When Ted Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber, declared in 1995 that "the Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race," he was voicing a sentiment that now circulates widely online. Rose-tinted nostalgia for the preindustrial era has gone viral, strengthened by anxieties about our own digital era, with some claiming that modernity itself was a mistake and that "progress" is an illusion. Medieval peasants led happier and more leisurely lives than we do, according to those who pine for the past.
Hard-wearing inventions of the 19th century, Lincrusta and Anaglypta could be made to resemble leather, plaster, and other materials. Home decoration was all the rage in the late 19th century. With the Industrial Revolution in England and America in full swing, a growing middle class on both sides of the Atlantic had spending money and wanted to have the look of the expensive decor of the rich, as seen in shops and described in newspapers and magazines.
The 2025 Sveriges Riksbank Prize for Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel has been awarded to three researchers who have shown how technological and scientific innovation, coupled to market competition, drive economic growth. One half of the prize goes to economic-historian Joel Mokyr of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and the other half is split between the economic theorists Philippe Aghion of the Collège de France and the London School of Economics and Peter Howitt of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. "I can't find the words to express what I feel," Aghion said. He says he will use the money for research in his laboratory at the Collège de France.
Lincolnshire is pivotal to the government's plan for a green re-industrialisation to boost jobs and support the net zero agenda while revitalising deprived areas.
"I think there's a plausible argument - which Elon also believes - that robotics is going to be the biggest industry in the history of the planet. It's just going to be gigantic."
Cretors' steam-powered popcorn machine revolutionized snack foods, offering even heat and enhanced flavor while enabling mobile vending, paving the way for popcorn's 20th-century popularity.