The third great defect of our civilization is that it does not know what to do with its knowledge. Science has given us powers fit for the gods, yet we use them like small children. For example, we do not know how to manage our machines. Machines were made to be man's servants; yet he has grown to dependent on them that they are in a fair way to become his masters. Already most men spend most of their lives looking after and waiting upon machines. And the machines are very stern masters. They must be fed with coal, and given petrol to drink, and oil to wash with, and they must be kept at the right temperature. And if they do not get their meals when they expect them, they grow sulky and refuse to work, or burst with rage, and blow up, and spread ruin and destruction all round them. So we have to wait upon them very attentively and do all that we can to keep them in a good temper. Already we find it difficult either to work or play without the machines, and the time may come when they will rule us altogether, just as we rule the animals.
What according to the writer has become the agony of man?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Machines are their masters
Machines were made to be man's servants, but man has grown so dependent on them that they are "in a fair way to become his masters", and they are "very stern masters". The servant has turned into the master, and this reversal is the agony of man.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Machines have become their slaves — Incorrect. Wrong time: this was the original purpose of machines; the passage complains that it is no longer true.
Option 2: Machines are being controlled by them — Incorrect. Contradicted: the writer says we do not know how to manage our machines; man is controlled by them, not the other way round.
Option 4: Machines are dependent on them — Incorrect. Contradicted: the passage says that man has grown dependent on machines.