Man and Technics

A Contribution to a Philosophy of Life

By: Oswald Spengler

Narrated by: Jeremy Taescher

In this new and revised edition of Oswald Spengler's classic Man and Technics, Spengler makes a number of predictions that today, more than 80 years after the book was first published, have turned out to be remarkably accurate.

Spengler predicted that industrialization would lead to serious environmental problems and that countless species would become extinct. He also predicted that labor from Third World countries would increasingly outcompete Western workers by doing the same work for much lower wages and that industrial production would therefore move to other parts of the world, such as East Asia, India, and South America.

According to Spengler, technology has not only made it possible for man to harness the forces of nature; it has also alienated him from nature. Modern technology now dominates our culture instead of that which is natural and organic. After having made himself the master of nature, man has himself become technology's slave. "The victor, crashed, is dragged to death by the team," Spengler summarizes.

Finally, Spengler foresaw that Western man would eventually grow weary of his increasingly artificial lifestyle and begin to hate the civilization he himself created. There is no way out of this conundrum, as the unrelenting progress of technological development cannot be halted. The current high-tech culture of the West is therefore doomed, destined to be consumed from within and destroyed. A time will come, Spengler writes, when our giant cities and skyscrapers have fallen in ruins and lie forgotten "[J]ust like the palaces of old Memphis and Babylon." It remains to be seen if this last, and most dire, of Spengler's prophecies will also come true.

©2015- Arktos Media Ltd. (P)2019- Arktos Media Ltd.

Oswald Spengler: Not what I thought

Due to the unfortunate coincidence of his name and nationality, I made assumptions as to his ideology.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Now, as was Nietzsche,
I’m a yes-sayer 👍👍

Very Interesting

A very interesting look into the philosophical mindset of Spengler in the 1930s. A good read.

Analysis of the decline of Western social order.

Excellent reading. The author describes this work as a brief explication of his earlier work,The Decline of the West. He provides a pointed analysis of what was then the "modern" European and North American world, and how its intellectual, social, political, and economic order were setting the stage for its decline, by a kind of "de-industrialization". The argument is not so much a critique, with suggestions of how to avoid this outcome, as that it is inevitable for the West and possibly for any nation.

He litteraly predicted the future!!!

Very logical order of facts with a chilling analysis and prediction. He clearly sees where this has now become.

Let the man talk

Great little book, a lot of interesting ideas that need further development. Only problem is that about 20% is the intro, which is superfluous. Let the work stand on its own feet!