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 425
... idea loses some of its original purity , if it does not in fact turn into its own antithesis through the very act of materialization . Thus when the Roman state was converted to Christianity under Constantine , the Christian Church was ...
... idea loses some of its original purity , if it does not in fact turn into its own antithesis through the very act of materialization . Thus when the Roman state was converted to Christianity under Constantine , the Christian Church was ...
Page 427
... idea , starts at just the opposite end by attacking the visible structures and organizations which , so long as they remain in good working order , allow no place for a new idea to take hold . The path of etherialization , then , is ...
... idea , starts at just the opposite end by attacking the visible structures and organizations which , so long as they remain in good working order , allow no place for a new idea to take hold . The path of etherialization , then , is ...
Page 430
... idea has been completely embodied , we can recognize that it had left no place for man . He is reduced to a standardized servo - mechanism : a left - over part from a more organic world . If ' Technics and Civilization ' and ' The Myth ...
... idea has been completely embodied , we can recognize that it had left no place for man . He is reduced to a standardized servo - mechanism : a left - over part from a more organic world . If ' Technics and Civilization ' and ' The Myth ...
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 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