Dr Magnus Pyke died almost 25 years ago. However, anyone born before 1975 will probably remember him fondly from their childhood as the eccentric gesticulating scientist explaining the complex to lay people.
What is little known is Dr Pyke’s highly critical perspective of society, in particular, the nature of work in western societies.
As you can see the construction of a means to an end paradigm makes work itself a badge and a pay packet but for a great many not much more.
- “The main body of the citizenry, the ‘workers,’ are kept segregated from the drones, the women at home, the children, the old and the idle …the necessary doctrine of the division of labour makes this regimentation necessary. But it has the effect of setting economic effort apart and dividing the day and the week into “work” and “everything else”.
- “This way of thinking has so deranged our minds that we have come to accept that only when we are actually carrying out paid industrial work are we serving our purpose on earth.”
- “To minds so deformed, the things that ‘retired’ people do are not considered to be of value. They are empty, merely something to do.”
- “The leisure pursuits of the senior executive seem to be corroded with competitiveness, superficial sociability, display and conspicuous consumption. He must own an automobile of a certain size and make, not necessarily to travel in, but to prove that he can afford it.
If you want some nostalgia or just want to find out more enjoy:
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