Tyranny and the Machine

The faceless agreement which grinds down cultures. That which does not discern. That which does not have the capability for mercy. That which blindly, blankly destroys. That which inexorably grinds down acres of land and myriads of lives. That which cannot discern. That which forces, ignorantly. That which does not feel its force. That blunt and blank machine of power. The faceless behemoth that exists in our collective minds. The concentrate of power.

That which does not discern.

There are different types of tyrannies. There is a tyranny, that has, at its head, a tyrant. It is the archetype of a tyranny. It is the story of the tyrant. This tyrant is a feeling, conscious entity, who tyrannizes people, controls them, enslaves them. There is a consciousness and there is contact. There is a connection between the oppressor and the oppressed. As such, it is on the more humane side of tyrannies.
A vastly different type of tyranny is one of bureaucratic, faceless oppression. It is a system supported by many, a silent, implicit agreement, a necessity, unchangeable. Like the tyrant, this bureaucratic tyranny enslaves, but it does so silently and hidden. It oppresses and forces, but it does so covertly and without a face. There are no guards with whips or any other clear signs of tyranny and yet, there is power shaping the lives of millions of people. Here, power has exceeded this primitive stage of execution through physical means (although this still is a vital part) and has moved on to more subtle and finessed methods of dominance and enslavement. It is not the tyrant that we should look out for, but that which oppresses silently and that which forces implicitly.

Many myths support this sly power. The myth of the machine is one of them. In short, this myth imposes onto life a machine-like quality. When we talk about leaves in terms of photosynthesis, Glucose and molecular machines or about water in terms of its reproduceable behaviours, such as freezing at 0°C or having the highest density at around 4°C, we are utilizing a machine-like approach. It is an approach that uses a fundamental concept of input->rational process->output. Around this idea, we have organized major collective institutions. It is in itself is tyrannical, because it does not discern, it functionalizes and it legitimizes dehumanization and machinisation. The very idea of a machine is complete control. With the push of a button, he who controls the machine can let all hell break loose. The lure of the machine is ultimate power. It is in itself the ultimate instrument for control. A machine obeys, always. If it doesn't, it is broken. It is the perfect servant. It does not demand, it just obeys. In such, technological progress is, in part, fuelled by the lure of and the desire for ultimate power. It is here, that modern and old legends become evermore relevant. For millennia, stories have cautioned us about the corrupting tendency of power. The modern technological progress is the old tale of the pursuit for ultimate power resulting in ultimate impotence. This narrative of technological progress, which is central to modern western societies is thus hollow and will, as a consequence, decay and be replaced, either through an evolutionary or revolutionary process. It is an important point: The very central narrative of technological progress is fuelled by a desire for ultimate power. It is important, because the foundations of a societal narrative decide the extent to which they become (negatively) destructive and inhumane or productive and humane. If the greater societal story is a hollow, fear-fuelled search for ultimate power, it is doomed to decay and degenerate.
There are other aspects of the machine which I wont go into detail here. What is a very noteworthy dynamic is the connection between tyranny and the machine. Taking into account the extent to which the machine is a foundational principle of society, it begs the question: To what extent is our society, facelessly and covertly, thoroughly tyrannical?