The Failure of Technology: Perfection Without Purpose

by Friedrich Georg Jünger

Originally published in 1946, F.G. Jünger’s long essay The Failure of Technology criticizes the growing mechanization of the twentieth century through arguments later adopted by environmental protection movements. But Jünger reaches beyond political ideology to warn the West of its own impending destruction should technological growth continue unchecked.

Contrary to many of his contemporaries, Jünger saw the world after World War II not as a bright new age but as a march to ruin. Regardless of the men wielding them, he believed machines bore intrinsic evils and their rapid advance collided with the natural rhythms of life. Though the Anglo world romanticizes advancing technology as “progress” toward a future techno-utopia, the German Jünger rejected unnatural perfection and precision in favor of humility and appreciation of the mysteries and wonders inherent to the natural world.

The Failure of Technology, its English translation by Fred D. Wieck now long out of print, deserves rediscovery now more than ever. A new world emerged in the ruins of World War II, and to understand its consequences we can do no better than F.G. Jünger.

Now available in paperback.