Reviews for Rethinking technologies

The average rating for Rethinking technologies based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-02-19 00:00:00 Michael Sadler Civilization is like a jetliner, noisy, burning up enormous amounts of fuel. Every imaginable and unimaginable crime and pollution had to be committed in order to make it go. Whole species were rendered extinct, whole populations dispersed. Its shadow on the waters resembles an oil slick. Birds are sucked into its jets and vaporized. Every part, as Gus Grissom once nervously remarked about space capsules before he was burned up in one, has been made by the lowest bidder. Civilization is like a jetliner, the filtered air, the muzak oozing over the earphones, a phony sense of security, the chemical food the plastic trays, all the passengers sitting passively in the orderly row of padded seats staring at Death on the movie screen. Civilization is like a jetliner, an idiot savant in the cockpit, manipulating computerized controls built by sullen wage workers, and dependent for his directions on sleepy technicians high on amphetamines with their minds wandering to sports and sex. Civilization is like a 747, filled beyond capacity with coerced volunteers - some in love with the velocity, most wavering at the abyss of terror and nausea, yet still seduced by advertising and propaganda.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-10-13 00:00:00 Chris Toovey Some of this is outdated for our age, but coming from the late 80s, it serves as a strong indicator for things to come. I always appreciate how Zerzan selects so many sources from perspectives that are not explicitly "anarchist" or "anti-technology." It helps produce an argument that isn't just confined to our little bubble of a milieu and creates plenty of new avenues to explore.