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1. Norbert Wiener on Cybernetics and Automation (1948)

“Automation enhances efficiency and frees humans from mundane tasks. The challenge is to ensure technology serves humanity and doesn't displace it.”

- Norbert Wiener, "Cybernetics"

Context: Wiener pioneered the idea of ​​automation's effect on both humans and machines and saw its potential as a means of progress.

2. Marshall McLuhan on the Role of Technology (1964)

"We shape our tools, and afterwards our tools shape us. Automation transforms our work and life, and it allows us to adapt more quickly. Integration harmonizes systems and lets humans focus on creativity.”

- Norbert Wiener, "Cybernetics"

Context: Wiener pioneered the idea of ​​automation's effect on both humans and machines and saw its potential as a means of progress.

3. Adam Smith on division of labor and efficiency (1776)

"Division of labor greatly improves productivity, saving time and enhancing quality. By integrating methods, total output is optimized, but overly repetitive tasks risk narrowing the human mind.”

- Adam Smith, "The Wealth of Nations"

Context:Adam Smith highlights the benefits of streamlining through automation, but also points to the risk of loss of creativity through monotony.

4. Peter Drucker on Management and Automation (1967)

“The productivity of work lies in the manager's hands. By automating and integrating processes, humans are freed for valuable work. Technology, when used effectively, turns efficiency into growth.”

- –Peter Drucker, "The Effective Executive"

Context:Drucker argues that management must take responsibility for using automation to improve work and create innovation.

5. Isaac Asimov on Human Control of Technology (1974)

"Automation has the potential to free humans for creativity, but we must remain in control to ensure it enhances our experience, not diminishes it."

- Isaac Asimov, "Asimov on Science"

Context:Asimov saw technology as a neutral tool to be used wisely to improve human life and unleash creativity.

6. Henry Ford on Efficiency (1922)

"Machines are not to replace men, but to augment their abilities. When processes are automated and integrated intelligently, growth becomes limitless.”

- Henry Ford, "My Life and Work"

Context:As a pioneer in industrial automation, Ford believed that machines should help people increase productivity without removing the human element.

7. Positive Humor: Technological Optimism (1950s)

“Automation promises a future where machines will take care of all the boring stuff. We want to sit in our chairs and enjoy life – like being on eternal vacation!”

- Henry Ford, "My Life and Work"

Context:As a pioneer in industrial automation, Ford believed that machines should help people increase productivity without removing the human element.

8. On the Moon: The Naive Idea of ​​Technology (c. 1800s)

“Integration of steam power into all parts of human life will soon lead to machines that can think for us. Human thought will no longer be necessary!”

- Unknown Technology Writer

Context:At the beginning of industrialization, some believed that machines would take over all aspects of life – an idea that to modern eyes seems exaggerated and humorous.

9. Sir Horace Luddington on Steam Power and Automation (1825)

"Steam power will take over all human functions and before long we will see machines that think, act and even speak for us."

- Sir Horace Luddington, "The Coming Age of Steam"

Context:Luddington was convinced that steam power would revolutionize all work, and had visions of steam-powered talking machines.

10. Professor Eustace Wellington on the Future of Technology (1900)

"When we one day integrate all the world's telegraph lines, we will achieve the ability to send thoughts across continents - completely without the use of words."

- Professor Eustace Wellington, "The Electric Brain"

Context:Wellington believed that the world's telegraph lines would create a kind of global brain where words would no longer be necessary.

11. Edith Smythe on Office Automation (1920)

"With the new typewriters that can copy documents, office work will become redundant and the future will be free of paperwork."

- Edith Smythe, "The Automated Office Revolution"

Context:Smythe believed that the efficiency of the typewriter would eliminate all paperwork and thus the entire office industry.

12. Baron Friedrich von Technot on electrical integration (1895)

“Electricity will turn us all into magicians. Soon we will be able to cook, mend clothes and maybe even take a bath – all at the push of a single button.”

- Baron Friedrich von Technot, "The Age of the Spark"

Context:KVon Technot had an exaggerated belief in the potential of electricity and believed that it would eliminate all human effort in everyday life.

13. Dr. Gertrude Gridley on the Advantages of Automation (1930)

"Automation will make it possible to create a society where people can live completely without work and where machines will fulfill all needs - even love and friendship."

- Dr. Gertrude Gridley, "A Future Without Hands"

Context: Gridley was a utopian and believed that automation would fulfill all human needs, including the emotional ones.

14. Harold Buzzworthy on Future Agriculture (1888)

"In the future, tractor and plow integration will enable farmers to work from home without ever setting foot in the field."

- -Harold Buzzworthy, "Machinery and the Modern Farmer"

Context: Buzzworthy believed that machinery would make agriculture so automated that human presence in the fields would be unnecessary.

15. Lord Reginald Gearing on Automobiles (1910)

“When cars become automated, the driver will soon be a thing of the past. Everyone will travel in their own, self-driving cars and have complete freedom to sleep behind the wheel.”

- – Lord Reginald Gearing, "The Motorized Future"

Context: Gearing saw a future where self-driving cars would make drivers redundant, and believed in fully autonomous transportation.

16. Lady Mildred Codsworth on Home Automation (1945)

"With the new automated vacuum cleaners, we will never again have to lift a finger to clean. The future offers a world without dust and dirt.”

- – Lady Mildred Codsworth, "The Home of Tomorrow"

Context: Codsworth believed that automatic vacuum cleaners would make all cleaning a thing of the past and that people's homes would be perfect and spotless.

17. Professor Jasper Clockwise on Time and Technology (1915)

“Integrating all our clocks will mean that people will never be late again. Technology will literally keep us all in perfect synch.”

- – Professor Jasper Clockwise, "The Time Machine of Progress"

Context: Clockwise believed that automated clocks and time systems would eliminate all delays and create a perfectly organized society.

18. Sir Oliver Steamwell on Computers (1940)

"Computers will one day be so fast that they will be able to predict the weather a month ahead and never be wrong."

- – Sir Oliver Steamwell, "The Thinking Machine"

Context: Steamwell was convinced that computing power would be so powerful that meteorological miscalculation would become a thing of the past.