"A Law Of Acceleration" - Henry Adams

Henry Adams, author of this essay, was descended from the American Presidents John Adams and John Quicy Adams, causing his family to lead him in a very traditional upbringing. He was an American historian. He had an education from Harvard University. He wrote many books around the turn of the 19^th to 20^th century. “A Law Of Acceleration” was written for persons uniformed about the developments of modern science. It was written in an informal tone, using words such as like. I believe the informal writing displays that it was written for those who are uniformed, because it is not scholarly. In “A Law Of Acceleration,” Henry Adams views the history of the human race in terms of scientific progress. Adams discussed the different periods of intelligence and development, and expressed concern for the future, which he believed might require a new kind of intelligence.

One rhetorical device used was the hyperbole. Adams wrote, “Nothing so revolutionary had happened since the year 300” (Adams 24). Obviously, very revolutionary things had happened between then and the time period Henry Adams chose to discuss. This particular use of hyperbole shows how important a certain fifty-year span of “mental inertia” was to the world of science.

 “A Law Of Acceleration” was written in 1906, shortly after the turn of the century. In his essay, Henry Adams reflected on other time periods, and the developments that were spurred in the sections of history. The last section of time was the future (currently the present) in which Adams believed rapid development would continue. The context of this essay was simply that many developments had been made in the end of the 1800s, and Adams was pondering what would come next.

            This essay argues that it is possible for development to happen too rapidly. It is possible that the people could be unready for the future. If advances increased at a consistent acceleration, there is no way of predicting how the world will change, or what it will become. I believe this essay did achieve its purpose, as it makes me feel cautious about the future. I understand this essay was written a hundred years ago, but I feel that Adams’s point is still valid.

Still from I, Robot

I chose this image because it shows how far technological

advances have the potential to go. In this movie, The robots,

built with good intentions, try to control people, showing that

developments could possibly go too far. We will probably use

a new intelligence in the future, just as H. Adams predicted.