The Monastery and the Clock

"The clock, not the steam engine, is the key machine of the modern industrial age." (Mumford, "The Monestary and the Clock", page 326.) represents the thesis of Mumford's "The Monastery and the Clock". Couple of centuries ago it would be hard to find this thesis believable, but in today's world almost everything is driven by the time and ability to measure the time. Without the invention of the clock would be hard, if not impossible, to …

…time. What would happen to our economy which is driven by the stock market? There is many, many more examples of the chaos that would be created by removing all the clocks and the ability to tell the time. In the world where everything depends on the ability to tell time all those thoughts confirm Mumford's claim that "one only has to imagine... [the clocks] absence to forsee the speedy collapse of our entire society."