IVIV (1) There Will be Computers for This

[David Morris]

Your distinction (or Mumford's & Marx's) of tools vs machines is
primarily related to industrial production, ie. robots replacing
laborers.  This has almost no relation to "information machines"
which, equally importantly, are quickly becoming "communication
devices" also.  The P-list is a perfect example of this fusion.
Instant information coupled with instant communication are liberating
forces.  That's why totalitarian states are desperately trying to
squelch both (and failing to do so).

And Aunt Reet will never (don't say "never!") be replaced by an
information machine unless you believe in what sci-fi calls "The
Singularity."  If you want to worry about a scary sci-fi future,
genetic engineering isn't something imaginary...

David Morris

On Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 5:48 AM, alice wellintown
<alicewellintown at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 11:08 PM, Michael Bailey

>
> Depends on the definition of "tool". Using Mumford's & Marx's slightly different yet handy definitions, a hammer is a tool, and as I noted, an extension of the human hand. A modern computer or calculator, is an information machine. What is the impact on labor and the worker? This is the question we started with. My clain was that Aunt Reed will be replaced by a Machine--an automatic inflormation machine (i.e. HAL 2001).
>
> How is a machine distinguished from a tool? For Mumford, the essential distinction between a machine and a tool lies in the degree of independence in the operation from the skill and motive power of the operator.
>
> But is the difference simply in the source of motive power? Although he notes that tools can be distinguised from machines on the basis of their motor forces, this is not the important element for Marx.
>
> He describes the transformation of the instruments of labor from tools into machines as the removal of the instruments of labor from the hands of the worker. (alienation) The machine takes the place of the worker, not of the tool. "The machine ... is a mechanism that, after being set in motion, performs with its tools the same operations as the worker formerly did with similar tools." (Capital, Vol 1, NY, Intl. Pub. pp 374-79, Chapt 15 pp 492-).
>
>  Marx also distinguishes the social organization of machine from that of tool-users, primarily in its need for a reliable organization of knowledge.
>
> http://christianhubert.com/writings/machine.html
>