Nanotechnology During The 1900s

Throughout the 1900s, there were new ideas that were both accepted and rejected as useful and realistic. Nanotechnology, radio, and plastic were all developed during this time period and were presented in different ways. The ways in which these new technologies are presented and imagined greatly effects its future. The timing of innovations, the speed of its upheaval, its usefulness in society, and economic impacts are critical factors in the development of technologies. On the other hand, the development of wooden airplanes was not as successful because of the process in which this advancement was researched and applied. Nanotechnology, an idea that grew rapidly throughout the mid 1900s, is an example of how starting small and then gradually

The Cold War also led to the progression of nanotechnology because it created growth in many American corporations. This growth allowed companies to invest in this new idea without fear of going bankrupt. Nanotechnology began as a small, somewhat unknown technology that quickly expanded into larger practices due to two men’s ideas that the “precise manipulation of the molecular realm” (McCray 183) could be attained. This was able to happen because of the people who thought that nanotechnology had the power to expand beyond college campuses. This prediction of the future helped to make it successful because of the strategies that several visionaries used to inform and educate people about its

People began brainstorming possible uses of plastic from clothing to cars. There were many factors that were associated with the increase of plastic in consumer goods. This includes increasing competition, the emergence of industrial design, and the growth of new varieties of plastic using synthetic chemistry. People believed that plastic would create a utopian society. Plastic is extremely dominant to this day because of its varied uses as well as its physical properties. Nowadays, plastic can be seen almost everywhere including electronics, furniture, and cars. Plastic became so successful because of the diverse uses people came up as a way of imagining a better future. Similar to radio, plastic also “conjured up utopian visions” (Meikle 77) and many Americans viewed plastic as a “miracle material” (Meikle 79). People thought that plastic would shape the future that they imagined during the dark times of the World War. Most importantly, people found the opportunity to take control over its current state and to “gain freedom from chance” (Meikle 78) in a time where they had little control. These predictions of the future were vital in the development of plastic because of the strain the war had on