shadowy_blue
Senior Member
I don't think Tolkien was against all science and technology....only the abuses. But he did see "the Enemy" as the "Lord of Magic and Machines", who used magia for his own power. It was this potential for abuse that concerned JRRT. Having lived in the 20th century, he had seen this happen too many times. Yet it is possible to find positive references to technology in Arda (as well as their negative counterparts).
There are so many different levels and types of technology, and things can become quite complicated when trying to express your views. Such as disliking one form of technology but supporting another.
Although Tolkien expresses in his Letters many sentiments with which I can agree, his dislike of modern technology is one area where I find his views significantly at variance with my own. I can understand his hatred of modern warfare (particularly given his experiences in WW1) but, I can say that it is people, not machines, that kill people. And, as one who greatly appreciates the beauty of my own country, I can understand his sense that the ugliness of modern factories and the like were blighting the land. And I can also (acutely) identify with his thoughts on technological advancements speeding up the pace of life to an unpleasant (and often dangerously stressful) degree.
But he seems to take no account of the benefits that advancements in technology can bring, particularly in terms of medical advancements, standards of living and information availability. Surely all of us can appreciate the wonderful advancements that have been made in medicine in the last half-century, which has contributed to higher standards of living across the world and longer average lifespans than could ever have been conceived of only a few hundred years ago. I once wondered what Tolkien thought of the internet, but I just thought to myself that, as someone who valued information (or at least the communication of thoughts and ideas), he might have recognised the value of the internet. Then again, the internet can be put to good and bad use, just like the “infernal combustion engine” which he lambastes in his Letters.
There's nothing wrong with technology in and of itself. It's all about how you use it. God didn't give us creative natures for nothing, so I don't think that making lesser imitations of nature is so terrible. After all, Tolkien described his stories as sub-creations. Lesser versions of the story that is "real life".
So while technology can be and is used for bad, it's just plain silly to call technology evil. Death, destruction and woe have been around almost forever, which is long before the internal combustion engine. Yes, things like atomic bombs are curses and should never have been invented...but would a person being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance curse the engine that runs the vehicle?
Everything always comes right back to the souls of Men (or Elves or Maiar or Valar or what-have-you). Scapegoating machines is erroneous. Cain didn't need an automatic rifle to kill Abel...his own hands worked just fine.
Anyway, that reads like a little sermon, I know... But anyway I'm just saying that I disagree about who is most prone to evil. I think it is the ignorant and uninformed who fall into darkness more easily. I know that isn't the way it was in Tolkien's world...but it is in our world. All the really evil people have their minions, their ignorant masses. Hitler brainwashed the youth to think his way. Osama Bin Laden didn't fly any planes into the World Trade Center, he got other people to do it for him.
And when you think about it...that is like Tolkien's world, in a sense. The strengths of these "bad guys" lay in their minions...their mindless hosts who have no will of their own and knew only the will of their master. It's always the Orcs and Uruk-hai the heroes must face.
I'm sorry if this has become a ramble... To sum it all up: One powerful man with a host of ignorant men at his command is a lot more dangerous than one powerful man with a new-fangled machine.
And there...ladies and gentlemen...goes the long-posting shadowy_blue...🙄
Sorry.