Technological transformation of physical nature erases the dimension of contradiction in lived reality

Evidence

Their truth value depended to a large degree on an uncomprehended and unconquered dimension of man and nature, on the narrow limits placed on organization and manipulation, on the “insoluble core” which resisted integration. In the fully developed industrial society, this insoluble core is progressively whittled down by technological rationality. Obviously, the physical transformation of the world entails the mental transformation of its symbols, images, and ideas. Obviously, when cities and highways and National Parks replace the villages, valleys, and forests; when motorboats race over the lakes and planes cut through the skies—then these areas lose their character as a qualitatively different reality, as areas of contradiction. — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 305

Categorization

• XREF: Connects directly to the attention-economy thesis: engineered environments flatten perceptual alternatives. — connects to: The mechanical worldview reduced environment from complex existence to mere material object — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism: A Critique of…, 487; Speculative technologies erode boundaries between previously separate realms of life — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living With…, 212; Technology reveals fundamental truths about human existence beyond mere usefulness — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 1020 (+5 more)
• DEFINE: Establishes ‘insoluble core’ and ‘areas of contradiction’ as Marcuse’s terms for what resists one-dimensional absorption.

Broader Connections

• The mechanical worldview reduced environment from complex existence to mere material object #corroborates (0.82) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 487
• The postmodern epoch erases nature and all residual archaic features from human experience #expands (0.82) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 781
• Tele-technologies dismantle the body’s unified synthesis of action, perception, perceptibility, and vulnerability #corroborates (0.78) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 953
• Speculative technologies erode boundaries between previously separate realms of life #expands (0.75) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 212
• Technology reveals fundamental truths about human existence beyond mere usefulness #contradicts (0.72) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 1020
• Two-dimensional thought stems from experiencing reality as fundamentally antagonistic #complicates (0.70) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 492