The Atlantic has a story that says air conditioning initially received a chilly reception:
The Moral History of Air-Conditioning
Cooling the air was once seen as sinful. Maybe the idea wasn’t entirely wrong.
"Even into the early 1900s, the U.S. Congress avoided the use of manufactured air in the Capitol, afraid voters would mock them for not being able to sweat like everyone else.
"While adoption of air-conditioning demanded industrial ingenuity, it also required renouncing the vice of cooling the inside air.
...
"Even today, air-conditioning remains controversial. Due to their environmental impact, some advocates call for disuse of these machines. Others accuse the air conditioner of chauvinism, forcing women in the workplace to dress one way inside and another outside. It has become both a symbol of human ingenuity and of weakness, acclimatizing human bodies so that they are less resilient against natural heat without the aid of machines."
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HT: Sandro Ambuehl
The Moral History of Air-Conditioning
Cooling the air was once seen as sinful. Maybe the idea wasn’t entirely wrong.
"Even into the early 1900s, the U.S. Congress avoided the use of manufactured air in the Capitol, afraid voters would mock them for not being able to sweat like everyone else.
"While adoption of air-conditioning demanded industrial ingenuity, it also required renouncing the vice of cooling the inside air.
...
"Even today, air-conditioning remains controversial. Due to their environmental impact, some advocates call for disuse of these machines. Others accuse the air conditioner of chauvinism, forcing women in the workplace to dress one way inside and another outside. It has become both a symbol of human ingenuity and of weakness, acclimatizing human bodies so that they are less resilient against natural heat without the aid of machines."
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HT: Sandro Ambuehl
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1 comment:
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