Regarding this week’s reading, I can say that one of the main focuses was on the evolution of technology as well as items that branch off of it such as appliances and the internet. There were also articles set in a time of ancient Greece regarding how individuals were using the manual materials from their environment to get by without the need for technological advancements. However, we did get to see what others thought and how technology would affect us in the future written from the point of view of someone who was not fond of technology evolution but noted that it was here to stay.

While reading ‘In Small Pieces Loosely Joined’ written by David Weinberger it was like stepping back in time to see how people contemplated the beginning stages of the internet in the 1990s. Weinberger points out the ways that the evolution of technology would cause changes within the world as it would begin to change how humans interact with one another. There was also the mention of how technology would impact the upcoming economic matters, he would then reel the topic back in and talk to the audience about how technology would affect them on an individual level. Overall Weinberger does give you a good starting point if the history of technology has piqued your interest, this would be a good starting point.

A technological artifact that I think is interesting would be the evolution of the VHS tapes. VHS tapes were introduced in the United Staes in 1977, however were developed in Japan in the early 1970s. VHS tapes were the go-to viewing entertainment that overtook the spot of another system named U-Matic. They were quite expensive to own costing about 80$ – 100$ per tape to own which resulted in most people renting and thus a business such as Blockbuster was born. Eventually, the VHS was redesigned into a sleeker and more modern design that wouldn’t cost you a fee if you didn’t rewind it before returning it, which was named the DVD. The manufacturing of the DVD became the new product and with more being produced at such a sleeker model which resulted in the VHS being replaced all together.

Referring back to Weinberger he stated that the evolution of technology would affect the economic standing of some industries due to each appliance being replaced by a better one. Looking at the revolution of how the CD took over the entertainment injudsty and many shops containing the VCR were shut down, it would be safe to say that Weinberger was not far off.