For the sciences today have been forced to adopt a “language” of mathematical symbols which, though it was originally meant only as an abbreviation for spoken statements, now contains statements that in no way can be translated back into speech. If we would follow the advice, so frequently urged upon us, to adjust our cultural attitudes to the present status of scientific achievement, we would in all earnest adopt a way of life in which speech is no longer meaningful. Wherever the relevance of speech is at stake, matters become political by definition, for speech is what makes man a political being. (270) However, even apart from these last and yet uncertain consequences, the situation created by the sciences is of great political significance. She mistrusts the scientists, calling their track record naive and lacking in character: Science pushes us to devalue speech, which makes politics impossible. If it should turn out to be true that knowledge (in the modern sense of know-how) and thought have parted company for good, then we would indeed become the helpless slaves, not so much of our machines as of our know-how, thoughtless creatures at the mercy of every gadget which is technically possible, no matter how murderous it is. (268) In this case, it would be as though our brain, which constitutes the physical, material condition of our thoughts, were unable to follow what we do, so that from now on we would indeed need artificial machines to do our thinking and speaking.

What seems particularly problematic for Arendt is that she views plurality as the natural condition of humanity, but modernity / automation / technology push mass society towards conforming to an arbitrary monolithic culture.Īrendt fears that technology and gadgets will dull our cognitive capacities and reduce us into thoughtless slaves of machines. Part of the skepticism around technology is a skepticism around the idea that we could have “objective” measures for the success of technology in a pluralistic society. This book touches upon a lot of topics, but I think relevant today is a deep skepticism around technology (whose goal is generally to make life easier and free humankind of “necessity” – the necessity of struggling to survive).

I’ve been reading quite a bit of Hannah Arendt over the past few years, and one of the last books on my list that I finally got around to was The Human Condition.

Arendt the human condition