We live in the age of the Machine. With each year, life seems more planned, controlled, networked, standardized, and surveilled. But what is this power that is enveloping us in the name of enhancing freedom and comfort? In this workshop we will examine three major critics of technology who worry about the survival of culture, and even our ability to remain human, as we are fashioned into the image of the tools we have created.

Professors Richard John and Casey Blake (Columbia) will explore the prophetic voices that caution against technology, reading from Paul Kingsnorth, Lewis Mumford, and Wendell Berry. For the first session, we read the introduction and chapters 1–4 and 11 from Paul Kingsnorth’s Against the Machine.

On Tuesday, February 3, at 6 PM, join Richard John and Casey Blake (Columbia) for the first session of “The Myth of the Machine.”