Control Over the Future

Looking at the big picutre, we have all the control in the world over our future. Every little decision by someone who is in power will have an effect on our future as a whole. Small decisions could create a lifechanging invention or send the world into an all out war. Even individual people will have an effect on our future. When I think of individuals changing the future of the world I like to think of the butterfly effect that ties along to the story British soldier who saw a helpless German soldier laying on the ground during WWI and he decided not to shoot him. That helpless German soldier ended up being hitler who commited terrible acts of killing over 6 million Jews and was part of a world war that killed millions of men across the world. The British soldier had know idea that would happen, but it goes to show the the smallest of moral decisions can change the future of the entire world.

Predictions From the 1900s and Predictions for the Future.

Boston Globe Prediction     German chocolate company prediction

2. This list is more of a wish list of things that the people would want in the future.

3. The prediction that boston will have a population of 8,000,000 million people and there would be trips to the north pole and roofed cities, moving sidewalks, and a good weather machine were farfetched but they predicted many things right such as much improved health system, baseball being played at night, air conditioning, cell phones, blimps, airplanes, movable houses, submarines and movie theaters.

4. All of these predictions seem to be all focused on making life more effecient and interesting, such as making flying machines to get places faster and roofed cities to keep out weather. Making life more interesting by seeing places that nobody ever gets to see such as trips to the north pole and ventures under water to explore the depths of the ocean in a submarine.

5. Honestly I believe that life will stay the same and there will be no drastic changes in the future world. New scientific discoveries will be made and new and exciting gadgets will be invented but nothing will ever be extremley life changing. However I do believe that there will be another major war such as WWIII because of the constantly rising tensions that countries have with the US today.

Urban Life Essay on Urban Zoos and Human Zoos

In modern urban society today, the society sees going to the zoo as time of leisure. Going to the zoo is a great way to get out of the house with the family and do something that is both educational and entertaining. During the late 19^th century and the dawn of the 20^th century, the zoo was also a place where friends and families went during their usually sparse hours of leisure time. Zoos during the early 20^th century were almost always in big cities such as the Bronx Zoo in New York City which would be labeled as and urban zoo. Urban zoos drew large crowds and were a product of urbanization. As cities grew larger, there were more people who needed activities for leisure time. Zoos were an excellent solution to this problem because they provided a family friendly environment that was entertaining and educating, just like the zoos of today. However, some zoos crossed the line between what was morally right and wrong with human zoos, causing great controversy among society. Urban Zoos are a very important trend the we associate with urban life in the early 20^th century because of the leisure time it provided with education and recreation, despite the controversy of human zoos.

Bronx Zoo 1900

The Arrival of America’s zoos began in the last couple decades of the 19^th century in a response to the diminishing animal populations around the world. Before the creation of zoos, Americans utilized the wildlife for both entertainment and science. But as animal mass animal extinction was looming all around the world, advocates for the preservation of wildlife began to promote the use of the zoological garden as a third use of wildlife. The display of live animals was primarily meant to educate America in conservation and the need to preserve natural resources, particularly wildlife, as well as provide recreation for the working class who needed a valuable way to spend their leisure time. Thus, cities such as Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Washington DC, and New York established the first American zoos in the late 19^th century.

Cincinatti Zoo 1875

Recreation was perhaps one of the most popular reasons that people attended zoos. Since America’s landscape had change so much since colonial times, which called for the establishment of state parks, people wanted to see “what our country was like in the days when our fathers here killed deer and fought Indians.” Zoos would provide a healthy environment filled with crowds, noise, and complexities of urban life. The zoo was also a place where adults and children alike let their imaginations run wild through the zoos awesome wonders of beauty and nature which was available to the millions of people who could not travel and explore. The industrialization of America was the greatest reason why people could not see any wildlife at all. People would be walking around the city and all they would see was stray cats and dogs and maybe some birds. Zoos were truly an escape where people could go and see true wild animals that they would read in big-game hunting books. Although recreation was the main reason that people attended zoos, there were also many other people who attended for the science and education.

Washington DC Zoo 1875

In most zoos, the education of wildlife preservation will be heavily implied in all of the exhibits. Collections of animals that were on the verge of possible extinction would be specifically secured to educate on preserving the last of their species. Prior to the creation of zoos, very little concern was brought up toward the preservation of wildlife. Hunters had started a move in the direction of preservation, but no hunting regulations were ever established by the federal government. Zoos became known as the protectors and preservers of America’s wildlife. Zoos would scientifically educate urban people on the limitations of wildlife populations because they believed that urban people hardly paid attention to the decimation of wildlife and nature resulting from exponential industrial growth. Overall, the zoos hope was to create and intelligent love for nature and preservation for all urbanized citizens through modern zoological knowledge and research. But unfortunately, some zoos had many immoral and inhumane problems with a few of their exhibits.

Deer extinction graph

In September of 1906 the Bronx zoo opened a new exhibit that would display humans from the oceanic region of the world or from areas in Africa such as the Congo. These people were stored in the same habitats as the monkeys, gorillas and orangutans. They would draw large crowds because then would entertain by shooting bows and arrows at targets, making amusing faces, and drinking soda. Just two days after the exhibit opened, NY times wrote “and there could be no doubt that to the majority the joint man-and-monkey exhibition was the most interesting sight in Bronx Park.” The whole situation and idea was inhuman and sparked huge controversy from black clergymen such as Rev. James H. Gordon, superintendent of the Howard Colored Orphan Asylum in Brooklyn. James H. Gordon said “Our race, we think, is depressed enough, without exhibiting one of us with the apes… We think we are worthy of being considered human beings, with souls. “Although having human zoos was very inhumane and morally wrong, racism pervaded New York during this time and the exhibits drew very large crowds which provided people with something to do during their leisure time. Thankfully human zoos were very short lived because of the start of World War I in 1914 which halted passenger ship traffic and thus the import of the people for these terribly immoral human zoos.

Ota Benga with Chimpanzee

Urban Zoos are a very important trend the we associate with urban life in the early 20^th century because of the leisure time it provided with education and recreation, despite the controversy of human zoos. During the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, urban expansion was at an all-time high. The more people there were the more options the people needed for leisure time. Zoos were a great use of leisure time because of the recreation they provided, opening up people’s imaginations to wildlife and seeing things that they had only read about in books. Not only were zoos recreational but they also educated on the topic of preservations that saved lots of species from extinction. Zoos had their moments that they shouldn’t be proud of as well as the human zoos. But although they were very wrong, they drew in huge crowds and only lasted about a decade. When we look back today, zoos should be considered a very important trend that we associate with urban life.

Works Cited

"10 Pictures of Europe's Shameful "Human Zoos"." Exposing The Truth. N.p., 29 Sept. 2015. Web. 05 Feb. 2017.
This source gave me an idea of what exactly was happening inside of these human zoos through pictures. These pictures are very powerful because it shows the hurt on the peoples faces in the zoos.

Admin. "HAUNTED FILES AT A/P/A." HAUNTED FILES AT APA. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2017.
This source gave the story of ota benga and why the human zoos attracted such large crowds. Also gave to logic behind why people beleived that these humans should be in zoos.

Keller, Mitch. "The Scandal at the Zoo." The New York Times. The New York Times, 05 Aug. 2006. Web. 05 Feb. 2017.
This source gave the backstory and origins of human zoos and how it translated to the bronx zoo in 1906. Also gave why human zoos stopped entirley in the US, because of WWI.

Schofield, Hugh. "Human Zoos: When Real People Were Exhibits." BBC News. BBC, 27 Dec. 2011. Web. 05 Feb. 2017.
Even more info about human zoos from BBC, also gave info about human zoos from other places around the world, specifically in europe such as the bustling city of Paris.

"Search Results." Search Results: "Zoos--Washington+(D.C.)--1890-1900." - Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (Library of Congress). N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2017.
Primary source photo gallery of people at different zoos around the country.

Stott, Jeffery R. The Historical Origins of the Zoological Park in American Thought. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Gave the historical information about the origins of zoos in the us and why people would attend them in the masses. I got almost all of my info about zoos in general from this source because it had lots of great information from a scholarly source in JSTOR.