The Myth of the Machine

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.

In this series, Professors Richard John and Casey Blake (Columbia) explore the prophetic voices of technological caution. Join us for four sessions as we read from Paul Kingsnorth (Against the Machine), Lewis Mumford (Technics & Civilization, and essays), and Wendell Berry.

Dinner will be provided. Please RSVP for each session on the individual pages linked below. Books will be purchased for students committed to attending the sessions.

Schedule

Tuesday, february 3 at 6:00 PM | Apocalypse Now

Kingsnorth, Against the Machine (2025): intro., chaps. 1-4, 11

Tuesday, February 17 at 6:00 PM | Machine Made

Reading: Mumford, Technics and Civilization (1934), ed., Winner: objectives, chap. 1, sect. 1-4; chap. 4, sects. 6-7, 9; chap. 5, sects. 1-2, 4, 7

Tuesday, March 3 at 6:00 PM | Nothing is Impossible

Readings: Mumford, Technics and Civilization, chap. 7, sect. 1, 4, 7; chap. 8, sects. 1-2, 12-13;
Mumford, “Gentlemen You are Mad!" (1946);
Mumford, “Authoritarian and Democratic Technics” (1964)

Tuesday, March 31 at 6:00 PM | Homeward Bound

Reading: Kingsnorth, Against the Machine, chaps. 22-27;
Berry, “Why I am Not Going to Buy a Computer” (1987)