways, has alleviated disease and brought millions out of poverty. However, modernization has its dangers, its costs, and if kept unchecked, can lead to the degradation of human society. Examining Johnstown Flood, Things Fall Apart, and War of the Worlds shows that modernization increases human hubris at the risk of making society less prepared for disasters, destroys fundamental institutions and can lead to disenfranchisement

63). Later, John Fulton, an engineer, was sent to examine the dam, and states that there were “two serious elements of danger in this dam” and that “a thorough overhauling of the present lining” (McCullough, p. 74) must be done. However, Ruff, the president of the Club, “was not in the least interested in continuing the discussion” and “the matter was dropped” (McCullough, p. 74). This shows how the dam, a symbol of industrialization and of man taming nature, gave Ruff and other members of the Club a sense of hubris. They believed that technology would not have failed, and that any rumors of the dam breaking were unsubstantiated. This increase in human hubris led to substandard safety measures and a top-down safety approach which ultimately led to disaster.

Another danger of modernization is the destruction of fundamental institutions, such as what happened in Things Fall Apart. The emergence of a foreign culture, the British, caused the native African culture to implode and corrupted previous values, by exploring what happened when the British come to the

Wells states that “ We men, with our bicycles and road-skates, our Lilienthal soaring-machines, our guns and sticks and so forth, are just in the beginning of the evolution that the Martians have worked out” (Book 2, Ch. 2, Par. 25), perhaps foreshadowing that the humans will eventually end up like the Martians. There was a paper, written in a “foolish, facetious tone” which states that humans would begin to rely on machines more and more and that organs like the “hair, external nose, teeth, ears, and chin were no longer essential parts of the human being… brain alone remained a cardinal necessity” (Book 2, Ch. 2, Par. 20). While this paper was intended to be in jest, the fact that the narrator believes it “is quite credible that the Martians may be descended from beings not unlike ourselves” (Book 2, Ch. 2, Par. 21) shows that human evolution and technology could lead to a loss of the emotional aspects of humanity, making future humans and Martians similar in that they would both be “a mere selfish intelligence, without any of the emotional substratum of the human being” (Book 2,Ch. 2, Par. 21). The fact that the narrator believes humanity could end up like the Martians shows that if technology and a sense of cultural superiority goes unchecked, that it will transform humanity for the worse. Wells even points to the