In the modern, the culture of the expert comes fully to the fore. Specialisation and separation of function lead to dis-integration which cannot be named or faced. Instead of attempting to grasp the workings of society as a whole, we can only ever have a partial view.

To be able to stand back with a degree of detachment is to lay oneself open to charges of "post-modernism" meaning insincerity.

Concorde and Cumbernauld, cobol and card reading computers...The Modern and The Future have become disengaged.

In Berlin, the future was something that was waved under the noses of the harrassed East Germans. Neon Light, Spacelab, Computer world: all the panoply of KRAFTWERK titles. The East struck back with the cosmonaut, but that was a very elite trip. By contrast, anyone could walk down the Ku'damm. The future became shopping, not speed.