gical implications of these developments. These implications extended from the mundane, such as the social effect of the electric light, to the esoteric, such as the psychological impact of the shift from the orderly Newtonian universe to the much more mysterious Einsteinian universe. Finally, we will also consider what the rise of the electrical age suggests about our conventional notions of progress.
Up until the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the everyday lives of most people, even those of wealthy people in the industrialized countries, were lived much as they had been lived in the Middle Ages. Their homes were lit with lanterns or candles, which were both inconvenient and relatively dangerous, so that people's daily rhythm was largely geared to sunrise and nightfall. If they left home, it was with very limited exceptions on foot, or by horse, in either case effectively limited in distance covered and even more in speed. Communication, in the sense we use it, scarcely existed; for the most part the only way to send a message was to carry it,
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