What
does our relationship with the
material world have to do with
our understanding
of the human world?
"The moral significance of work that grapples with material things may lie in the simple fact that such things lie outside the self. A washing machine, for example, surely exists to serve our needs, but in contending with one that is broken, you have to ask what it needs. At such a moment, technology is no longer a means by which our mastery of the world is extended, but an affront to our usual self-absorption. Constantly seeking self-affirmation, the narcissist views everything as an extension of his will, and therefore has only a tenuous grasp on the world of objects as something independent. He is prone to magical thinking and delusions of omnipotence. A repairman, on the other hand, puts himself in the service of others, and fixes the things they depend on."
This was my favorite paragraph of the text.
People see machines as things that are there only to serve them, and they are, really. The thing that people don't often consider is the likeness between relationships with people and relationships with machines. There is a give and take to both. A person cannot, without frustration, depend completely on a machine to do its job without any human interaction. This reminds me of something Deepak Chopra said in the Seven Laws of Spiritual Success. To paraphrase, he talks about asking yourself if what you are going to do is going to help others, and if it's not, don't do it. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, don't do it. Only do things if you have first asked yourself, will this make me happy? Will it make the people around me happy? Will it hurt anyone? Instead of seeing yourself as the center, think about what you can do to give back to people and understand the inner workings of things.
