BOOKS AND LETTERS

BOOKS AND LETTERS

Modernity and the Machines

Who is serving Whom?

Scott Postma's avatar
Scott Postma
Apr 06, 2024
∙ Paid
1
Share

The gods confound the man who first found out

How to distinguish hours! Confound him, too,

Who in this place set up a sun-dial

To cut and hack my days so wretchedly

Into small portions! When I was a boy,

My belly was my only sun-dial, one more sure,

Truer, and more exact than any of them.

-Plautas1

This week I’ve been revisiting the idea of modernity and its mac…

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to BOOKS AND LETTERS to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Scott Postma
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture