today we're going to be talking to michael bess. michael bess is chancellor's professor of history at vanderbilt university, where he has been teaching for the past 34 years. he's the author of five books, and a specialist in 20th and 21st century europe with a particular interest in the interactions between social and cultural processes and technological change. today i want to discuss with him how technology has impacted our quality of life over the past few centuries. i also want to discuss the ways that we might romanticize the past. and last but not least, i want to discuss how the internet impacts our perception of our current times, and how that's possibly very damaging. just sit back, relax, and enjoy my conversation with the incredible michael bess.