In The Shock of the Old, Edgerton devotes a whole chapter on the innovation of killing. Innovation to Edgerton means something is being changed for the betterment of a society, but he also mentions to careful with what we choose to be innovative or taken into a person’s open-arms. It seems that this sense of “being careful with choice” comes a little stronger through the evolution of killing. The part that was interesting is the first photograph of the chapter describes that photos of slaughtering animals was actually not as popular as I originally thought, considering we take plenty of photos of piles of dead people. Animals were suddenly seen as a sensitive subject.
The innovation of execution has also evolved to make killings faster and more humane. They also changed from gas chamber and electric chair to lethal injection for maintenance purposes. It shows a purpose for people to have the death penalty not be as horrendous to witness or be a part of. The amount of change within the twentieth century is outstanding in multiple aspects of technological advancements. Edgerton walks through the advancements of killing humans, animals, plants, insects, etc. During the chapter about killing, you begin to realize that it isn’t just one type of technology dominating the picture, but multiple facets throughout every aspect of life from how things get on your plate to how to make plants flourish to getting rid of a horrible criminal.
One area that technology is a hard thing to justify is in war. Innovation is a good thing because it makes your nation better than other nations (security-wise) if you can adapt to the new technology, or even invent it before another nation gets it. We’ve moved from muskets that take one shot and have a long reload time to rifles that hardly take any time after a barrage of bullets has already been shot. We have found a way to kill hundreds of thousands of people in a matter of seconds. Our technological advancements have made it easier to give into the darker side of human nature. Consequences have of course been amplified for such actions, but with our legal system in favor for the benefits of the rich, could a person simply pay off the consequences?
Though technology advances, people are gaining more questions on morals and humanity. How are we facilitating a better, longer life with certain technologies? It brings it back to Edgerton asking people to be careful with what we choose to be innovative.