Spring lingers in Alaska and the glaciers in the Sierras are
             melting - bringing with the sense of possible doom as well as a reminder
             that the technology that is the lifeblood of the modern world comes at a
             distinct price. But while we might think that the hand-wringing that is
             present in at least some circles about what we - and our machines - hath
             wrought, this concern about the relationship between technology and human
             history is in fact an old one, having been heard at least as a faint
             strain in Western discourse since the classical world and - as the
             readings for this paper suggest - rising to a chorus by the beginning of
             the 20th century as the effects of the Industrial Revolution were
             becoming all too clear.
             The idea of technology and its effects cannot be separated from the
             concept of work, for the purpose of technology, we are always told, is to
             make us all work less. But this is demonstrably not true: We are all
             still working as hard as we can. There are in fact are two ways to look
             at technology and its relationship to work, at least if we are to follow
             the standard Western dualism of considering the world in term of
             oppositional structures. The first way is what might be called the
             traditional Christian doctrine, in which work is a punishment for
             original sin. Under this model, if Adam and Eve had simply resisted the
             hissings of the serpent, then the human race would never have been
             subject to the strictures of labor, and we would have lived eternal lives
             of ease. The opposing model of labor, one that might in very rough terms
             be described as Marxist, sees in the world of labor the defining feature
             of our humanity - a humanity defined not by weakness or original sin or
             the necessity to labor, but a humanity defined by its ability to work, by
             the chance that each individual possesses of being able to find a
             ...