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Articles on Industrial Revolution

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A halfpenny token issued by the Parys Mining Company of Anglesey in 1788. The hooded druid design was used for many years and was the first of hundreds of token designs. BrandonBigheart/Wikimedia

Welsh mining towns had alternative currencies 200 years ago – here’s what the crypto world could learn from them

A Welsh mining company was the first to issue tokens to workers as an alternative form of payment.
Some Luddites simply want to press ‘pause’ on the uninhibited march of technological progress. Stan Eales/iStock via Getty Images

What’s a Luddite? An expert on technology and society explains

Despite the association of ‘Luddite’ with a naïve rejection of technology, the term and its origins are far richer and more complex than you might think.
Artificial intelligence requires machines, processing power and energy consumption, among other things. Often, we’re unaware of the presence of this infrastructure around us. (Shutterstock)

Hidden in plain sight: The infrastructures that support artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is supported by an infrastructure of hardware and software that is growing increasingly present in our lives, yet remains hidden in plain view.
These boys working in a Georgia cotton mill were photographed in 1909. Lewis Hine/The National Child Labor Committee Collection via Library of Congress

Abolishing child labor took the specter of ‘white slavery’ and the job market’s near collapse during the Great Depression

More than a fifth of US children were working in 1900, and many Americans saw nothing wrong with that. It took decades of activism and court battles plus economic upheaval to change course.

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