Key Arguments

• Tools "at every given moment in the work process remain the servants of the hand."
• Machines "demand that the laborer serve them, that he adjust the natural rhythm of his body to their mechanical movement."
• "Even the most refined tool remains a servant"; "Even the most primitive machine guides the body’s labor and eventually replaces it altogether."
• Thus, during machine work, "the mechanical process has replaced the rhythm of the human body."

Source Quotes

The case of the machines is entirely different. Unlike the tools of workmanship, which at every given moment in the work process remain the servants of the hand, the machines demand that the laborer serve them, that he adjust the natural rhythm of his body to their mechanical movement. This, certainly, does not imply that men as such adjust to or become the servants of their machines; but it does mean that, as long as the work at the machines lasts, the mechanical process has replaced the rhythm of the human body.

This, certainly, does not imply that men as such adjust to or become the servants of their machines; but it does mean that, as long as the work at the machines lasts, the mechanical process has replaced the rhythm of the human body. Even the most refined tool remains a servant, unable to guide or to replace the hand. Even the most primitive machine guides the body’s labor and eventually replaces it altogether.

Even the most refined tool remains a servant, unable to guide or to replace the hand. Even the most primitive machine guides the body’s labor and eventually replaces it altogether. As is so frequently the case with historical developments, it seems as though the actual implications of technology, that is, of the replacement of tools and implements with machinery, have come to light only in its last stage, with the advent of automation.

Unlike the tools of workmanship, which at every given moment in the work process remain the servants of the hand, the machines demand that the laborer serve them, that he adjust the natural rhythm of his body to their mechanical movement. This, certainly, does not imply that men as such adjust to or become the servants of their machines; but it does mean that, as long as the work at the machines lasts, the mechanical process has replaced the rhythm of the human body. Even the most refined tool remains a servant, unable to guide or to replace the hand.

Key Concepts

• the machines demand that the laborer serve them, that he adjust the natural rhythm of his body to their mechanical movement
• Even the most refined tool remains a servant, unable to guide or to replace the hand
• Even the most primitive machine guides the body’s labor and eventually replaces it altogether
• the mechanical process has replaced the rhythm of the human body

Context

20 INSTRUMENTALITY AND Animal Laborans: Clarifies the tool–machine distinction by focusing on bodily rhythm and guidance.