Organs of the human brain, created by the human hand
1858 (Marx-Engels-Werke vol. 42, Dietz Verlag). Karl Marx, German philosopher and economist living in London. Written in notebook VII of the Grundrisse manuscripts, 1857 to 1858, in the passage on machinery and fixed capital; first published 1939. Translated from German.
Grundrisse der Kritik der politischen Ökonomie
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What it refers to: Machines, locomotives, railways, electric telegraphs and self-acting mules, which nature does not build but human industry makes from natural material.
Other voices
- “Man has become a kind of prosthetic God” Sigmund Freud,
- “The essence of technology is nothing technological at all” Martin Heidegger,
- “Technology as such is a neutral thing, just like a hammer” Noam Chomsky, Thinker,
- “Bound to devalue the human brain” Norbert Wiener,
- “Automation indeed appears to be the great catalyst” Herbert Marcuse,
- “The substitution of machinery for human labour” David Ricardo,










