Narrative of the Machine

In this chapter, we develop a narrative account of technology, building on techno-celebrants such as Lewis MumfordMumford, Lewis , techno-skeptics such as Jacques EllulEllul, Jacques, and critical technology theory from Martin HeideggerHeidegger, Martin , Jurgen HabermasHabermas, Jurgen , and Andrew FeenbergFeenberg, Andrew . It points up the fundamentally irrational attachment to technology that is resolved by seeing technology as a symbolic, rather than a rational construction. We examine the common core of these narratives or myths, to determine what they reveal regarding the characterCharacter of technology in contemporary life. This character, sometimes noble, sometimes villainous, shapes contemporary life in the technological societyEllul, the technological society no less than the institutionsInstitutions of government or religion. Narratives, we argue, are no less important than mechanisms for determining that shape of the technological society.