Lecture diary:

One of the first questions we were asked in this lecture was about a piece of technology that we could not live without. For me, even though it is a basic device and many others thought similarly, my phone is essential to my everyday life. I use it to make payments, stay in touch with friends, and pass the time by watching tiktoks. After that, we had to guess what each of the many Victorian objects that were displayed to us had been. I thought this was a really interesting exercise because it showed how far we had come and revealed the sources of inspiration for many contemporary items. For instance, Rasmus Malling-Hansen's writing ball machine may have been an early version of Word or another writing program. Returning to the initial question we were asked, I find that most of these large, heavy machines have had their functions moved into a 6x4 inch, 200 g rectangle that I carry in my pocket. It makes me appreciate the simplicity of the machines of today even more.