“When all actions are mathematically calculated, they also take on a stupid quality”

“When all actions are mathematically calculated, they also take on a stupid quality” – taken from Theodor W. Adorno (1974), Minima Moralia. Reflections from Damaged Life. (First published in German in 1951.) London (NLB)

Theodor W. Adorno (1903-69) argued that capitalism fed people with the products of a 'culture industry' - the opposite of 'true' art - to keep them passively satisfied and politically apathetic…Boiled down to its most obvious modern-day application, the argument would be that television leads people away from talking to each other or questioning the oppression in their lives. Instead they get up and go to work (if they are employed), come home and switch on TV, absorb TV's nonsense until bedtime, and then the daily cycle starts again.

http://www.ldb.org/adorno.htm

http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-ador.htm