Why are cart bolsters cut and wheel naves turned not from oak, but from birch? Bolsters and naves have to be strong, and oak is not more expensive than birch. Because oak splits lengthwise, and birch does not split, but ravels out. Because, though oak is more firmly connected than birch, it is connected in such a way that it splits lengthwise, while birch does not. Why are wheels and runners bent from oak and elm, and not from birch and linden? Because, when oak and elm are steamed in a bath, they bend and do not break, while birch and linden ravel in every direction. This is again for the same reason, that is, that the particles of the wood in the oak and in the birch are differently connected.
Lewis Herber [Murray Bookchin] Note: This is the final part of a two-part article on the technological bases of freedom. The first part (Anarchos n. 2) examined the technological limitations of the previous century and their influence on revolutionary theory. An economy anchored technologically in scarcity, it was shown, circumscribed the range of social ideas and tended to subvert revolutionary concepts of freedom. These limitations were compared with the potentialities of technology today -- the substitution of invention by design, the open end in technological development, the emergence of cybernetic devices, the prospect of reducing toil to a near vanishing point. The article examined the possibility of making qualitative changes in the... (From : Anarchy Archives.)