55 definitions
The book's index
Technical Mentality
49 concepts · 55 definitions
- agriculture1
- alienation1
- architecture1
- automatism1
- buyer1
- car1
- certainty1
- commodity1
- condemnation1
- craftsman2
- criminal1
- cybernetics1
- effect1
- Eiffel Tower1
- electricity1
- fuse1
- glass1
- Handicraft1
- holism1
- industrialization1
- industry2
- information1
- insincerity1
- invention1
- knowledge1
- laboratory1
- living being1
- machine2
- magic1
- method1
- moral judgment1
- morality1
- natural philosophy1
- network2
- nostalgia1
- obsolescence3
- ornament1
- perfection1
- reasoning1
- science1
- stability1
- standardization1
- taylorism1
- technician1
- technocracy1
- technology1
- threshold1
- tool1
- understanding1
Obsolescence (n.) never catches the postindustrial object: its lasting half clings to its owner, while its throwaway half is refreshed through the networks forever.
Obsolescence (n.) is aging by fashion, not by wear: the freight wagon outlasts the passenger car, and the most ornamented coach dates first.
Obsolescence (n.) is born in the gap where the buyer stands: a car is not alive when built, only once someone chooses it — so it is designed to be chosen.
A Network (n.) does not conquer nature; it hooks onto nature's own high points — relay masts stand on the hilltops where ancient shrines once stood.
A Network (n.) holds its entire force in each of its points, which is how it makes the single and the collective the same thing.
Industry (n.) cuts us off from nature by taking over our dealings with it — standing in for wind and rain while keeping their vast scale and their no-way-back.
Industry (n.) begins the moment humans supply only the information and ask nature to supply the energy.
The Craftsman (n.) is both the engine and the brain of his work: the muscle that drives it and the know-how that steers it live in one body.
The Craftsman (n.) works within arm's reach of the use: the shoemaker has measured the foot, the saddler knows the horse, and whoever makes also mends.
The Machine (n.) differs from the tool by having two doors — one where energy comes in, another where information comes in.
The Machine (n.) in its simple form is a model of honest thought: the work that pushes equals the work that resists, and nothing goes missing in between.
Agriculture (n.) is more industry than craft: once the seed is in, the farmer's labour comes to nothing unless the rain agrees to finish it.
The Car (n.) ages faster than the plane, though the plane changes far more — because a car is a garment its driver wears to be seen in.
The Commodity (n.) is like a Roman newborn: brought into the world by its maker, but admitted to life only once someone lifts it up — and pays.
Condemnation (n.) works by treating a person as one solid lump instead of layers — and that same habit is how racism and xenophobia are made.
Electricity (n.) is energy and message at once: the same current from the grid can drive a clock and keep it on time.