I got a bit lost in my explorations in the previous post and feel like I didn’t fully explain what Jünger was getting at with his talk of automatons.  The point is that in sin, in vice, man illegitimately subordinates the higher to the lower, disrupts the cosmic order.  We desire some thing, some good which is not the highest good (this is not in itself a bad thing), and allow the object of that desire to rule us (this is). 

The most obvious example of this dynamic is the addict, man ruled by a bottle. 

Subordination to the machine as a relinquishing of our responsibility to creation. “Let the machines handle it, let the process handle it,” but it’s our job to handle it, our duty.  The “it” in question includes our responsibility for other human beings.  What right do we have to enslave them to the machine, the techne?  Your fate is now dictated by an abstract process from which we’ve recused ourselves, by numbers on a spreadsheet, aren’t you happy? Isn’t this better, now that we’ve stripped away all the wretched messiness of humanity?

n.b. “the machine” is not simply machines, drill presses and internal combustion engines.  We’ll allow the concept to unfold as we continuing exploring.