Seite - 100 - in Nikola Tesla and the Graz Tech

100 The ‘history of technology’, Eberhard Franz writes in the book ‘130 Jahre Süd- bahn’ (130 years of the Southern Railway), ‘is the history of change made to the earth by man. Through the senses man perceives his environment, with his mind he grasps it, with the skill of his hands he shapes it in a visible way and thus subjects the earth to constant change. This shaping of the earth carried out by man serves primarily to cover the needs necessary for maintaining life. But it goes far beyond that: it includes focusing on the satisfaction of all the needs arising from the mind of man. These range from the urge to dominate the earth to longing for the beautiful and to grappling with the unfathomable. Whether a ploughshare, a sword or an image of the deity – there is always a need for what we call technology. And the history of technology consists of ever new episodes of thought, creativity and application.’ Technological development is subject to economic principles. Usually only those technical advances which appear advantageous from an economic point of view have any real chance of realisation. Since technology contains in itself an autonomous value gradient, as a rule the economy provides the basis for decisions for the realization of alternative technical processes and different theoretical possibilities of decision. The emergence of the capitalistic economic system stimulated the search for efficient production routes. Even a critic of capitalism, like Karl Marx, would not fail to recognize its innovative power. It is no coincidence that those eco- nomic revolutions which brought about special modernisation pushes were closely linked to the economic principle of gainful employment. The example of the first Industrial Revolution in particular illustrates how closely technical development was and is integrated into the social, economic and political environment. The term ‘Industrial Revolution’, coined by Arnold Toynbee, is not entirely unproblematic, since revolutions usually refer to sudden transformations that [in this context] changed the face of England between c. 1780 and c. 1850. It was characterised by self-renewing economic growth with continuous tech- nological innovation. The Industrial Revolution transformed people from agricultural labourers into actuators of machines powered by inanimate energy. By the middle of the 18th century, steam had already been successfully harnessed as a driving force for machines. The steam engine set the ‘revolu- tion’ in motion and shaped it.