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Unit 1 White‟s Law
Reading Comprehension
White's law, named after the famous anthropologist Leslie White, is a
theory which attempts to explain how the availability of energy affects the
speed of advancement in civilization. [A] White's law basically states that
civilization evolves as the amount of energy harnessed per person is
increased, or as the efficiency of energy usage is increased. [B]
The basic assumption of White's law is that out of the three major aspects
of civilization (technological, sociological, and ideological), the technological
aspect plays the primary role in driving the evolution of civilization. [C] White
thought that the purpose of all technology is to help overcome the challenges
of survival. [D] Farming technology provides us with greater amounts of food,
and housing technology provides us with shelter. Since all technology requires
some form of energy to operate, greater amounts of energy should allow us
to use greater amounts of technology, which in turn should allow society to
advance more. The same would be true of more efficient energy usage. If
technology is created that uses less energy, that should have the same basic
effect as increasing the total amount of energy available.
White distinguished five different stages in the evolution of civilization,
according to the different forms of energy used to power technology. In the
first stage, energy is provided by our own muscles. Humans in this stage of
development must do all of their own work. In the second stage of
development, humans begin to use animals to power their technology, as a
farmer does when he uses a horse to pull his plow. The third stage occurs
when humans begin to use plants as a source of power. White identified this
stage with a huge increase in the efficiency of farming. In the fourth stage,
humans begin to rely on natural resources such as coal and oil as their
primary source of energy. In the final stage, nuclear power is utilized to
provide energy.
-5-
Reading Comprehension
White's law, named after the famous anthropologist Leslie White, is a
theory which attempts to explain how the availability of energy affects the
speed of advancement in civilization. [A] White's law basically states that
civilization evolves as the amount of energy harnessed per person is
increased, or as the efficiency of energy usage is increased. [B]
The basic assumption of White's law is that out of the three major aspects
of civilization (technological, sociological, and ideological), the technological
aspect plays the primary role in driving the evolution of civilization. [C] White
thought that the purpose of all technology is to help overcome the challenges
of survival. [D] Farming technology provides us with greater amounts of food,
and housing technology provides us with shelter. Since all technology requires
some form of energy to operate, greater amounts of energy should allow us
to use greater amounts of technology, which in turn should allow society to
advance more. The same would be true of more efficient energy usage. If
technology is created that uses less energy, that should have the same basic
effect as increasing the total amount of energy available.
White distinguished five different stages in the evolution of civilization,
according to the different forms of energy used to power technology. In the
first stage, energy is provided by our own muscles. Humans in this stage of
development must do all of their own work. In the second stage of
development, humans begin to use animals to power their technology, as a
farmer does when he uses a horse to pull his plow. The third stage occurs
when humans begin to use plants as a source of power. White identified this
stage with a huge increase in the efficiency of farming. In the fourth stage,
humans begin to rely on natural resources such as coal and oil as their
primary source of energy. In the final stage, nuclear power is utilized to
provide energy.
-5-
