This course surveys the richness and diversity of scientific knowledge and the influence of technological change in Western civilization from the 1700s to the 21st century. From the Industrial Revolution, development of electricity, Darwinian evolution, Einstein's relativity, and other breakthroughs, students learn how new theories and practices accelerated the pace of change, created new problems, altered our understanding of the world and ourselves, and changed the social, political, and economic conditions surrounding modern life.