John and I finish up our discussion of the Machine in the Garden. We reflect on Leo Marx’s contribution—both its successes and failures. And we consider what opportunities there are to think about the American relationship with the Machine.
You need people to agree to be subsumed to the machine and logic would dictate that they would abhor that. However, nature seems to promote it, especially in herds. Even though the majority is almost always wrong as a herd, the pain of going against the grain seems to be so uncomfortable, that people will work to their own destruction just to feel that they are not different. You would think people would be smarter, but other factors than logic seem to prevail.
This was fantastic. As someone who recently got his pilots license, the riverboat discussion really resonated. The reality of flying is that while a romantic endeavor, one has to learn and understand so much that it is easy to completely forget the romance as everything moves by so quickly.
Also the nostalgia for 8bit really hit home…. Guilty.
You need people to agree to be subsumed to the machine and logic would dictate that they would abhor that. However, nature seems to promote it, especially in herds. Even though the majority is almost always wrong as a herd, the pain of going against the grain seems to be so uncomfortable, that people will work to their own destruction just to feel that they are not different. You would think people would be smarter, but other factors than logic seem to prevail.
This was fantastic. As someone who recently got his pilots license, the riverboat discussion really resonated. The reality of flying is that while a romantic endeavor, one has to learn and understand so much that it is easy to completely forget the romance as everything moves by so quickly.
Also the nostalgia for 8bit really hit home…. Guilty.