Video Explanation

Text Explanation

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Sample Notes

Sample Essay

In his lecture, the professor discusses why each of the examples contained in the text are not actually solid proof that the U.S. and Europe were given too much credit in global progress, as the author had suggested. He discusses each of the three examples, pointing out the ways in which the inventions actually were innovative and important.

The text had mentioned that handguns were not invented in Europe, as many people might believe, but that they were instead used much earlier in China. However, the professor disagrees that the tools used in China, called “hand cannons,” can really be classified as modern firearms, because they were too large for a single person to use and they were very poor at aiming. Later guns made handheld firearms more usable in battle.

Similarly, the professor points out that the predecessor to the airplane mentioned in the text, designed by a Brazilian man, was not practical. Because it was a balloon, not a real airplane, it was very large and likely to explode or catch fire. In contrast, the professor states that the later invention of the airplane by two men in the United States was more similar to what we use today.

And finally, the professor says that the camera, supposedly the most important example, was not invented in Iraq at all. He makes clear that the earlier invention could not create prints but only a project on the wall. The French invention, in contrast, was the first time we were actually able to create photographs.

Script

Narrator: Now, listen to part of a lecture on the topic you just read about.

Professor:

It’s certainly possible that the the U.S. and Europe get more credit than they should for creativity and innovation. But the examples from the reading—they just don’t support that argument. The reading chooses inventions that really were new… the earlier examples cited were not all the same as the more modern versions whose inventors are so well known today.

For starters, take the example of the camera—the reading says that’s the biggest example. But—ah—nobody could take an actual photograph until Louis Daguerre’s invention. Sure, Ibn al-Haytham’s pinhole device could project a photographic image onto a wall. And yes, Daguerre used a pinhole projector, building off al-Haytham’s discovery. But Daguerre used that projector in a completely new machine that let people easily take and print photos, while the earlier pinhole camera was not able to produce or print anything. So, the modern camera really is a European invention.

Next, we can look at Alberto Santos-Dumont, the Brazilian. Now, he did invent a flying machine that had a motor and could be steered. What the reading doesn’t mention is that Santos-Dumont’s flying machine was a hydrogen balloon, not an airplane. This kind of flying machine turned out not to be very practical—it took up a lotta space and… um… blew up sometimes—hydrogen catches fire really easily. The Wright brothers made the truly modern invention—the safe, space-efficient airplane.

Finally, we’ll look at firearms. The early Chinese hand cannons were innovative but impractical—just like the ancient pinhole camera and the helium balloon. Hand cannons were huge—had to be handled by two people. And they couldn’t be aimed very well at all. The innovations that came about later made handheld firearms, well, usable, especially in battle. It is true that the European guns had the same essential features as the old Chinese hand cannons, but really, European firearms were a whole new weapon design...one that could be used reliably, and by a single soldier—and that’s really what the technology was about in the first place.

Narrator: Summarize the points made in the lecture you just heard, explaining how they challenge points made in the reading.