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 58
... become as flawless and as finished— finished in every sense ! -as his new mechanical artifacts . To be redeemed from the organic , the autonomous , and the subjective , man must be turned into a machine , or , better still , become an ...
... become as flawless and as finished— finished in every sense ! -as his new mechanical artifacts . To be redeemed from the organic , the autonomous , and the subjective , man must be turned into a machine , or , better still , become an ...
Page 205
... becomes the goal " —the early version of the even shallower notion that " the medium is the message . " Both ideas can , however , be stated in a valid form : the ' going ' does indeed become part of the goal and enlarges it : while the ...
... becomes the goal " —the early version of the even shallower notion that " the medium is the message . " Both ideas can , however , be stated in a valid form : the ' going ' does indeed become part of the goal and enlarges it : while the ...
Page 264
... become almost a badge of vocational superiority among scientists . " When the members of my department meet once a week at luncheon table , " a physicist recently told me , " we never talk about our own work . It has become too private ...
... become almost a badge of vocational superiority among scientists . " When the members of my department meet once a week at luncheon table , " a physicist recently told me , " we never talk about our own work . It has become too private ...
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 demands 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 ideological 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 nature nineteenth century noösphere 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