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In an effort to organize my thinking and solicit personal discussions with others, I frequently post blog entries about the manner in which work ought to be carried out. I do this because I think that the West’s relationship towards work could stand to be improved, on the whole.

Lewis Mumford - a historian/philosopher of science, technology, and humanity - thought extensively about man’s relationship to the workplace. In this blog post, I want to briefly touch on a recurring theme found in his work: that machines and the workplace are made for man, and not the other way around. Here are a few passages from his book Technics and Civilization (published in 1934) that portray this theme:

• "One makes beds to fit human beings, one does not chop off legs or heads to fit beds" (p. 35).

• "Efficiency must begin with the utilization of the whole man; and efforts to increase mechanical performance must cease when the balance of the whole man is threatened" (p. 250).

• "Our disregard…for work as a vital and educational process is so habitual that it scarcely ever enters into our social demands…What the product contributes to the laborer is just as important as what the worker contributes to the product" (p. 411).

In order to orient machines and the workplace around man and not the other way around we first need to become conscious of what orienting something around man actually means, otherwise we are likely to externalize on things that, alone, do not further depth in life, such as company profit, programming knowledge, promotions, salary, or just getting by.[1]

Finding the courage to strike out and identify a more related approach towards work is not easy.[2] Perhaps just as difficult is implementing a more related approach towards work once one has been identified. Yet consider the perspective that can be gained as a result:

• "Labor itself, from spading a garden to mapping the stars, is one of the permanent joys of life" (p. 414).

In addition, Mumford notes that societies have not always placed as much emphasis on work as we do. Between the years 1000 and 1750 (i.e. pre- industrial revolution), for instance, some European countries enjoyed “about a hundred complete holidays a year.” [3] Perhaps machinery played some role in this; the chief characteristic of a machine is, after all, to automate work we might otherwise have to do ourselves.[4]