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Quote by Lewis Mumford

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The myth of the machine

This book delves into the impact of technology on human culture and the ways in which machines shape our lives and perceptions. more

Author

Lewis Mumford
Lewis Mumford

Historian and urban planner, known for his influential work on city planning and design, including the seminal work 'The City in History'. more

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“The life-efficiency and adaptability of the computer must be questioned. Its judicious use depends upon the availability of its human employers quite literally to keep their own heads, not merely to scrutinize the programming but to reserve for themselves the right of ultimate decision. No automatic system can be intelligently run byautomatonsor by people who dare not assert human intuition, human autonomy, human purpose.”

PeopleHumansUseRunningPurposeDecisionDependsComputerUltimateDareIntuitionProgrammingReservesEfficiencyAutonomyEmployersAdaptabilityAvailabilityScrutinize
Author:Lewis Mumford
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“Unfortunately, once an economy is geared to expansion, the means rapidly turn into an end and "the going becomes the goal." Even more unfortunately, the industries that are favored by such expansion must, to maintain their output, be devoted to goods that are readily consumable either by their nature, or because they are so shoddily fabricated that they must soon be replaced. By fashion and built-in obsolescence the economies of machine production, instead of producing leisure and durable wealth, are duly cancelled out by the mandatory consumption on an even larger scale.”

MeanEndsTurnsGoalWealthEconomyFashionIndustryBuiltMachinesProductionsScalesGoodsLeisureDevotedConsumptionReplacedExpansionOutputObsolescence
Book:THE CITY IN HISTORY
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