Reading response: Technology and Civilization

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“Technics and Civilization”: Response
The civilization of human being brought about ‘the machine’. Machines are widely used around the globe to perform various tasks that human beings could be limited to due to the nature of their bodies. According to Reuleaux, a machine entails resistant bodies combined to form a body that can utilize the mechanical forces of nature to perform some work (Mumford, 1934, pp. 9). I agree with the author since machines have to rely on energy so that they can work. Without energy, a machine is not useful. It is because of the amount of work that has been realized due to evolution that has led to the development of the machine.
While attempting to modify or fortify the human organism, another goal of maintaining its equilibrium has been achieved. A tool can be distinguished from a machine by the degree of independence while it is in operation. “…a tool lends itself to manipulation, the machine to automatic action” (Mumford, 1934, pp. 11). I would say that a machine is more of an automatic body, while a tool is anything that a human being can utilize to act like that of the machine. A tool could involve one task, and it may need human input, but a machine will entail different tasks and in some cases I believe it can function autonomously.
“…what is almost as bad, these instruments have all been clumsily grouped as machines” (Mumford, 1934, pp. 12). It is due to a human assumption about the fine details. Utility and the apparatus have played a vital role in the modernism of the environment. ‘The machine’ can be used to refer to the entire technology complex.
“Where did the machine first take form in modern civilization?” (Mumford, 1934, pp. 12). Monastery Alfred Whitehead emphasized that it is important to believe in a world that is God ordered. The church itself as an institution has a form of order; hence it seems to contradict. The machine took form in civilization when several disciplines such as habits, values, ideas, and living modes converged. Gerbert, a monk, built the first modern mechanical clock during the tenth century, and it worked through falling weights. The monasteries enterprises once tried to give the human the feeling of ‘the machine’. Following the clock mechanical works, other forms of machines have been invented. The cloc...