Painterly worn leather tool belt and chisels beside scattered wood shavings.

Original artwork, not a still

Arthur Miller

Man must shape his tools lest they shape him.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

This warns that people must actively direct the instruments they create, or those same instruments will end up dictating human behavior instead. It frames technology and craft as forces that demand deliberate control, cautioning that passivity toward one's own tools invites being governed by them.

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