TOW #15: “The Tyranny of the Clock”

“The Tyranny of the Clock”, by George Woodcock, is a very fascinating piece about clocks and how they have effected society over time. As a political writer with many of his works leaning towards anarchist ideas, Woodcock argues in his article that the invention of the clock towards the end of the middle ages has caused much of the human race to be controlled by time. The modern world moves so fast that many people do not have enough time to enjoy themselves, relax, or experience new things. Instead, working adults and even students must give up their time, and subsequently, their freedom, to make a living. Woodcock first includes a great deal of logos in his piece, informing his audience of how the clock has evolved through ancient times, Medieval, Victorian, until it has gained complete control over the lives of many today. His use of metaphors and allusions allow his audience to think about something so common in their lives – watching the clock – in a different way. Woodcock connects the invention of the clock to the ancient Chinese invention of gunpowder in saying “The ancient Chinese, for example, invented gunpowder, which was developed by the military experts of the West and eventually led to the Chinese civilization itself being destroyed by the high explosives of modern warfare. Similarly, the supreme achievement of the ingenuity of the craftsmen in the medieval cities of Europe was the invention of the mechanical clock, which, with its revolutionary alteration of the concept of time, materially assisted the growth of exploiting capitalism and the destruction of medieval culture”. This presents an interesting idea that something humans invented will lead to their own demise. Clocks control our society and lives in ways we often don’t notice, but the truth is that they dictate much of our lives. George Woodcock did a very good job in his article of reminding his audience that human lives were not always controlled by the tick of machine and that, by resigning out lives to keeping to a strict schedule, we are denying ourselves complete freedom.