Sisyphos im Maschinenraum
Sisyphus in the Engine Room: A History Of The Fallibility Of Humans And Technology
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About the book
Humans are portrayed as flawed beings, while their machines are celebrated as conquerors of their weaknesses. In “Sisyphos im Maschinenraum”, Martina Heßler unpacks the story behind this powerful idea, where human fallibility is persistently coupled with the myth of technological perfection. It’s time to shed this outdated illusion.
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What we compare ourselves to largely determines the image we form of ourselves. Martina Heßler shows how a new obsession has been spreading since the beginning of the 19th century: the comparison of man and machine, in which, to this day, the seemingly enduring, flawless and objective nature of technology regularly prevails. Hessler delves deeper, debunking the myth of perfect technology and contrasting the dream of a world where machines relieve us of all the tedious and dangerous tasks with the reality in which humans must expend increasing amounts of energy to maintain control over their ever more complex technology. The book is a crucial call not to lose sight of the question of the purpose behind ever-smarter machines in the global race for technological supremacy.
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Martina Heßler is a historian and since 2019 has been Professor of the History of Technology at the University of Darmstadt. She works on the cultural history of technology, on the history of objects and of design, on growth and shrinkage perspectives in industrial and car manufacturing cities, and on the relationship between humans and machines in the past and present.
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