How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Kornhoer moves something to make room for a piece of equipment. Armbruster yells Perdition! Brother Kornhoer yells Progress! and they have at each other again. (13.57)
Kornhoer and Armbruster's argument over an arc light is silly. But it is also important to our tech savvy world. Perdition is basically a fancy word for hell, and progress always carries with it a feeling of ascension—of being lifted out of one's current lowly state. So which is it: is our technology lifting us up, or letting us down?
Quote #5
The sixth monk climbed the shelf-ladder and took his seat on the top rung, his head bumping the top of the archway. He pulled a mask of smoke-blackened oily parchment over his face to protect his eyes, then felt for the lamp fixture and its thumbscrew, while Brother Kornhoer watched him nervously from below. (18.30)
Notice how the monk has to go all Manfred Mann for the light to work. This is the first subtle hint of technology injuring someone for the sake of progress. Oh, and let's not forget those poor monks running on the treadmills. We think that's very dehumanizing, in a Brave New World kind of way.
Quote #6
The abbot, who had neither witnessed the testing of the device nor credited extravagant claims, blanched and stopped speech in mid-sentence. The clerk froze momentarily in panic and suddenly fled, screaming "Fire!" (18.39)
Lots of foreshadowing packed into this one little light bulb. The clerk's confusion links the arc lamp to the technology of the future (like the nuclear bomb). The light unknowingly becomes the evolutionary first step to mass destruction. Eep.