Accepting Technology Has Become Automatic (Brende)

The conviction was growing in me that the besetting problem was our culture’s blindness to the distinction between the tool and the automatic machine. Everyone tended to treat them alike, as neutral agents of human intention. But machines clearly were not neutral or inert objects. They were complex fuel-consuming entities with certain definite proclivities and needs. Besides often depriving their users of skills and physical exercise, they created new and artificial demands—for fuel, space, money, and time. These in turn crowded out other important human pursuits, like involvement in family and community, or even the process of thinking itself. The very act of accepting the machine was becoming automatic.

— Eric Brende, Better Off: Flipping The Switch On Technology (2004, pg. 7)

Posted by Joshua Hynes

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 19, 2007 at 9:04pm. It has been filed under Media, Books, Quotes, Technology, Writers, Joshua.

Comments

Finally! 2 loving people have cared enough to share their thoughts with me. Why don't you join the party?

1. What do you think of that book? I really enjoyed it.
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   Josh S. wrote on Monday, April 23, 2007 at 11:17am.

2. I’ve enjoyed the book. My thoughts so far tend to think the writer tends to talk more about his experiences adjusting then making statements and then thinking them through as he did in the first chapter. The further I get into the box, he does seem to do this more and more.

   Joshua Hynes wrote on Monday, April 23, 2007 at 3:09pm.

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