Kit, Die Frage nach der Technik

[Dave Monroe]

On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 11:22 AM,  <bandwraith at aol.com> wrote:

> Congratulations on the first succesful read through of ATD- an amazing
> achievement!

A-and congratulations CERN on the first successful test of the LHC!

> cf:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Question_Concerning_Technology:
>
>  Hydroelectric Power Plant v. The Water Wheel
>
>  Heidegger employs these two man-made inventions as examples of how
>   technology has fundamentally altered man's relationship not only to the
>   earth, but also to Being itself...Man has set about to challenge nature,
>   and therefore, modern technology is the means and activity through which
>   this challenge comes into existence. The following passage truly captures
>  the heart of what Heidegger means by this challenge:
>
>   "The hydroelectric plant is set into the current of the Rhine. It sets the
> Rhine
>   to supplying its hydraulic pressure, which then sets the turbines turning.
> This
>   turning sets those machines in motion whose thrust sets going the electric
>   current for which the long-distance power station and its network of
> cables are
>   set up to dispatch electricity. In the context of the interlocking
> processes
>   pertaining to the orderly disposition of electrical energy, even the Rhine
> itself
>  appears to be something at our command."
>
>   ...In one sense, the water wheel comes from an older or primordial period
> of
>   Being whereby man merely sought to use the distinctive forces of nature in
> a
>  more harmonious fashion when compared to the monstrosity that is the
>  hydroelectric power plant...
>
>
> Despite Kit's attempts at objectivity, and his dismissive characterization
> of Renzo, he seems to have transfenestrated through his own window
>  of illumination and become possessed by the same current.

Thanks!  I've long suspected traces of Heidegger in Pynchon ...