Exploring the history of science and technology at the Teknisk Museum in Norway was an absolute blast. I got to see the same technology I’ve used myself as a machinist and ironworker, but powered by spindles that received their rotational energy from a large water wheel. This was particularly exciting to me, noting the similarities to American technologies in manufacturing and how I am sure that the machines in the museum would function just as well as they always have if reintegrated to production.
Another favorite exhibit of mine was the oil rigging history site. I learned a lot about the extraction processes and specialties of each piece of equipment involved. The drills used to bore holes in the ocean floor had to be long and flexible in order to cover large areas, yet maintain a torsional strength sufficient to carve the solids formed from such insanely high pressure undersea.
A thought came to mind relating to the book we had just finished as a class, “Madhouse at the End of the Earth.” The most recent statistic I had heard was that we as a species have only explored approximately 5% of the earth beneath oceans. Since almost all land has been laid claim to by one governing authority or another, and space exploration is far more expensive and long-term, what results would we find should someone brave enough to venture through the bottom floor “underseascapes” of our planet? Would we find large enough deposits of oil to sustain current petroleum practices? Would the implications of that be world-ending, or would they allow for bigger dreams with our common fuel source?
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