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 121
... limited minds . But it is not , perhaps , an accident that most of the great spirits in science , from Kepler and Newton to Faraday and Einstein , kept alive in their thought the presence of God - not as a mode of explaining events ...
... limited minds . But it is not , perhaps , an accident that most of the great spirits in science , from Kepler and Newton to Faraday and Einstein , kept alive in their thought the presence of God - not as a mode of explaining events ...
Page 189
... limited section of it . Here , too , communication between the two parts of a double machine is difficult and limited . Even when the individual believes that science contributes to the human ends which he has at heart , his belief ...
... limited section of it . Here , too , communication between the two parts of a double machine is difficult and limited . Even when the individual believes that science contributes to the human ends which he has at heart , his belief ...
Page 338
... limited scale so far estab- lished in the United States , the huge bribe held out - of security , leisure , affluence - unfortunately also carries with it an equally huge penalty : the prospect of universal parasitism . Earlier cultures ...
... limited scale so far estab- lished in the United States , the huge bribe held out - of security , leisure , affluence - unfortunately also carries with it an equally huge penalty : the prospect of universal parasitism . Earlier cultures ...
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