Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
The author suggests that while machines change the physical world, their deeper impact is on culture and human values.
In plain terms
Machines change our culture more than they change our physical surroundings.
What can you take from it?
Consider how technology shapes culture more than physical space.

Where it applies

  • debating tech impact
  • studying industrialization
  • evaluating modern life

Putting it to work

  • analyze cultural shifts from tech
  • prioritize spiritual outcomes

Questions to consider

  • How does technology change your values?
  • Which matters more: physical or cultural change?

Another view

Physical changes often precede cultural shifts, making this separation difficult.

More from Lewis Mumford

  1. The settlement of America had its origins in the unsettlement of Europe. America came into existence when the European was already so distant from the ancient …

    Permalink to quote #1
  2. Every generation revolts against its fathers and makes friends with its grandfathers.

    Permalink to quote #3
  3. If we are to create balanced human beings, capable of entering into world-wide co-operation with all other men of good will - and that is the supreme task of o…

    Permalink to quote #4

Related quotes

  1. We have laws in states, like the one at the Supreme Court right now, that has sodomy laws and they were there for a purpose. Because, again, I would argue, the…

    Rick SantorumRick Santorum quote #2
  2. Each generation's job is to question what parents accept on faith, to explore possibilities, and adapt the last generation's system of values for a new age.

    Frank PittmanFrank Pittman quote #4
  3. If we have learned anything at all in this century, it is that all new technologies will be put to use, sooner or later, for better or worse, as it is in our n…

    Lewis ThomasLewis Thomas quote #6