As technology has become more hyperactive, we, the people have become more laid back; as the deposits in its bank have become more fat, the deposits of man’s memory bank have become more lean.
Like Harold Pinter’s servant, the machine has assumed the responsibilities that were once the master’s. The latter has become the shell of a once thoughtful, though indolent, being. It is the Law of Diminishing Enlightenment at work.
Studs Terkel, “The Great Divide - Second thoughts on the American Dream.” 1980