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Tag: Philosophical considerations of machines

A sheer love for the machines that make me living

When I was younger, I was convinced that machines specifically – and technology in general – where some of the causes of the evils of our time. I need them but this need was a burden on my shoulders. At that time, I was just a philosophy student without a grasp on how a raw material is actually transformed to a real good. Yes, it is true, I always admired engineering and I started to be an active craftsman working with the wood to transform it in my pieces of furniture. As a matter of fact, I worked on projects first, then I considered their costs, where to buy the wood banks, screws etc. Then, with many tools I transformed the already crafted materials in a finished work. I loved so much engineering and tools that I also thought to study for being a naval engineer, given my love for the ships and sea. But since I started to study philosophy in secondary school, I understood my life would have been meaningless without a deep philosophical analysis of reality and then I discharged engineering as a way of living but not of studying. Problem solving is simply part to my nature and an engineering approach to life is what I always found healthy and productive. However, I became critical of the human dependence on machines and – more broadly – technology. In few points I want to show you how I understood I was completely wrong.