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Earlier than the air conditioner was invented, human beings have been at a loss for easy methods to cool themselves. A few of the concepts have been arguably doomed from the beginning: Within the nineteenth century, as Derek Thompson famous in a 2017 article, New England firms shipped large ice cubes insulated with sawdust across the nation. “There have been even shortages throughout delicate winters—‘ice famines,’” he wrote.
The air conditioner was not solely an excellent innovation; it modified the course of human life. Within the U.S., it allowed folks emigrate to the Solar Belt, to Atlanta and Phoenix, altering the nation’s demographics and politics. Globally, it allowed folks in international locations with excruciating warmth to work extra, resulting in new websites of productiveness and wealth. Right this moment’s publication explores how the air conditioner has already formed our world, and the way it continues to vary our lives for higher and for worse.
On Air-Conditioning
Your Air Conditioner Is Mendacity to You
By Daniel Engber
How does money-saver mode make sense?
How Air-Conditioning Invented the Fashionable World
By Derek Thompson
A brand new e-book by the economist Tim Harford on historical past’s best breakthroughs explains why barbed wire was a revolution, paper cash was an accident, and HVACs have been a productiveness booster. (From 2017)
The Ethical Historical past of Air-Conditioning
By Shane Cashman
Cooling the air was as soon as seen as sinful. Possibly the concept wasn’t fully fallacious. An Object Lesson.
Nonetheless Curious?
Different Diversions
P.S.
I just lately requested readers to share a photograph of one thing that sparks their sense of awe on the earth. Diego Gutierrez, 63, despatched a photograph of Mohonk Protect in New York.
I’ll proceed to characteristic your responses within the coming weeks.
— Isabel
