What shapes mankind vs what does mankind shape?
Looking around at modern cities one sees many objects. Nearly all have been made or modified by humans. Obviously, humans built the buildings, vehicles, and other tools. But even the plants, animals, and food have been affected by humans.
So are humans in control or are they controlled? The materialism of Marx and Engels said humans are driven by the material forces of the mechanical societies. Marx and Engels missed the fact that machines come from human mind. Machines are created for a purpose. As tools, they are improved or discarded.
Some machines appear to be more than tools and they take on metamorphic or symbolic roles. Trains expressed territorial conquerors or powerful draft animals or inspirations for songs. Same with automobiles, airplanes, and computers.
For social predicting, tools will continue to evolve and will, in turn, affect societies. It's tempting to proclaim that tools are symbiotic to societies like memes. Those two need groups, not individuals, to spread. But neither succeed by dominating like Marx and Engels thought.
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