The Myth of the Machine: The pentagon of powerHarcourt, Brace & World, 1970 - Technology and civilization An in-depth look at the forces that have shaped modern technology since prehistoric times. Mumford criticizes the modern trend of technology, which emphasizes constant, unrestricted expansion, production, and replacement. He contends that these goals work against technical perfection, durability, social efficiency, and overall human satisfaction. Modern technology fails to produce lasting, quality products by using devices such as consumer credit, installment buying, non-functioning and defective designs, built-in fragility, and frequent superficial "fashion" changes. "Without constant enticement by advertising," he writes, "production would slow down and level off to normal replacement demand. Otherwise many products could reach a plateau of efficient design which would call for only minimal changes from year to year." |
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Page 51
... cosmic rays , long unperceived , some doubtless still to be identified , over which man himself can have little , if any , control . What was lacking in this original picture was the realization that man himself was also a cosmic event ...
... cosmic rays , long unperceived , some doubtless still to be identified , over which man himself can have little , if any , control . What was lacking in this original picture was the realization that man himself was also a cosmic event ...
Page 312
... cosmic forces on a cosmic scale , the conse- quences may be as surprising as the change of water to vapor , of the worm to the butterfly , of radium to electrons . " That prediction has , even at this early stage , proved sounder than ...
... cosmic forces on a cosmic scale , the conse- quences may be as surprising as the change of water to vapor , of the worm to the butterfly , of radium to electrons . " That prediction has , even at this early stage , proved sounder than ...
Page 415
... cosmic or the human drama makes sense . In so far as the universal religions , and not a few more primitive cults and myths , have had some sense of the all - enveloping cosmic process as more significant than anything that is ...
... cosmic or the human drama makes sense . In so far as the universal religions , and not a few more primitive cults and myths , have had some sense of the all - enveloping cosmic process as more significant than anything that is ...
Contents
NEW EXPLORATIONS NEW WORLDS | 3 |
RETURN OF THE SUN GOD | 28 |
THE MECHANIZED WORLD PICTURE | 51 |
Copyright | |
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absolute abstract achieved activities actually already ancient atom automatic automation Bacon become biological Christian civilization Comenius communication contemporary cosmic culture Descartes destruction dream economy economy of abundance effect electronic energy environment established evolution existence experience exploration extermination fact fantasies final forces Francis Bacon functions further future Galileo habitat Henry Adams idea ideology immense increase industrial institutions intelligence invention Kepler knowledge labor limited machine man's mass production mechanical world picture megamachine megatechnics ment merely method military mind mode modern moral myth nature nineteenth century noƶsphere Norbert Wiener nuclear observed once original Patrick Geddes physical planet plenitude political absolutism population possible potentialities power complex power system practical present progress purpose Pyramid Age quantity reality result scientific scientists social society space subjective symbolic technical Technics and Civilization technocratic tion totalitarian transformation turn ultimate utopia whole York