Understanding machines: A history of Canadian mechanology

Abstract

Background The paradigms of cybernetics and media theory developed in the postwar era in response to new developments in technology and science. At their margins, an intellectual movement called "mechanology," or the science of machines, also attempted to apprehend such changes. Analysis The article uses the archival material of two major figures of mechanology, Canadians John Hart and Jean Le Moyne, to examine the overlooked contribution of mechanology to postwar debates on technology and culture. It contrasts the theories, concepts, and epistemologies of mechanology with both cybernetics and media theory. Conclusion and implications The article reveals some of the reasons behind mechanology's inability to establish itself as new field, and shows how the concept of "the machine" lost ground in the postwar era.