Upon reading the selected reading by William J. Mitchell called "Prologue:  Urban Requiem" I noticed one thing that seemed to remain constant in each mourner's eulogy.  What I noticed was that the advancement of technology, over the history we know and study, has caused us to lose touch with the fundamental principles of the human species.
     In the first mourner's eulogy, the development of a water supply made of pipes that supplied each individual house resulted in the decline of the "communal function" of the water well center.  This space was a gathering place of the people where business was done, along with daily socializing.  Once there was not a need for gathering water here, people lost touch the ways they once did.  This eulogy goes on to tell us how the need to "go" places had been lost due to the technology that brings our necessities to us.  Socialization/communication is a vital principle to all humans.
     Going along with this topic of lost socialization, I recently heard a man speak on behalf of the Boys and Girls Club of Ruston, Louisiana.  The man was speaking of the activities that he and his staff focused on, and the leading activities were social skills.  He has seen from year to year a decline in the social skills of the young kids. This is a prime example of our younger generations losing something that is important to our species.
     Continuing to the second mourner's eulogy, he talks about how the development of electrical wiring and centralized heating ducts had resulted in the loss of the family ties.  The fireplace was the previous source of heat and light, and the families used to gather around this fireplace to use the light and gain heat, all while communicating with one another.  Now, because of the technology advancement, we no longer depend on the fireplace as a gathering space for our families.
     Finishing up with the third mourner's eulogy, we see how technology advancements have eradicated the spread of literature by word of mouth.  Before paper, stories and knowledge was passed down through generations by word of mouth.  The creation of papyrus was only the beginning of what would be the demise of a need for word of mouth.  Now we see less and less books being printed because of the quick and easy access to words on text/e-mail/e-books.  Each and every day gets more and more advanced with the use of electronic sources.
     What I have mostly concluded from these eulogies is that we have completely lost our sense of communication.  We no longer depend on direct communication, but rather the communication through our electronic sources.  This will only continue to get worse and we will eventually have a world of people incapable of proper communication.