History 390 blog

What can I say about this week of class? Well for starters there was a lot of information that was given that can definitely be considered important in the grand scheme of things when it comes to our knowledge of our technological past, but I’m not going to lie the topic was pretty dry overall. I did find one concept pretty interesting though, and that was the concept I believe that came from Max Weber in pretty much saying the more individualized that you are the less free you truly are. I’m not sure if I agree with that assertion though, and his reasoning is honestly kind of suspect in my opinion. That assertion was that when you are individualized you are grouped into a much larger group which is a way of tracking people. Within that assertion I agree that it will probably be easier to track an individual who stands out, but to say that you are less free being an individual is ridiculous to me. How can you be grouped into a larger group if you’re being authentically yourself? That shouldn’t be possible.

Another thing that was interesting was the conversation on the Military industrial Complex. I heard of it a few times before being in this class, but I never took the time to really understand what it was. To now know it’s the conjunction of the government, and our military, it makes more sense to me. The interesting thing about the Military industrial complex is that out of it came the development of computers and the internet, and it was all due to the Cold War. The last thing that really peaked my interest was the origin of the G.I. Bill. In my first few semesters in college I was able to use some of my fathers G.I. Bill he received through his military service so when the topic was brought up I was intrigued. All this time I didn’t realize that the Cold War was the reason the G.I. Bill came into existence. What makes it even more interesting is the fact that having a degree became more mandatory due to the Cold War and the G.I. Bill. The Cold Wars impact on our country is pretty incredible when you think about it, so much of what we use and take for granted today is a result of this race against Russia. Though the overall lesson had many dry spells involved in it, there is a lot of information that I now know because of this weeks lesson.