Machines are an increasingly important part of our external and, therefore, internal

environment. Freud, while noting the positive aspects of culture in Civilization and its Discontents, wrote:

with every tool man is perfecting his own organs, whether motor or sensory, or

is removing the limits to their functioning. Motor power places gigantic forces

at his disposal, which, like his muscles, he can employ in any direction; thanks

to ships and aircraft neither water nor air can hinder his movements; by means of

spectacles he corrects defects in the lens of his own eye; by means of the

telescope he sees into the far distance; and by means of the microscope he

overcomes the limits of visibility set by the structure of his retina.