"Did air conditioning play a role in Reagan’s election? Searching for ripple effects of history-making tech" PBS NewsHour 10/15/2014
Excerpt
GWEN IFILL (NewsHour): Finally, an unconventional look at big ideas and how they lead to unintended and transformative consequences.
That’s the subject of a new book and PBS series that debuts tonight called “How We Got to Now.”
The host is a popular science writer, author and theorist, Steven Johnson.
Here’s a clip from an episode about what air conditioning set into motion after Willis Carrier designed the first modern system.
STEVEN JOHNSON, Author, “How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World”: In 1951, Carrier’s company introduces an air conditioning unit that is miniaturized and affordable for a mass market.
And that’s when A.C. starts to go crazy. Now, just see what this does to where people are living. Tucson, Arizona, grows 400 percent in 10 years, Phoenix 300 percent, Tampa, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, population double, triple. And it’s the same story everywhere you look. Carrier’s invention is circulating people, as well as air, changing lives, changing America.
But then something even more interesting happens. You see, people moving to the hot states are older and tend to vote Republican. And the growing population in the conservative South means more Electoral College votes there. So, check out what happens to the political map of America. Between 1940 and 1980, Northern states lose an incredible 31 Electoral College votes, while Southern states gain 29.
GWEN IFILL: Hari Sreenivasan sat down with Johnson recently in our New York studios.
HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour): The book is called “How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World.”
Steven Johnson, why did you pick glass, cold, sound, clean, time, light? What is it about these innovations?
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