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 133
... quantity production , as such , did not play a part except where the guild system itself had broken down . As late as the eighteenth century , it is interesting to note , the builders of the Carpenters Company of Phila- delphia were ...
... quantity production , as such , did not play a part except where the guild system itself had broken down . As late as the eighteenth century , it is interesting to note , the builders of the Carpenters Company of Phila- delphia were ...
Page 182
... quantity - and postpones the real solution , which must be conceived on quite other than purely mechanical lines : namely , by a reassertion of human selectivity and moral self - discipline , leading to more continent productivity ...
... quantity - and postpones the real solution , which must be conceived on quite other than purely mechanical lines : namely , by a reassertion of human selectivity and moral self - discipline , leading to more continent productivity ...
Page 334
... quantity and speed , as if quantity in itself guaranteed value in the product quantified . Plainly , then , it is not the mechanical or electronic products as such that intelligent minds question , but the system that produces them ...
... quantity and speed , as if quantity in itself guaranteed value in the product quantified . Plainly , then , it is not the mechanical or electronic products as such that intelligent minds question , but the system that produces them ...
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