Why do Romantic writers personify technology? Why do Modern writers robotize it? Perhaps because one group of writers is studying its causes, and the other its effects on human culture and the human psyche. Is it because some Romantic writers worship technology? Consider Walt Whitman’s and Stephen Spender’s panegyrics on the steam locomotive. Do they view the creators and custodians of such power as little less than Gods? Adam was promised divine status by the serpent, and his descendants immediately set about building the first cities, and the tower of Babylon.
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