I wonder — a worthy subject for meditation — what Descartes would have made of industrial machinery. What a subject for a philosopher! Not just the relationship between man and machine, and all the upheavals, material, moral, and social that come in its wake, but simply the thoughts that sometimes come into your head when you are working at a machine. There’s no tricking a machine; it’s just not possible. A part out of alignment? Productivity immediately slows down. A loose screw? The whole machine seizes up. I like and admire the incorruptible integrity of a machine. With work done by hand there is always a little leeway, a margin of error, and any time lost can be made up with a little effort or improvisation; machinery, on the other hand, admits absolutely no possibility of inaccuracy or prevarication, is immune to all excuses, lies or flattery. Enduring, unswerving and fiercely tenacious, machines can teach men a marvelous lesson in integrity. The builders of the future, of our future, should take inspiration from man’s handiwork, the Blessed Machine!
Agnès Humbert, Résistance: Memoirs Of Occupied France
Agnès Humbert, Résistance: Memoirs Of Occupied France
