5 thoughts on “Weather Control (1958), C. Swanson”
Claire,
In surmise, this was a nice presentation. I thoroughly enjoyed your initial discussion about weather control in the post-WWII era. Man’s obsession with controlling nature became a main priority for both the U.S. and the Soviet Union. From the first man-made storm created in the 1930s, it is interesting to note that by the 1950s most people had a sense of what the implications of weather control could be. Love the fact that you touch upon the man over nature complex and our fixation on using the weather as a tool or method of control. Kudos for dissecting these implications as they relate to the Cold War and describing the process of Cloud Seeding using silver iodide. Your use of Kranzberg’s 4th law: non-technical forces drive technology policy decisions, highlights a central theme within your presentation which is the onset of weather modification technology beginning in the early 1950s. The chronology of your presentation is spot on and I am impressed by your ability to speak clearly and deliberately. Content-wise, I loved the addition of Operation Popeye in Vietnam and the environmentalist counter-culture movement of the 1960s and 70s. Notably, there are some awkward pauses and overlap in audio from one slide to another. This happened on several different occasions so just make sure to review the audio multiple times before submitting the final to eliminate any overlap. However, this is a nominal mistake when evaluating the entirety of the presentation. I enjoyed the final minute of your Slidecast in which you culminated many of the major themes into an interconnected and digestible synopsis for the listener. Job well done and I enjoyed listening to your presentation.
In her presentation about the predictions of weather control, Swanson created a fantastic slidecast that not only minimized presentism and put the predictions in proper context, but also detailed both the utopian and dystopian visions about the future of weather control. Rather than jumping into the various predictions regarding weather control, Swanson began her presentation by explaining the work of G.E. researchers who were the first to create a man-made snow storm, providing the idea for further scientists that weather was something that could be manipulated by humans. Swanson also did not only focus on utopian visions of weather control being used as a means to improve daily life, but also explained the dystopian predictions of weather control as a weapon to destroy enemies. My favorite aspect of Swanson’s presentation was how she explained the images on each slide and incorporated each of them into the overall theme of the slidecast, rather than using images that were not directly related to the audio on the slide (as some other presentations did).
Great job with your presentation! The history of future weather visions was an interesting topic to listen to. Your presentation flowed well and your points were very well demonstrated. I liked the layout overall of you starting with the comic and then going onto larger points, or the big picture with of things while referencing back to the comic throughout. I have thought about weather control before and I never knew it was actually used. I learned about Operation Popeye and how it made use of silver iodide to cloud seed, or saturate the clouds; this was interesting and is a great example of weather being used as a weapon. It is neat to see this backing up a step further to see the Cold War Context this was all in, and where the funding came from. This same step back can show the question of who has the right to control such a universal and randomly occurring thing as weather?
Your presentation did a really nice job of showing how all of these big concepts are related as well as applying some of the class concepts and questions we ask in class. Listening to the presentation was not too easy because of the microphone’s intermittent cutting or jumping. Besides the microphone problems the overall presentation was very well done.
Clare, you provide a very informative presentation that not only takes in account what was happening in that current time but as well as how has that affected society. You demonstrate examples of different types weather control and what they were used for. Although you explain problems that exist when using weather control in warfare and agriculture, it would be great to see what problems can arise when using weather control in wider highly populated cities. Your use of the GE’s man-made snowstorm sets the plot for your presentation on what you will be discussing on. I really enjoyed that you included various examples of weather control, it demonstrates the initial uses of this technology in different settings. I thought that could have expanded more on society’s idea as how weather control can either benefit or destroy mankind. Other than your audio clips overlapping one another and random noises here and there, I thought you did a wonderful job!
The slidecast introduced me to a concept that I had never actually taken seriously. The idea that weather control was treated as a legitimate strategy plane was alien to me. The concept of cloud seeding, and the fact that the United States actually used it to combat the Viet Cong were especially interesting. I quite enjoyed the connection between weather control and the cold war. Most technologies of the time first appeared as a military technology, and only later were they adapted for popular uses. In this respect the concept of weather control was no different. It was very similar to nuclear power, in that it could wreak havoc on humanity or improve it. With the arrival of the atomic bomb, man became capable of great, global destruction, and if man could control something like that, then the next logical step was controlling the weather. It was intriguing how some of the fears that people associate with global warming were actually considered for military use. The slidecast was hampered by some minor timing issues with the audio, but aside from that I appreciated the content and the way in which is was presented.
Claire,
In surmise, this was a nice presentation. I thoroughly enjoyed your initial discussion about weather control in the post-WWII era. Man’s obsession with controlling nature became a main priority for both the U.S. and the Soviet Union. From the first man-made storm created in the 1930s, it is interesting to note that by the 1950s most people had a sense of what the implications of weather control could be. Love the fact that you touch upon the man over nature complex and our fixation on using the weather as a tool or method of control. Kudos for dissecting these implications as they relate to the Cold War and describing the process of Cloud Seeding using silver iodide. Your use of Kranzberg’s 4th law: non-technical forces drive technology policy decisions, highlights a central theme within your presentation which is the onset of weather modification technology beginning in the early 1950s. The chronology of your presentation is spot on and I am impressed by your ability to speak clearly and deliberately. Content-wise, I loved the addition of Operation Popeye in Vietnam and the environmentalist counter-culture movement of the 1960s and 70s. Notably, there are some awkward pauses and overlap in audio from one slide to another. This happened on several different occasions so just make sure to review the audio multiple times before submitting the final to eliminate any overlap. However, this is a nominal mistake when evaluating the entirety of the presentation. I enjoyed the final minute of your Slidecast in which you culminated many of the major themes into an interconnected and digestible synopsis for the listener. Job well done and I enjoyed listening to your presentation.
In her presentation about the predictions of weather control, Swanson created a fantastic slidecast that not only minimized presentism and put the predictions in proper context, but also detailed both the utopian and dystopian visions about the future of weather control. Rather than jumping into the various predictions regarding weather control, Swanson began her presentation by explaining the work of G.E. researchers who were the first to create a man-made snow storm, providing the idea for further scientists that weather was something that could be manipulated by humans. Swanson also did not only focus on utopian visions of weather control being used as a means to improve daily life, but also explained the dystopian predictions of weather control as a weapon to destroy enemies. My favorite aspect of Swanson’s presentation was how she explained the images on each slide and incorporated each of them into the overall theme of the slidecast, rather than using images that were not directly related to the audio on the slide (as some other presentations did).
Claire,
Great job with your presentation! The history of future weather visions was an interesting topic to listen to. Your presentation flowed well and your points were very well demonstrated. I liked the layout overall of you starting with the comic and then going onto larger points, or the big picture with of things while referencing back to the comic throughout. I have thought about weather control before and I never knew it was actually used. I learned about Operation Popeye and how it made use of silver iodide to cloud seed, or saturate the clouds; this was interesting and is a great example of weather being used as a weapon. It is neat to see this backing up a step further to see the Cold War Context this was all in, and where the funding came from. This same step back can show the question of who has the right to control such a universal and randomly occurring thing as weather?
Your presentation did a really nice job of showing how all of these big concepts are related as well as applying some of the class concepts and questions we ask in class. Listening to the presentation was not too easy because of the microphone’s intermittent cutting or jumping. Besides the microphone problems the overall presentation was very well done.
Clare, you provide a very informative presentation that not only takes in account what was happening in that current time but as well as how has that affected society. You demonstrate examples of different types weather control and what they were used for. Although you explain problems that exist when using weather control in warfare and agriculture, it would be great to see what problems can arise when using weather control in wider highly populated cities. Your use of the GE’s man-made snowstorm sets the plot for your presentation on what you will be discussing on. I really enjoyed that you included various examples of weather control, it demonstrates the initial uses of this technology in different settings. I thought that could have expanded more on society’s idea as how weather control can either benefit or destroy mankind. Other than your audio clips overlapping one another and random noises here and there, I thought you did a wonderful job!
The slidecast introduced me to a concept that I had never actually taken seriously. The idea that weather control was treated as a legitimate strategy plane was alien to me. The concept of cloud seeding, and the fact that the United States actually used it to combat the Viet Cong were especially interesting. I quite enjoyed the connection between weather control and the cold war. Most technologies of the time first appeared as a military technology, and only later were they adapted for popular uses. In this respect the concept of weather control was no different. It was very similar to nuclear power, in that it could wreak havoc on humanity or improve it. With the arrival of the atomic bomb, man became capable of great, global destruction, and if man could control something like that, then the next logical step was controlling the weather. It was intriguing how some of the fears that people associate with global warming were actually considered for military use. The slidecast was hampered by some minor timing issues with the audio, but aside from that I appreciated the content and the way in which is was presented.