Cultures and ages are known by the metaphors their members share and live by. Stein and Hill contend that today the symbol of technology serves as a shared unifying self-image for American culture. The history of the portrayal of man as a machine is briefly reviewed. The psychoanalytic literature on the "influencing machine" is also reviewed and integrated with the historical overview. The over-reliance on technology in current medical practice, including psychiatry and psychotherapy, is cited as evidence of the inroads of technology as dogma. The authors see the use of such dogma as a defense against various uncertainties and anxieties and the pessimism of modern existence.