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 26
... ultimate success . What distinguishes the system of the logical abstractions developed by the scholastics from those that scientists later developed was that the real world , for the medieval mind , was the invisible one : that toward ...
... ultimate success . What distinguishes the system of the logical abstractions developed by the scholastics from those that scientists later developed was that the real world , for the medieval mind , was the invisible one : that toward ...
Page 59
... ultimate ' particles elude direct observation : so what is innermost and inaccessible , even in physics , cannot be said to be unreal , much less may it be called wholly subjective , however well pre- served its secret . In short ...
... ultimate ' particles elude direct observation : so what is innermost and inaccessible , even in physics , cannot be said to be unreal , much less may it be called wholly subjective , however well pre- served its secret . In short ...
Page 316
... ultimate reign of pure intelligence is not science but mythology and eschatology ; and its merit , from the standpoint taken here , is that it has made explicit the underlying dogmatic premises of the metaphysics and theology of the ...
... ultimate reign of pure intelligence is not science but mythology and eschatology ; and its merit , from the standpoint taken here , is that it has made explicit the underlying dogmatic premises of the metaphysics and theology of the ...
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absolute abstract achieved activities actually already ancient atom automatic automation Bacon become biological Christian civilization Comenius contemporary cosmic culture Descartes destruction dream economy economy of abundance effect effort electronic energy environment established evolution existence experience exploration extermination fact fantasies final forces Francis Bacon functions further future Galileo habitat Henry Adams idea ideology 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 myth nature nineteenth century noƶsphere Norbert Wiener nuclear observed once original Patrick Geddes physical planet plenitude political absolutism 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