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A Victorian Thunderstorm: Lightning Protection and Technological Pessimism in the Nineteenth Century

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Abstract

In the defining framework for this volume, we read that, “toward the close of the twentieth century, technological pessimism and post-modern sensibilities appear related as elements of late counter-enlightenment cultural trends.” This creates a powerful image of centuries in conflict, and depicts late twentieth-century technological pessimism as fundamentally opposed to the enlightened, progressive spirit of the nineteenth century. In this short essay, I would like to examine this image a bit more closely.

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