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 177
... remained - until the computer - the equal of all other automatic machines in refinement of construction and accuracy of operation ; and long before this further improvement took place in any other area , the reduction of the fifteenth ...
... remained - until the computer - the equal of all other automatic machines in refinement of construction and accuracy of operation ; and long before this further improvement took place in any other area , the reduction of the fifteenth ...
Page 252
... remained secret -however close the guesses might come until the first atom bomb was exploded . The very conditions under which this weapon was created brought the scattered components of the megamachine together . As with the first ...
... remained secret -however close the guesses might come until the first atom bomb was exploded . The very conditions under which this weapon was created brought the scattered components of the megamachine together . As with the first ...
Page 322
... remained insufficient over the long run , either to pay for decent housing or to buy back the surplus of machine production and large - scale agriculture : hence periodic gluts in the market , corrected by devaluation or ' valorization ...
... remained insufficient over the long run , either to pay for decent housing or to buy back the surplus of machine production and large - scale agriculture : hence periodic gluts in the market , corrected by devaluation or ' valorization ...
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