Full text of "Science And The Future Of Mankind"

See other formats

$6.95

SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE
OF MANKIND

Edited by Hugo Boyko

Twenty-one of the world's foremost sci-
entists and humanists, among them, Nobel
Laureate geneticist Hermann J. Muller;
physicist Robert Oppenheimer; Harold D.
Lasswell, Professor of Law at Yale Univer-
sity; zoologist Theodore Andre Monod; so-
ciologist Henrik F. Infield; Nobel Laureate
physiologist Lord John Boyd Orr; Lyle K.
Bush, Professor of Fine Arts at Simmons
College; philosopher Bertrand Russell; and
the late Albert Einstein, have contributed
articles to this volume which explore the
vital problems of mankind in the face of in-
creasing technological and scientific ad-
vancement.

Among the many issues treated are ''Sci-
ence and Our Times/' "Prospects in the
Arts and Sciences," "Science and Our Fu-
ture," "The Prospects of Genetic Progress,"
"Science, Scientists and World Policy,"
"The Human Significance of Natural Re-
sources," "Food Supply and Increase of
Population," "Practical Notes on Politics
and Poesy," "War or Peace a Biological
Problem," and "Science and Modern Civili-
zation."

The authors of these articles fully ac-
knowledge the tremendous responsibility
they must bear, with statesmen and political
leaders, for the predicament of modern man.
Throughout history scientists have revolu-
tionized human existence by increasing con-
trol over the forces of nature, and science
and technology have now made all too pos-

(Continued on back flap)

3 1

126.

508 B?9s 61^2199

Boyko

Science and -the future of mankind

5O8 BT9s 64-42199

Boyko $6 . 95

Science and "the fixture of

mankind

Kansas city public library

- -^ kansas city, missouri

Books will be issued only

on presentation of library card.
Please report lost cards and

change of residence promptly.
Card holders are responsible for

all books, records, films, pictures
or other library materials .
checked out on their cards.

SCIENCE

AND
THE FUTURE OF MANKIND

WORLD ACADEMY OF ART AND SCIENCE

SCIENCE

AND
THE FUTURE OF MANKIND

edited by
HUGO BOYKO

INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS

BLOOMINGTON

FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES 1964

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER 64-63014

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Contents

Foreword by Lord BOYD ORR i

Introduction 3

The Need

A. EINSTEIN : Die Internationale der Wissenschaft ... 13

H. BOYKO, Rehovot: The Need of a World Academy of

Art and Science 15

R. OPPENHEIMER, Princeton, N.J. : Thoughts on Art and

Science:

1. Science and Our Times 29

2. Prospects in the Arts and Sciences 37

W. F. G. SWANN, Swarthmore, Pa.: Science and Our

Future . 49

The Means (a few examples by a few scientists)

H. J. MULLER, Bloomington, Ind.: The Prospects of
Genetic Progress 59

H. D. LASSWELL, New Haven, Conn. : Science, Scientists
and World Policy 77

S. W. TROMP, Leiden: The Significance of Border
Sciences for the Future of Mankind 83

R. M. FIELD, South Duxbury, Mass. : The Human Signi-
ficance of Natural Resources (with Special Reference
to Man's Cultural Resources) 121

CONTENTS

P. DANSEREAU, Montreal: Resource Planning: A Pro-
blem in Communication 131

M. J. SIRKS, Groningen: Food Supply and Increase of
Population 141

P. CHOUARD, Paris: Quelques voies probables de develop-
pement des nouvelles techniques en agronomic ... 159

}. PHILLIPS, Accra: Science in the Service of Man in Africa
South of the Sahara 185

TH. MONOD, Paris: La Science et Phomme au seuil du
desert 197

H. F. INFIELD, Jerusalem: Human Needs and the Need
for Ultimate Orientation 203

L. K. BUSH, Duxbury, Mass. : Practical Notes on Politics
and Poesy 231

The Goal

W. TAYLOR THOM Jr., Princeton, N. J.: Science and Engi-
neering and the Future of Man . 247

EUROPAEUS: War or Peace - a Biological Problem. . . . 301

L BERENBLUM, Rehovot: Science and Modern Civili-
zation 317

W. C. DE LEEUW, Leiden: New Ways with Science as
Leader 333

B. RUSSELL, Merioneth, Wales: Per aspera ad astra. ... 339

The Authors 355

World Academy of Art and Science

Manifesto. 367

Charter-Members 375

Informatory Notes 379

On December 24, 1960, the appeal of the International Con-
ference on Science and Human Welfare (Oct. 1956) was real-
ized by the constitution of the WORLD ACADEMY OF ART AND
SCIENCE, which will function as an informal "World Univer-
sity" of the highest scientific and ethical level. The structure
of the Academy and its aims are laid down in the Statutes
which, in their final form, will be included as an Appendix
in the next volume.
The two main purposes of the Academy are :

1. Gradually to build up a TRANSNATIONAL FORUM, in which
the vital problems of mankind can be responsibly dis-
cussed and thoroughly studied by the best brains of our
generation and of the following ones, from an objective,
scientific and global point of view.

2. To act as an impartial advisory body in the service of
Human Welfare, OUTSIDE OF ALL GROUP-INTERESTS.

This book is the Academy's first small step in this direction.

Further details concerning the organization and the ac-
tivities of the World Academy will be found in the Appen-
dices to this and to the following volumes.

VII

PLATO 1 :

"Until philosophers are kings, or the lings and
princes of this world have the spirit and power
of science, and political greatness and wisdom
met in one, neither states nor the human race
itself will ever have rest from their evils."

Remark: The great Greek belongs to that small group of congenial giants in Asia,
Africa and Europe, who saw the "Need" a few thousand years earlier than we,
although the "Means" which they considered may differ greatly from those at our
disposal.

PLATO was also the founder of an Academy with a similar "Goal" in mind as ours.
This Academy proceeded with its work through nine centuries (!) namely from
387 B.C. until 529 A.D., when it was closed by religious intolerance. Its main aim was
the scientific and philosophical training of potential political leaders.

THE EDITOR

1 , From the 7th letter to Dion and his family at Syracuse.

VIII

Foreword

by
LORD BOYD ORR

Civilization has evolved by the stimulus of new knowledge
which gave man increased power over the forces of nature.
In the last few decades science has advanced more than in
the previous 2,000 years. This impact of modern science on
human society is bringing about great changes. The ad-
justment of the structure of human society to these chan-
ges has raised grave political and economic problems.
If these problems cannot be solved by harnessing the
new powers of science to serve mankind our civilization
will be destroyed by the tremendous new forces science
has let loose.

All nations and races have made some contribution to the
growth of knowledge and, in this now small world, all
nations will ultimately share the same fate. It is a matter of
urgency that scientists and men of learning of all countries
who should recognize no political boundaries get together
in an International Council to consider the problems science
has raised, and in view of the impending further advance of
science to suggest what political and economic changes
might be made to ensure that our civilization might evolve
to a wonderful new era of permanent peace, economic
prosperity, and a higher level of culture than has yet been
attained, which modern science has made possible.

This is the great objective of this new movement 1 which
will have the support of all people of vision and goodwill
who think of the kind of world we would like to pass on to
our children and grandchildren.

Seepage 367.

Introduction

This book is a new beginning in our world. Basically speaking,
the twenty scientists who wrote it are not the sole authors.
The whole of these essays, however original each of them may
be in its line of thought, reflects the thinking of hundreds of
thousands of scientists as well as the more or less vague feeling
of countless others working in all branches of human activity.

This book is like the first step a child takes in the upright
position in surroundings still new to him - in a world into
which man now steps as creator or as destructor, without
having yet fully grasped this fact.

This book has been written to express this common
thinking and feeling and to try to find a way leading to
creation and not to destruction. All the essayists are ac-
knowledged leaders in their spheres of work, and the names
of most of them are known to intellectuals the world over.
Some of them have become symbols of spiritual life in our
times. But together with these authors stand many of the
best and noblest men of our times, firmly resolved to work
actively in spreading the thought of this group.

What is this leading thought? It is very simple. Many
scientists feel that they are partly responsible for the paths
that mankind has been treading in the last decades, and they
feel obliged to shoulder this responsibility not only in theory,
but in practice.

INTRODUCTION

This feeling is shared by most thinking men and women,
including many of the political leaders, for the most
outstanding and most cultured among them know that
according to the tendency of their education they are not
capable by themselves to evaluate the true magnitude of the
responsibility which is weighing them down. Together with
the great statesmen of our time we have to look for the way
to make possible "Life with the bomb" - as C. F. VON WEIZSAC-
KER has formulated it.

Just as every species, confronted with surrounding factors
which endanger its existence, must either adapt itself to them
or perish, so mankind in its whole organizational structure
must adapt itself to the wholly new conditions created by
science and technology in the last decades.

Our time is not only the period filled with threats of
destruction by atom bomb, bacterial warfare, death rays,
brain-washing and the Lord knows what more future
discoveries. It is also the time - if we will it, and who does
not? - of new creation offerees only dimly perceived as yet,
forces which are able to intensify the joy of living for every-
body everywhere, without at the same time taking away
from the joy of living of any group anywhere.

Atomic energy, bacteria, the different rays, the entirely
new ways of education towards mutual understanding, and
last not least the huge increase in the potential of the earth's
productivity through genetics, irrigation with sea-water,
making the deserts productive - all this and much more
means that we have powers to our hand which can in a far
simpler and far more economical way be used for good than
for evil. But for this purpose the will, existent already with
nearly all individuals, must be forged into a common will
usable only in this one direction, inflexible against If and But.

The forum to be created for this purpose will construct
the way. Now, that I am writing these words the World
Academy of Art and Science is in process of being founded.

And this book is the first concrete and preparatory step.

INTRODUCTION

This Academy is meant as a "transnational Forum"
(transnational was coined for us by ROBERT OPPENHEIMER) of
the highest scientific and ethical level for our and thefollowing
generations, to discuss objectively and scientifically the vital
problems of mankind beyond all group interests and from a
global point of view. It is meant as an advisory body for UNO,
governments and peoples, in this decisive transitional
period of our development, and it is meant as a body whose
advice will be heard, and that soon.

Outsiders will consider many of the preceding words to be
those of a dreamer. They are not. They have a most realistic
back-ground. EINSTEIN'S view expressed thirty years ago,
"Scientists of the World must unite" - an appeal which has
the same object in view that we have, has today entered into
the phase of realization.

The special agencies of UNO are everywhere in the
vanguard to demand global common work of science. Many
international conferences have already milled through the
organizational problems. Scientific Unions have already
worked in these lines for many years, even though so far on
the basis of national representation. The conferences of the
last few years have made every effort to free themselves of
national shackles, and their great value lies in that they have
made clear, even to such as live far from the centres of
politics and science, how immense are the dangers that
mankind is threatened with in consequence of its organi-
zational structure in small and large groups - suddenly
grown obsolete.

Such conferences were official ones like those of UNESCO,
and also unofficial ones, such as the famous Pugwash Confer-
ence called by BERTRAND RUSSELL and CYRUS EATON (from 6 to
ii July 1957), which had the RUSSELL-EINSTEIN appeal of the
year 1955 for its basis. All these conferences saw as their great
task in shaking world publicity out of its lethargy again and
again, and to hold against the fatalism of the many and the
satanism of the few - the warning of those who know.

INTRODUCTION

All these conferences had temporary success. They were
only meant to be temporary. With one exception: The
"International Conference on Science and Human Welfare,"
held in Washington in October, 1956.

Under the leadership of JOHN A. FLEMING and RICHARD M.
FIELD a resolution was tabled which for the first time decided
on creating something permanent as the result of all these
conferences and individual strivings; an overall inventory on
the natural resources at our command, and a permanent
forum where the deepest thought, the greatest knowledge,
and the best know-how of our and the following generations
should freely and constructively discuss the vital problems
of mankind : this very transnational forum which we have
missed so sorely up to now and which is to show the way
towards using the vast achievements of our time for con-
struction and not for destruction, for the happiness of all and
not for the suffering of all.

Understandably, of the many outstanding scientists of our
time only a very few could make their voices heard between
these covers. It is also a matter of course, that even on this
narrow basis the mosaic of the book is composed of many
colours. Genetics, political science, engineering, and so on,
elucidate our problems from very different angles. Some of us
will be delighted at the variety of knowledge, others may
possibly miss the one common scientific subject, but all of us
see the common direction, "the striving of the best minds for
a harmonic solution to the conflicts existing today: the
conflicts within our own minds - the conflicts between man
and man and between nation and nation - the contrast
between our education of yesterday and the demands of
tomorrow- the contrasts between centrifugal group interests
and mutual, unifying work for the common object: Our
future on this very tiny planet."

Our earth has grown so small. And man so great. The
Earth knows nothing of its smallness - nor does Man of his
Greatness.

INTRODUCTION

Our form of organization, traditionally only a few
thousand years old, is divided into national states and
groups of states, trying unsuccessfully to shut each other out
by impossible border lines. The smallness and narrowness of
our stateborders become clear when we apply the only
objective measure, that of speed.

A table at the end of this introduction is meant to show this
development graphically, giving comparative times for
circling the world.

Thus for instance the whole of our earth would be a far
smaller state than was Israel 3,000 years ago; for it took
fourteen days to get from the northern border to Elath, and
for HOMER'S Odysseus the Aegaean Islands were a world of
greater space than to-morrow our whole planetary system
will be.

This table shows the gradual historical shift in the potential
borders of a great Power, and we leave it to the reader to
decide whether the most recent expansions still be under-
stood under the traditional concept of the state as an organi-
zational structure.

But this is already one of the vital problems to be discussed
by the World Academy or by a group of experts. The Academy
will never profess to be allknowing. But it will further mutual
work of all those who know, with every means at its disposal.

We must work together to safeguard our future - the
future of mankind. To find the way for a common work for a
common goal there is no need for a revolution. There is
need merely of deep knowledge, of objective thought, of
constructive discussion, and of willingness for understanding.

These will lead to such foundations in science, in philoso-
phy, in psychology, in technology, in the arts, as will form
the suitable bases for gradually building up a commonwealth
aiming at the truly ideal state - the ideal organizational form
for mankind as a whole.

The need for such a common political organization in the
near future is today clear to everybody. What we cannot

INTRODUCTION

know is whether it will be formed peacefully or by violence.
Will the trial be made by force, it will in all probability
destroy whatever will have been achieved until then, in-
cluding our progeny.

How different is the vision of a peaceful solution for which
this book and the World Academy as a whole is meant as a
pathfinder.

We believe, we still believe in spite of all threats from both
sides, that we shall increase our greatness and that it is not
yet too late to do so by peaceful means. The desire and the
will of all has become so strong, it is ever increasing - it will
surely vanquish all opposition.

Statesmen and scientists, philosophers and artists, and
every worker among us, from the unskilled Chinese coolie
and the illiterate shepherd of the poorest steppes, up to the
chief engineer of the greatest industrial works and the leader
in industry - they will all help pave the way.

Jerusalem, October 1960 THE EDITOR

Shrinking of our planet by man's speed to travel round the globe

YEAR

TIME NEEDED

MEANS

AIM

POTENTIAI
STATE SIZE

500,000 B.C.

a few hundred
thousand
years

on foot (over
land, ice-
bridges)

by chance

none

20,000 B.C.

a few thousand
years

on foot and by
canoe

by chance

a small valley,
vicinity of a
small lake, etc.

3,000 B.C.

a few hundred

years

small sails and
paddles, relays
of runners

partly by chan-
ce, (storms
etc.) partly in-
tentional for
big distances
(hundreds of
kilometers)

small part of
continent

500 B.C.

a few tens of

years

big sail ships
with paddles,
horses, relays
of runners,
cars, camels
and riders

partly by chan-
ce, partly in-
tentional for
big distances,
thousands of
kilometers

big parts of a
continent with
coastal colo-
nies

1,500 A.D.

a few years

big sailing
ships with
compass

intentional

big parts of
continents
with transocea-
nic colonies

1900 A.D.

a few months

steamboat, rail-
way (Suez-
Canal, Pana-
ma-Camj/)

intentional

big parts of
continents
with transocea-
nic colonies

1925 A.D.

a few weeks

steamboat,
transcontinen-
tal railways,
auto, airplanes

intentional

whole conti-
nents and
transoceanic
common-
wealth

1950 A.D.

a few days

steamboat,
transcontinen-
tal railways,
auto, jet planes

intentional

the globe

1960 A.D.

a few hours 2

steamboat,
transcontinen-
tal railways,
auto,
space rockets

intentional

the globe and
more 1

1. The actual development of state size according to communication possibilities
securing law, order and economic development is today about 30-500 years behind.

2. From a UPI, Reuter telegramme in the Press of August 5th, 1960 : "The rocket-
powered X-i5 carried test pilot Joe Walker over the Californian desert at more than
three times the speed of sound yesterday to establish a world's air speed record of
2,150 miles an hour" (= 3460 km).

This is more than twice as much as the speed of earth rotation at the equator, and
means - if continued - a mere air-flight round the globe in less than 12 hours at the
equator, and in higher latitudes, of course, much less. The speed of Space-vehicles
circling the globe is many times higher even than that. (Huco BOYKO).

The Need

Die Internationale der Wissenschaft 1

von

ALBERT EINSTEIN

i) Als wahrend des I. Weltkrieges die nationale und politische
Verblendung ihren Hohepunkt erreicht hatte, pragte EMIL
FISCHER in einer Akademiesitzung mit Nachdruck den Satz:
"Sie konnen nichts machen, meine Herren, die Wissenschaft
ist und bleibt international." Das haben die Grossen unter
den Forschern stets gewusst und leidenschaftlich gefuhlt,
obschon sie in Zeiten politischer Verwicklungen unter ihren
Genossen kleineren Formats isoliert blieben.

2) Die Entdeckung der atomistischen Kettenreaktionen
braucht den Menschen so wenig Vernichtung zu bringen
wie die Erfindung der Ziindholzer. Wir mlissen nur all das
tun, was den Missbrauch der Mittel beseitigt. Beim heutigen
Stand der technischen Mittel kann uns nur eine tibernatio-
nale Organisation schiitzen, verbunden mit einer hinreichend
starken Exekutivgewalt. Wenn wir dies eingesehen haben,
werden wir auch die Kraft finden, die fur die Sicherung des
Menschengeschlechts notigen Opfer zu bringen. Jeder ein-
zelne von uns ware Schuld daran, wenn das Ziel nicht recht-
zeitig erreicht wiirde. Die Gefahr ist, dass jeder untatig
darauf wartet, dass andere fur ihn handeln.

3) Den in unserem Jahrhundert erzielten Fortschritten
der Wissenschaft wird jeder Mensch Respekt zollen, der

1. Quotations from: ALBERT EINSTEIN: Mein "Weltbild. (Herausgegeben von Carl
Seelig). Reprinted by kind permission of Europa Verlag Zurich.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

einigen Einblick hat, ja selbst der oberflachliche Beobachter,
der nur technische Anwendungen zu sehen bekommt. Man
wird aber die Leistungen der letzten Zeit nicht uberschatzen,
wenn man die Probleme der Wissenschaft im grossen nicht
aus dem Auge verliert. Es ist wie beim Eisenbahnfahren:
achtet man nur auf die nachste Umgebung, so scheint man
im Plug fortzukommen. Achtet man aber auf grosse Formen,
wie auf hohe Gebirge, so andert sich die Situation nur ganz
langsam. Ahnlich ist es, wenn man die grossen Probleme der
Wissenschaft im Auge hat.

4) Es ist meiner Meinung nach nicht vernunftig, von "our
way of life" oder dem der Russen iiberhaupt zu sprechen. In
beiden Fallen handelt es sich um eine Sammlung von Tradi-
tionen und Gewohnheiten, die kein organisches Ganzes
bilden. Es ist gewiss besser, sich zu fragen, was fur Einrichtun-
gen und Traditionen fur die Menschen schadlich und wel-
che nlitzlich sind, welche das Leben gliicklicher, welche es
schmerzlicher machen, Man muss dann das als besser Er-
kannte einzufuhren versuchen, unabhangig davon, ob es
gegenwartig bei uns oder sonstwo realisiert ist.

5) Wenn ich bezliglich des Fortschreitens der allgemeinen
internationalen Organisation voll zuversichtlicher Hoffnung
bin, so beruht dies weniger auf dem Vertrauen auf die Ein-
sicht und die Noblesse der Gesinnung als vielmehr auf dem
gebieterischen Druck der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung. Da
diese in so hohem Masse auf der Gedankenarbeit selbst der
ruckschrittlich gesinnten Wissenschaftler ruht, werden auch
diese gegen ihren Willen die internationale Organisation der
Wissenschaft schaffen helfen.

The Need of a World Academy
of Art and Science

by
HUGO BOYKO

In October 1956 an International Conference on Science and
Human Welfare was convened at Washington, D.C
Two main tasks filled its program:

1) To organize a global working team in order to create an
inventarium of all natural resources known already to us
or to be expected with great probability, and

2) The creation of a World Academy of Art and Science.
There is nothing exceptional nowadays in an international

conference of Scientists. In the course of the last 50 years
many such conferences and congresses have been convened
in a growing succession in the framework of the various
branches of science.

With this task however this Conference leaped far ahead,
going beyond the frame of a regular scientific conference, in
its former sense. This conference is the logical outcome of a
development to which human way of thinking and physical
achievements have led in the course of a few thousand years,
bursting wide open our limits as accepted up to now.

However, each of us feels also that something about the
aims and the nature of this conference is yet vague, but this is
easily comprehensible if we realize that the main subject of
the Conference was the future of man.

What was intended to achieve there was merely to seek a
way for, as smooth as possible, a further development of all

!. See also p. 367.

HUGO BOYKO

peoples and in all countries, the way to a future in which all
mankind will be able to enjoy the immense achievements of
the human brain; and to seek for a forum in which this way
may be discussed on an unpolitical, objective, scientific and
highly ethical basis. The time of our own generation and the
time of the two or three following ones form the threshold
of a period when history has ceased to be the history of single
peoples, states or groups. From now on the history of every
single state, even the smallest, is linked firmly with that of all
others. Mankind has become a whole and undividable unit,
struggling as yet against such a realization. If we desire it or
not we have all become neighbours and even the remotest of
them, our geographical antipodes, have moved into calling
distance; quite apart from the fact that through the speed of
our planes today, and more so of those of tomorrow, we are
able to grasp one anothers hand virtually in a few hours time.

We are starting to trespass the accepted borders of earth,
space, matter and even of energy, and - if we are not mis-
taken - even the threshold of Life and Death. In quick
succession ever new vistas keep opening up the unknown
territories; already we see in a virus a being which does not
permit any more a distinct limit; it can at one moment
appear as a lifeless crystall, in the next as a living being of
extra-ordinary vitality.

If already these decisive dividing lines of nature seem to
disappear before our very eyes and in our comprehension,
howsmallandinsignificantandnegligible seem the dimensions
of the political frontiers. Frontiers which are needed still for
the sake of our smaller or larger groupings either for de-
fence or for a better economic development.

The principles however of these limitations and borders
seem to be proved nonsensical by the development of modern
technique. This again is an example of how the tempestuous
technical development tends to throw mankind off its
psychological equilibrium and possibly even to destroy it
physically.

THE NEED OF A WORLD ACADEMY OF ART AND SCIENCE

Only farseeing statemanship in cooperation with the
leading scientists in all branches of science will be able to
regain the equilibrium.

It will be one of the main tasks to bring such a cooperation
into being. This task will remain a necessity until a new form
of organizational structure of mankind may develop, a
structure adequate not only to mankind's weakness but also
to its greatness.

It will not be an easy task to find a way by which such an
ideal forum can be erected, which is meant to include the
most farseeing brains of science, philosophy and statesman-
ship and probably for the benefit of mankind, also the most
prominent poets and artists.

It is of secondary importance whether we should call such
a forum an International Academy of Art and Science or
any other adequate name. But it is of imminent importance
to recognize the urgency of its creation and, after its creation,
to see to it that such a body be trusted in its objectivity with
worldwide confidence. If we succeed in promoting this
confidence then such a body may act as an advisory influence
with the various developments of peoples and governments,
and this may well be equivalent to a new era in history.

But before we go into the various approaches to the aim,
that is before we discuss the various organizational set-ups
which such a forum should have, we must discuss once more
the problems which indicate the necessity of such an organi-
zation. We want to do this because we want to be certain of
our own judgment in order to be able to implant our own
convictions and certainty on others.

Quite some part of what I shall have to mention here has
been common knowledge amongst broad minded people
for some time already. Nevertheless it seems necessary to
mention these points too as they form the basis of our
deductions.

It has taken thousands of years for man to reach the existing
stage of his development. The field of our knowledge is being

HUGO BOYKO

steadily enlarged and we cannot yet guess where the limi-
tations of our potential comprehension may be lying. We
know, however, that we are steadily widening the borders,
given us by nature, widening them with increasing rapidity
by intensifying the capacity of our sensitive organs or by
even producing additional ones. The microscope, the
electroscope and radar with all their potentialities are
suitable examples of this kind. As a parallel we have the
enhancing of our physical qualities, starting with the lifting
of weights of many tons with the pressure of one single
finger on an electric button, up to flying through space.

The achievements of crossing such natural borders in the
course of our one own generation has no parallel since man
tamed and produced fire for the first time.

The number of men, however, who are leading mankind
on such new ways, or who have original creative minds in
any one field is very small indeed. As yet nobody has written
the whole story of the eminent historical role played by the
scientists, the philosophers, the inventors, and the artists.
The importance of this small group of people for the higher
values of living is as yet not recognized as it should be. The
technician alone is valued more than all the other creators
for his achievements, because his achievements are the
easiest understood and can be employed in everyday life.

On the whole there are very few people who realize that
only the creative mental powers of this small group have
been responsible for all the upward trends in the develop-
ment of men and it is they who are lifting the entity on to
higher levels in the art of living. Satisfaction can naturally
also be reached by frugality of needs. But let us not forget
that uncounted generations of research were essential even
for the manufacturing of DIOGENES' famous empty barrel.
He himself did neither seek the right wood for it nor did he
bend it with the help of heat, nor did he smelt the metal and
invent the bands around the sections of wood; he only
settled himself in the ready barrel.

THE NEED OF A WORLD ACADEMY OF ART AND SCIENCE

Every scientific and technical progress is but the result of a
long chain of researches prepared and done by countless
generations of Scientists. How quickly is a paper taken in
hand to write some notes on it. Who stops to think of the many
scientists - botanists, physicists, engineers, chemists - who
made the manufacture of this little strip of paper possible.

Would there still be a living specimen of man if not for the
few who were ever ahead of their times; scientists of prehis-
toric periods who invented the methods to make fire, to use
stone tools, to sow grains for survival?

We have lived to see enormous social upheavals and
developments in the course of the last few generations.

Now is the time ripe that the main call should be: Scientists
of all countries, unite! Create a forum which can be looked
upon by mankind with trust, and which is able and willing to
give advice, in all the most vital questions with objectivity and
from the highest ethical level.

It is evident that we ourselves shall here have to recognize
the necessity of such a unification and of such an extra-
national and extra-political forum, and to see its far-reaching
consequences, before we can try to convince others of its
necessity.

Nevertheless we can see already that our small group,
which has seen, recognized and advocated this need for the
last 10, 15, 20 years, is rapidly growing, so that it represents
nowadays already a general urge, even if not generally
recognized as such. The seed of this thought started during
the first world war, but it needed a second world war to make
it grow to its strength and size of today.

Immediately after the last world war this trend of thought
produced the formation of the U.N. and its Economic and
Social Council, of U.N.E.S.C.O., F.A.O., W.M.O., W.H.O.,
and others. It has been expressed inside and outside the
International Unions of Science frequently and with lucidity.
Quite a number of prominent brains have been working in
the same direction, independent of one another.

HUGO BOYKO

A host of various great names present themselves before
our inner eye in this respect. The greatest scientist of our
times, EINSTEIN, also belonged to the representatives of this
trend of thought.

Soon these thoughts were expressed similarly by states-
men of high standing in open public discussions; still
up to now we are alone each of us, even if each one represents
the focal center and hope of many thousands.

There exists a number of physical laws which are applicable
equally in the era of mental and spiritual trends. I am deeply
convinced that we may achieve by the combined effort
of strong single forces, which are all of them pulling in the
same direction, a resultant multiplied force of great effect
and most valuable consequence. We are only starting today
to realize this for ourselves but already we are spreading and
influencing a large and wide community. The time is near,
when the leading statesmen - even perhaps of our own
generation - will willingly get in closest contact with the
representatives of this strongest creative element of mankind,
as soon as these represent an organized body for this purpose.
And both together they will then try to find the right ways
of development for mankind and the true progress on a
global scale and on scientific premises.

The first reason for building such an organization as we
have in mind lies in the recognition that such a forum would
constitute a very positive step forward, based on thoroughly
peaceful methods. This aspect is of the utmost importance
and significance for all groups of mankind and for all
countries: the highly developed ones as well as the under-
developed.

But there are quite a number of other reasons beyond this
one: As by our own efforts our planet has shrunk to such
small dimensions we have to draw several consequences
therefrom. First of all, there must be from now on in history
a somehow centralized handling of the mutual affairs of
mankind as an inevitable necessity.

THE NEED OF A WORLD ACADEMY OF ART AND SCIENCE

This is recognized and accepted already and the U.N. and
her Special Agencies are the best proof of this fact. There are,
however, as we know, psychological differences between
races and peoples, language difficulties and economic group
interests and various other obstacles still in the way of this
natural development. These differences and difficulties have to
be thoroughly investigated and this brings us again to the
result, that it seems one of the most important things to
make scientific research of these differences and obstacles.

A thorough research on the various and very different
human environments, climate, vegetation, food, etc. is a
necessity, how they influence the behaviour and even the
way of thinking of the various populations.

Some years ago (August 1956) the first Bio-clirnatological
Congress was convened in Paris at U.N.E.S.CO.-House.
There a new biological approach even to the geo-physical
concept of climate has been accepted, and an International
Committee has been set up to elaborate biological climate
standards among living things, mostly plants, and this new
branch of science, called ecological climatography seems to
become also of decisive value for evaluating the need of man,
so different in different climates.

In its widest sense all this may be named human ecology.

We should not forget that the peace - or war - problem is
fundamentally a scientific problem and in the first line a
biological problem. So, for instance, if we know the psycho-
logical difference between the big groups of mankind and
also their causes, a big step forward would have been made.

If we know how to enlarge the food-potential of our earth
and also the potential of all the other natural resources,
another big step has been made.

But in this last example we see how complicated these
problems are. The higher the standard of living, the more
differentiated will be the wants of the population, and this is
not only a question of production but rather more of
distribution of these goods. Here again the conflicting

HUGO BOYKO

interests of single countries manifest themselves and can only
be overcome by cooperation and common planning.

However, common planning does not mean total planning
because total planning is inconceivable as long as there is no
complete knowledge, and such a thing does not and will
never exist.

Only the uneducated individual or the semi-educated one
can see the solution in total planning, or, on the other hand
somebody who wants to achieve total power. One thing is
sure: the final result will be coercion and terror.

It is of course quite easy to convince a public assembly of
the fact that such a total planning would be the desired aim
of mankind. But to try to carry this out, and necessarily by
sheer force and terror, can only bring utter disaster. There
against a partial planning as based on our acquired knowledge
is conceivable and to be advocated.

Much is already being done in this direction. But re-
grettably many of these plans are still closely linked with
political motives and only partly based on objective scientific
considerations. Here too the lack of such a non-political
extra-national, purely scientific institution, if only as an
advisory council, is being felt.

This present state of affairs may be traced back to the
leadership principle, evolved almost 3000 years ago and at that
time truly a great achievement. This was expressed in a
bulletin of the American Institute of Geonomy and Natural
Resources as follows: "Our generation having made the first
step into the Atomic Age, has also to make a further step in
the development of leadership principles; from the pre-
historic muscle-magician stage to the stage of orators and
politicians, first developed in ancient Greece, now to the
leadership of the best and broadest-minded brains among
statesmen and scientists, and this step has to be made now,
before it is too late."

What we need is an institution of the highest scientific
authority held in the highest esteem by all peoples as a

THE NEED OF A WORLD ACADEMY OF ART AND SCIENCE

strictly objective advisory body for countries and peoples,
and gradually growing into an influential position in all
questions decisive for the future of mankind.

Only in such a forum can new principles of leadership be
studied without being suspected of being in the service of any
power-politics. Only in such a forum can such advice be
found which may give the highest possible source of life-
values for a specific generation or for certain specified
regions.

I am quite optimistic in regard to the question whether we
may conceivably satisfy the demands of an increasing world-
population. From my own ecological knowledge I venture to
prophecy that we shall be able to overcome the discrepancy
between potential food production and size of population.
The population-potential of the globe depends less on the
increased square-miles of soil available than on the creative
power of our brains.

The lack of a right balance in most countries at present is
due primarily to the two world wars and secondly to the
fact that farreaching measures have been taken without
necessary scientific foundations.

The great efforts of U.N.E.S.C.O. and of F.A.O., for instance
in India must necessarily take far longer to produce effects
according to their nature in respect to increased production
of food, than will many of the quicker acting measures of
modern hygiene.

Japanese cultivation-methods for rice as introduced by
F.A.O., have raised rice production in many Indian areas
fourfold already; but it still will take years before the dis-
crepancy between the number of the population and availa-
ble quantities of foodstuffs will be eradicated.

It is the task of scientists to uncover such causes and to seek
solutions of such vast problems, untouched by any suspicion
ofpowerpolitics.

The tasks of those, however, who are meant to lead
humanity into a brighter future, are far more extensive and

HUGO BOYKO

far-reaching. They will have to foster all those matters which
are apt to unite all human beings, be it a common language -
to name one example of importance - a language for scien-
tists, or be it by the means of expression which are at our
disposal to an extent never before attained and much too
little exploited - the film, the radio, poetry, and creative art,
and last but not least the elite of the press.

As far as a common language in science is concerned, it
is quite obvious and understandable that each group of the
same language wants to see its own language accepted. But
he who deals with this question objectively and outside of all
national and political points of view must admit that every
additional language which is added to the admitted language
for scientific use, is liable to decrease the value of all scientific
publications, and in consequence thereof, also the value of
science itself.

Let us take up another example from the vast schedule of
tasks which have to be dealt with by such an extra-national
forum. The establishment of new branches of science is often
hampered by many obstacles. Every official bureau is con-
servative according to its very nature. This is the case even
in the most developed and advanced countries. The history
of science and of technique is full of researches, inventions,
discoveries, which have only been brought to light by some
chance, and very often long after the death of the person
responsible for the discovery or piece of research. There are
many cases when a national forum would not be the place to
offer constructive criticism or active help out of subjective
causes. Very often also, the path to an international meeting
is closed to a person because the expense of travelling does
not allow more than a few to take part in such assemblies.
Only a fighter might be able to overcome these handicaps,
but only then at the cost of years or decades, or overwhelming
material sacrifices. Unfortunately we find that among many
serious scientists the fighting spirit is not strongly developed.

It is therefore one of the tasks of such an extra-national

THE NEED OF A WORLD ACADEMY OF ART AND SCIENCE

Academy of Art and Science to support and foster morally
such new branches of research, and to recommend their
material support if they promise valuable results in a desired
direction.

We should also most emphatically support the border-
sciences and all work in synthesis in science, as both are of
great importance today and are frequently badly treated by
official authorities.

However, it will not be only a matter of supporting
science as such but also its representatives - the scientists - by
emphasizing the value of them and of science in general
within the framework of the general organizational structure
of mankind; a fact which is not yet recognized by the great
majority. And the same applies to Art.

The intellectual resources of many countries are often
wasted and even sometimes suppressed by too low salaries and
standards of living. In many countries one is apt to forget
that though a tractorist is able to raise production in com-
parison to the primitive ploughman, this does not therefore
mean a principal difference of achievement. The really
significant achievement lies in the creative thought, in the
invention of the physical principles; it lies with the geologist,
the metallurgist who produces the chemical premises, with
the ecologist who carries out research on the need of plants
and finally with the engineer who could build the tractor
with the basic knowledge at hand.

As a rule one is apt to see but the last member of the chain
and the other members of it remain largely anonymus.

Another important point is, that we must also find the
right balance of the sciences against one another and their
integration in our educational system, a problem of the
utmost significance.

The biological branches of science, for instance, rate far
behind those which deal with the easier accessible physical,
chemical and technical problems, and this both in moral as
in material renumeration.

HUGO BOYKO

Such a pooling center of science as a world advisory body
must embrace the brightest and freest minds in all branches of
science, but will have to be subdivided into different teams
and working groups.

In nearly all of them the biological point of view will have
to be dealt with to a much higher degree than was the case
up to now.

It is one of the most crucial mistakes in the history of
mankind that this has not been done with the necessary
intensity up to now. The history of science itself gives us the
cause of this mistake.

Since prehistoric times - many thousands of years ago -
mathematics, physics, and a little later also chemistry, have
been developed. Gradually we are unveiling the secrets of
matter and energy. We conquer the depths of the oceans,
the air, and are even beginning to conquer space outside our
own planet.

But just now, with the brightest outlook before us which
mankind ever had , we are faced with the possibility of
destroying ourselves. Why? Because Biology, the knowledge
of life in general : plants, animals, and men because of its
more complicated nature, has been the stepchild of science
until the last hundred years, except for the very superficial
medical knowledge we had before. Until the last few decades
biology was in fact confined to a descriptive science only.

Physiology is not older than about 100 years and ecology
not older than 50 years. We are only now beginning to see the
wonders of life a bit more clearly.

In physics we are overwhelmed, and rightly so, by the
greatness of the discoveries of Atoms, their structure and
movements.

But yet how simple is the movement of an atom, or of a sun
system, compared with the smallest movement of our little
finger. How many millions of different atoms and molecules
have to be coordinated for it! What a complex of physical
and chemical processes has to be completed in this short

THE NEED OF A WORLD ACADEMY OF ART AND SCIENCE

.second from the time the idea creates the will in the brain
cells, leads to the nerve cells and on to the muscle cells, and
then stops it.

Most of the basic problems of mankind are of a biological
nature: overproduction and underproduction of food-
stuffs and organic rawmaterials, overpopulation and un-
derpopulation, economic prosperity and depression, mass-
apathy and mass-emotion, and finally war and peace are
fundamentally biological problems. As soon as this will be
understood and as soon as the leading statesmen will be
willing to contemplate it on this scientific level, in cooper-
ation with such an objective scientific Institution representing
all branches of science, we shall have found the way to the
highest art of living.

For the discussion of such and similar objects and for
adequate recommendation we are in need of such an extra-
national and objective forum.

Now, as the first nucleus of the " World Academy of Art
and Science" has started already with its activities, the next
task will be to achieve the unshakable confidence in its
scientific and ethical authority and objectivity. This may
require several years and, apart of a sound and controlled
financial basis, a most careful selection and way of election
of members. In this task hundreds of top scientists and other
personalities esteemed by the world for their high intellectual
and ethical standard, further the Special Agencies of U.N.O.,
the International Scientific Unions and Societies, and the
national Academies will be of great assistance.

The Needs will dictate the priority of the main problems.
In these first years they will have to be discussed and decided
upon; the working groups, as the principal Means to carry
out the scientific work, will have to be organized; the fi-
nancial basis will have to be secured, and the organizational
structure to be brought into that balance ordained by its
Goal.

May I repeat: The great and new task of this Institution lies

HUGO BOYKO

in that it is supposed to be an extra-national, a transnational,
and truly objective forum for the vitally important problems
of mankind. The problems today will be less in the foreground
of discussion than the problems of tomorrow? and in our
opinion this future is outlined already in distinguishable
contours.

We do not know yet when the political unification of
mankind will become a fact, but we know with certainty
that this unification is imminent in the course of the next
few generations.

We do not know which way will bring this about, a
peaceful or a forceful one. Independent of the possibility of a
third or fourth World War it must be the task of the World
Academy to lead the way to a worldwide and peaceful
co-operation.

In these last few decades science has created new and
unforeseen ways for the development of mankind. However,
we are as yet overshadowed by the clouds of foregone
millennia and our best inventions are used more for the
destruction than for obstruction.

It is up to us scientists to lead on the path that will make
these new inventions enrich our life and that of coming
generations, not destroy it.

Scientists of all parts of the world!

Let us create the scientific basis which is necessary to
enable us to live and work together peacefully! Let us use all
our imagination to make an art of living.

Non-Scientists and Scientists alike! Let us all help to make
this forum a true "Agency for Human Welfare" irradiating
hope and belief, and let us work together for a brighter
future, a future truly adequate to "Homo sapiens."

Thoughts on Art and Science

by
ROBERT OPPENHEIMER

SCIENCE AND OUR TIMES

Our times have been deeply marked by science. What we
think of it will shape the future. It is a great testament to
man's power and his reason; it is equally a testament to their
limits.

No one can have had the experience of new discovery, can
have witnessed the transmutation of mystery to under-
standing and order and then to greater mystery, without
learning both of our helplessness and our great strength.
Science sustains a view of man, piteously and even comically
impotent, yet with a dignity and hope quite special to him.
This is the view of man of the days of the Enlightenment, and
of the founding of this Republic. It seems quite in harmony
with the teachings and spirit of the Stoics, with the blend of
stoic tradition and Christian sensibility that characterized the
emergence of the modern world. A sunny, hopeful view of
science prevailed even in the early years of this century,
during our childhood, though a few anxious observers had
found the seeds of misgiving. Think, for instance, of HENRY
ADAMS, and his related concern for the rise of the specialist,
and of the machine.

Among the founders of the United States it is natural for us
to remember FRANKLIN and JEFFERSON; they were both in
some real sense men of science as well as statesmen. They
looked to science as an essential part of this country's heri-

ROBERT OPPENHEIMER

tage. They saw first that in practical terms it was a strong tool
against misery and poverty and squalor. They rightly under-
stood that science would contribute to the well-being and
the civility of life. They saw it in intellectual terms as a guard
against ignorance and superstition. They saw it in political
terms as a guard against tyranny, barbarism, repression and
bigotry, that they associated with centuries past, with their
religious wars, the inquisition, and what they thought of as
the dark ages. For them it was incompatible only with an
authoritarianism, by which, they were determined, this
country should never be darkened.

The nearly two centuries that have elapsed since then have
more than fulfilled the promise they saw. In the last years
we have moved, through discoveries in chemistry, biochemis-
try, and genetics, by great steps nearer to an understanding
of the origin of life, and its characteristic stability, variety,
mutability, and form. We understand how, under the
conditions prevailing on earth very long ago, organic materi-
als characteristic of life would almost necessarily be formed
from inorganic matter. In the coding, information bearing
and information transmitting characteristics of some nucleic
acids, we have a beginning of an understanding of how
living matter instructs its progeny to be a mould, an elephant,
a tulip, or a man. We understand stars and galaxies today
better than we understood the minerals of this earth a
century ago. We even understand much of the evolution and
history of stars, as they brighten and darken, fade, explode,
and form again from dust. We are in the midst of finding an
answer to the ancient questions of the constitution of matter.
In this field we are today so beset by novelty, paradox, and
puzzlement that we cannot escape the sense of a vast,
strange new order waiting to be discovered. For the first time,
we are beginning to learn some of the subtleties of perception
and of memory. We know that the very maintenance of the
rational faculties - the ability, for instance, to add and to

SCIENCE AND OUR TIMES

subtract - and of memory itself, requires the constant flow of
unnoticed sensory stimuli.

The practical consequences of the application of science
are everywhere about us; they have contributed to the
largely new world in which we live. Some of these conse-
quences are profoundly troublesome, of part of that I shall
speak. Many appear today as mixed blessings : the automobile,
the television tube, the antibiotics, call perhaps for somewhat
greater wisdom than we have shown. But characteristically
and overwhelmingly the applications of science have allevi-
ated man's sufferings, moderated his harshest limitations,
and responded to his long-sustained aspirations. We live
longer, labor less brutally, more seldom suffer starvation,
find frequent comfort and relief in illness, travel, communi-
cate, and learn with undreamed of ease; and we need no
slave or peon.

It is a mark of our time that these changes must spread
throughout the world; the world cannot endure half-
darkness and half-light. This is of course not all that we see
stirring the peoples of Asia and Africa today; but surely it is a
great part and a most enduring part, of the need and the
reality of change. What we have learned will not easily be
lost; knowledge once given will not easily be lost in world-
wide darkness as long as man endures; the powers that it
gives offer too much to mankind for the sciences to desist or
regress. It is true that there once were what we call the dark
ages. They touched only one of the world's civilizations; the
knowledge they ignored for the most part survived elsewhere
and the sciences that languished had, in Greek and Hellenis-
tic times, only the frailest of beginnings, had not begun to
attain the instruments, the power, the success, the appli-
cation, nor the explosively cumulative character that mark
them today. In this one limited sense, man's course cannot
now be retrograde; in this one sense progress is inevitable.

It is my purpose here to identify two among many of the
ways in which the great growth of science has created new

ROBERT OPPENHEIMER

problems for us. Both problems seem grave to me. They do
not appear to me to be very directly related, except that it is
we, in our time, who must learn to live with them. One has
to do with the powers that knowledge makes possible, and
one with the effect of this explosive growth of knowledge on
the nature of our culture. What is troublesome in the new
situation may not be easy to alter. We must start by trying to
understand it.

It is not new that knowledge brings power, and that among
the powers may be the power to do evil. In modern science
there is much such knowledge. It cannot be lost; it leads to
powers the exercise of which spells disaster. The most familiar,
though not the deepest example is the discovery of nuclear
weapons, and the associated machinery of war. These have
brought to a large part of mankind an appalling prospect of
devastation and death, an apocalyptic vision of what would
be terrible reality. Much has been said of the prospect that
man, along with many other forms of life, might lose his
genetic inheritance, would disappear as a species. In time,
not a long time, that may come to be possible. What is more
certain and more immediate is that we lost much of our
human inheritance, much that has made our civilization and
our humanity, very much of our life.

In the great strides in the biological sciences, and far more
still in the early beginnings of an understanding of man's
psyche, of his beliefs, the learning, his memory, and his
probable action, one can see the origin of still graver problems
of good and evil. Today we know very little of these matters.
We have little patches of illumination and understanding,
unrelated to any assured corpus of reasonably certain
knowledge. If today we have technical means for better
predicting man's behaviour, the improvement is at best
marginal. How shall we meet with wisdom the greater and
more certain knowledge of how to make people think and
do? Foreshadowing of this time we see both in brainwashing,
and in propaganda, that unhallowed marriage of crude

SCIENCE AND OUR TIMES

psychological lore with the advanced technology of com-
munication.

The problem of these great powers is not made easier by
the autonomy of the three-score governments that make up
the world, nor by the little understood and intricate dispersal
of power that characterizes some of the best of them, nor by
the absence of any common code of conduct or common
view of men between them. The problem is not made easier
by the Communist powers, by their denial of any essential
community with other societies, their long tradition of
hostility, and their extreme, morbid preoccupation with
power. It is not made easier by the experience of vast conti-
nents, where history of European rule has induced a passion
for national enhancement, and a low and bitter appraisal
of the Western heritage. In any real or immediate sense, it
does not appear to be a soluble problem. The threat of the
apocalypse will be with us for a long time; the apocalypse
may come.

We can see perhaps only the dimmest outline of a course
that, in the long term, may be hopeful: the creation of
honest and viable international communities with increasing
common knowledge and understanding. Of all such com-
munities, those dealing with the sciences and their appli-
cations, those in which hope and danger are most intimately
mixed, seem, if the most difficult to create, the most hopeful
for our future. Such were indeed the hopes entertained at
the War's end by many who had worked on the atomic
project. They were in large part embodied in the ACHESON-
LILIENTHAL report, early in 1946, on how - in the words of
that time - "cooperation might replace rivalry" in the
development of atomic energy. Perhaps the world was not
ripe nor ready. Perhaps we were not fully ready. Certainly
the Soviet government was not ready.

Shall we find other opportunities? We may. Looking at
the broad ranges of science, with all its portents of benefit
and misery, I should think that the answer was "yes."

ROBERT OPPENHEIMER

The second element of novelty that science has brought to
us, like the first, is a change in scale; it is not something
wholly new; and like the first, it is an inherent, necessary
accompaniment of the great success of the sciences. It is not
new that what has been learned in the recent past is more
than was learned in all of man's earlier history. Men said that
in the eighteenth century, and they were right. It continues
to be true.

Positive knowledge, what is recorded in the technical books
and learned journals, all of it that is new and true and not
trivial, is of course not wisdom; it can on occasion almost
appear incompatible with wisdom. I think that such positive
knowledge doubles in less than a generation, perhaps in a
decade. This means that most of what there is to know about
the world of nature was not discovered when a man went to
school ; it means that universal knowledge, always, even in
LEONARDO'S day, a dream, but not an irrelevant dream, has
become a mockery; it means that the specialized sciences,
genetics, for instance, or astrophysics, or mathematics, are
like the fingers of a hand; they all arise from the common
matrix of common sense, from man's daily experience, his
history, his tradition, and his words. Each is now developing a
life, an experience, and a language of its own, and between
the tips of the fingers there is rare contact. For many cen-
turies mathematics and physics grew in each other's company
in happy symbiosis. Today at their growing tips they hardly
touch. Logic, psychology, philosophy were long studies in
the same rooms, and often by the same men. Today, they
rarely speak to each other, and are more rarely understood or
even heard. The deep, detailed, intimate, almost loving
knowledge of a specialized science is lost in synoptic views of
science as a whole. These changes mean that ignorance is a
universal, pervasive feature of our time. It is clear that they
have an essential relevance to the problems of education.

In a free world, if it is to remain free, we must maintain,
with our lives if need be, but surely by our lives, the oppor-

SCIENCE AND OUR TIMES

tunity for a man to learn anything. We need to do more: we
need to cherish man's curiosity, his understanding, his love,
so that he may indeed learn what is new and hard and deep.
We need to do this in a world in which the changes wrought
by the applications of science, and the din of communi-
cation from remote and different places, complement the
unhinging, unmooring effects of the explosive growth in
knowledge itself. For the un~understood rumours of change
from the frontiers of physics or from psychology, can be
more deeply disturbing than that what we heard in the last 15
years of China or Kenya: they lead to despair of man's
reason. The rumoured uncertainties of an endless quest
for knowledge make, for the bewildered, as inhuman a
view of man's frailty as the rumoured magic of science
makes of his triumphs.

Such a culture can hardly be architectonic in structure.
The world that we study is an orderly world, and this order
illuminates and organizes our understanding ; but it is not an
hierarchical nor an architectonic order. It has no central
chamber of man's common understanding, a common
repository of all essential knowledge. It has instead the
structure of a vast, manifold, many-dimensional network of
bonds. We deceive ourselves, if we attempt to model our
culture on Athens in the fifth century (B.C.) or the thirteenth
century (A.D.) in Europe.

The bonds of understanding reflect the order and define
the structure of our world. The man who bears in himself
more than one passion for knowledge creates such a bond.
Men who, working in separate rooms of the house of science,
find common understanding, create another. Occasionally
between the sciences, and more rarely between a science
and other parts of our experience and knowledge, there is a
correspondence, an analogy, a partial mapping of two sets of
ideas and words. We learn then to translate from one
language into another. Ours is thus a united world, united by
countless bonds. Everything can be related to anything,

ROBERT OPPENHEIMER,

everything cannot be related to everything. It may perhaps
then be a beginning of wisdom to learn of the virtues, of the
restraint and tolerance, and of the sense of fraternity that
will be asked of us, if, in this largely new world, we are to
live, not in chaos, but in community. 1

l . This contribution was originally the Address held by the author at the Roosevelt
University Founders and Friends Dinner in Chicago, III, May 22, 1956.

PROSPECTS IN THE ARTS AND SCIENCES

The words "prospects in the arts and sciences'" mean two quite
different things to me. One is prophecy: What will the scien-
tists discover and the painters paint, what new forms will
alter music, what parts of experience will newly yield to ob-
jective description? The other meaning is that of a view:
What do we see when we look at the world today and com-
pare it with the past? I am not a prophet; and I cannot very
well speak to the first subject, though in many ways I should
like to. I shall try to speak to the second, because there are
some features of this view which seem to me so remarkable,
so new and so arresting, that it may be worth turning our
eyes to them; it may even help us to create and shape the
future better, though we cannot foretell it.

In the arts and in the sciences, it would be good to be a
prophet. It would be a delight to know the future, I had
thought for a while of my own field of physics and of those
nearest to it in the natural sciences. It would not be too hard
to outline the questions which natural scientists today are
asking themselves and trying to answer.^ What, we ask in
physics, is matter what is it made of, how does it behave when
it is more and more violently atomized, when we try to pound
out of the stuff around us the ingredients which only vio-
lence creates and makes manifest? What, the chemists ask,
are those special features of nucleic acids and proteins which

ROBERT OPPENHEIME&

make life possible and give it its characteristic endurance and
mutability? What subtle chemistry, what arrangements,
what reactions and controls make the cells of living organ-
isms differentiate so that they may perform functions as
oddly diverse as transmitting information throughout our
nervous systems or covering our heads with hair? What
happens in the brain to make a record of the past, to hide it
from consciousness, to make it accessible to recall? What
are the physical features which make consciousness possible?

All history teaches us that these questions that we think
the pressing ones, will be transmuted before they are
answered, that they will be replaced by others, and that the
very process of discovery will shatter the concepts that we
today use to describe our puzzlement.

It is true that there are some who profess to see in matters
of culture, in matters precisely of the arts and sciences, a
certain macro-historical pattern, a grand system of laws which
determines the course of civilization and gives a kind of
inevitable quality to the unfolding of the future. They
would, for instance, see the radical, formal experimentation
which characterized the music of the last half-century as an
inevitable consequence of the immense flowering and en-
richment of natural science; they would see a necessary
order in the fact that innovation in music precedes that in
painting and that in turn in poetry, and point to this
sequence in older cultures. They would attribute the formal
experimentation of the arts to the dissolution, in an in-
dustrial and technical society, of authority, of secular, politi-
cal authority, and of the catholic authority of the church.
They are thus armed to predict the future. But this, I fear,
is not my dish.

If a prospect is not prophecy, it is a view. What does the
world of the arts and sciences look like?

There are two ways of looking at it: the world of arts and
sciences. One is the view of the traveller, going by horse or
foot, from village to village to town, staying in each to talk

PROSPECTS IN THE ARTS AND SCIENCES

with those who live there and to gather something of the
quality of its life. This is the intimate view, partial, somewhat
accidental, limited by the limited life and strength and
curiosity of the traveller, but intimate and human, in a
human compass. The other is the vast view, showing the
earth with its fields and towns and valleys as they appear to a
camera carried in a high altitude rocket. In one sense this
prospect will be more complete; one will see all branches
of knowledge, one will see all the arts, one will see them as
part of the vastness and complication of the whole of human
life on earth. But one will miss a great deal; the beauty and
warmth of human life will largely be gone from that prospect.
It is in this vast high altitude survey that one sees the
general surprising quantitative features that distinguish our
time. This is where the listings of science and endowments
and laboratories and books published show up; this is where
we learn that more people are engaged in scientific research
today than ever before, that the Soviet world and the free
world are running neck and neck in the training of scientists,
that more books are published per capita in England than in
the United States, that the social sciences are pursued actively
in America, Scandinavia, and England, that there are more
people who hear the great music of the past, and more
music composed and more paintings painted. This is where
we learn that the arts and sciences are flourishing. This great
map, showing the world from afar and almost as to a stranger,
would show more; it would show the immense diversity of
culture and life, diversity in place and tradition for the first
time clearly manifest on a world-wide scale, diversity in
techniques and language, separating science from science
and art from art, and all of one from all of the other. This
great map, world-wide, culturewide, remote, has some odd
features. There are innumerable villages. Between the
villages there appear to be almost no paths discernible from
this high altitude. Here and there passing near a village,
sometimes through its heart, there will be a superhighway,

ROBERT OPPENHEIMER

along which windy traffic moves at enormous speed. The
superhighways seem to have little connection with villages,
starting anywhere, ending anywhere, and sometimes ap-
pearing almost by design to disrupt the quiet of the village.
This view gives us no sense of order or of unity. To find these
we must visit the villages, the quiet, busy places, the labora-
tories and studies and studios. We must see the paths that
are barely discernible; we must understand the superhigh-
ways, and their dangers.

In the natural sciences there are and have been and are
likely to continue to be heroic days. Discovery follows dis-
covery, each both raising and answering questions, each
ending a long search, and each providing the new instru-
ments for a new search. There are radical ways of thinking
unfamiliar to common sense and connected with it by
decades or centuries of increasingly specialized and unfa-
miliar experience. There are lessons of how limited, for all
its variety, the common experience of man has been with
regard to natural phenomena, and hints and analogies as to
how limited may be his experience with man. Every new
finding is a part of the instrument kit of the sciences for
further investigation and for penetrating into new fields.
Discoveries of knowledge fructify technology and the practi-
cal arts, and these in turn pay back refined techniques, new
possibilities of observation and experiment.

In any science there is harmony between practitioners. A
man may work as an individual, learning of what his
colleagues do through reading or conservation; he may be
working as a member of a group on problems where techni-
cal equipment is too massive for individual effort. But
whether he is a part of a team or solitary in his own study, he,
as a professional, is a member of a community. His
colleagues in his own branch of science will be grateful to
him for the inventive or creative thoughts he has, will
welcome his criticism. His world and work will be objective-
ly communicable; and he will be quite sure that if there is

PROSPECTS IN THE ARTS AND SCIENCES

error in it, that error will not long be undetected. In his own
line of work he lives in a community where common
understanding combines with common purpose and interest
to bind men together both in freedom and in co-operation.

This experience will make him acutely aware of how
limited, how inadequate, how precious is this condition of
his life; for in his relations with a wider society, there will be
neither the sense of community nor of objective under-
standing. He will sometimes find, in returning to practical
undertakings, some sense of community with men who are
not expert in his sciences, with other scientists whose work
is remote from his, and with men of action and men of art.
The frontiers of sciences are separated now by long years of
study, by specialized vocabularies, arts, techniques, and
knowledge from the common heritage even of a most
civilized society; and anyone working at the frontier of such
science is in that sense a very long way from home, a long
way too from the practical arts that were its matrix and
origin, as indeed they were of what we today call art.

The specialization of science is an inevitable accompani-
ment of progress; yet is it full of dangers, and it is cruelly
wasteful, since so much, that is beautiful and enlightening is
cut off from most of the world. Thus it is proper to the role
of the scientist that he not merely find new truth and
communicate it to his fellows, but that he teach, that he try
to bring the most honest and intelligible account of new
knowledge to all who will try to learn. This is one reason - it
is the decisive organic reason - why scientists belong in
universities. It is one reason why the patronage of science
by and through universities is its most proper form; for it is
here, in teaching, in the association of scholars, and in the
friendships of teachers and taught, of men who by pro-
fession must themselves be both teachers and taught, that
the narrowness of scientific life can best be moderated, and
that the analogies, insights, and harmonies of scientific
discovery can find their way into the wider life of man.

ROBERT OPPENHEIMER

In the situation of the artist today there are both analogies
to and differences from that of the scientist; but it is the
differences which are the most striking, and which raise the
problems that touch most on the evil of our day. For the
artist it is not enough that he communicate with others
who are expert in his own art. Their fellowship, their under-
standing, and their appreciation may encourage him; but
that is not the end of his work, not its nature. The artist
depends on a common sensibility and culture, on a common
meaning of symbols, on a community of experience and
common ways of describing and interpreting it. He need not
write for everyone or paint or play for everyone. But his
audience must be man ; it must be man, and not a specialized
set of experts among his fellows. Today, that is very difficult.
Often the artist has an aching sense of great loneliness, for
the community to which he addresses himself is largely not
there; the traditions and the culture, the symbols and the
history, the myths and the common experience, which it is
his function to illuminate, to harmonize, and to portray,
have been dissolved in a changing world.

There is, it is true, an artificial audience maintained to
moderate between the artist and the world for which he
works : the audience of the professional critics, popularizers,
and advertisers of art. But though, as does the popularizer
and promoter of science, the critic fulfills a necessary
present function and introduces some order and some
communication between the artist and the world, he can-
not add to the intimacy and the directness and the depth
with which the artist addresses his fellow men.

To the artist's loneliness there is a complementary great
and terrible barrenness in the lives of men. They are deprived
of the illumination, the light and tenderness and insight of an
intelligible interpretation, in contemporary terms, of the
sorrows and wonders and gaieties and follies of man's life.
This may be in part offset, and is, by the great growth of
technical means for making the art of the past available. But

PROSPECTS IN THE ARTS AND SCIENCES

these provide a record of past intimacies between art and life;
even when they are applied to the writing and painting and
composing of the day, they do not bridge the gulf between
a society, too vast and too disordered, and the artist trying
to give meaning and beauty to its parts.

In an important sense this world of ours is a new world,
in which the unity of knowledge, the nature of human
communities, the order of society, the order of ideas, the very
notions of society and culture have changed and will not
return to what they have been in the past. What is new is
new not because it has never been there before, but because
it has changed in quality. One thing that is new is the preva-
lence of newness, the changing scale and scope of change
itself, so that the world alters as we walk in it, so that the
years of man's life measure not some small growth or rear-
rangement or moderation of what he learned in childhood,
but a great upheaval. What is new is that in one generation
our knowledge of the natural world engulfs, upsets, and
complements all knowledge of the natural world before.
The techniques, among which and by which we live, multi-
ply and ramify, so that the whole world is bound together
by communication, blocked here and there by the immense
synopses of political tyranny. The global quality of the world
is new: our knowledge of and sympathy with remote and
diverse peoples, our involvement with them in practical
terms, and our commitment to them in terms of brother-
hood. What is new in the world is the massive character of
the dissolution and corruption of authority, in belief, in
ritual, and in temporal order. Yet this is the world that we
have come to live in. The very difficulties which it presents
derive from growth in understanding, in skill, in power. To
assail the changes that have unmoored us from the past is
futile, and in a deep sense, I think, it is wicked. We need
to recognize the change and learn what resources we
have.

Again I will turn to the schools and, as their end and as

ROBERT OPPENHEIMER

their center, the universities. For the problem of the scientist
is in this respect not different from that of the artist or of the
historian. He needs to be a part of the community, and the
community can only with loss and peril be without him.
Thus it is with a sense of interest and hope that we see a
growing recognition that the creative artist is a proper
charge on the university, and the university a proper home
for him; that a composer or a poet or a playwright or painter
needs the toleration, understanding, the rather local and
parochial patronage that a university can give; and that this
will protect him from the tyranny of man's communication
and professional promotion. For here there is an honest
chance that what the artist has of insight and of beauty will
take root in the community, and that some intimacy and
some human bonds can mark his relations with his patrons.
For a university rightly and inherently is a place where the
individual man can form new syntheses, where the accidents
of friendship and association can open a man's eyes to a part
of science or art which he had not known before, where parts
of human life, remote and perhaps superficially incompati-
ble, can find in men their harmony and their synthesis.

These then, in rough and far too general words, are some
of the things we see as we walk through the villages of the
arts and of the sciences and notice how thin are the paths that
lead from one to another, and how little in terms of
human understanding and pleasure the work of the villages
comes to be shared outside.

The superhighways do not help. They are the mass media -
from the loudspeakers in the deserts of Asia Minor and the
cities of Communist China to the organized professional
theatre of Broadway. They are the purveyors of art and
science and culture for the millions upon millions - the
promoters who represent the arts and sciences to humanity
and who represent humanity to the arts and sciences; they
are the means by which we are reminded of the famine in
remote places or of war or trouble or change; they are the

PROSPECTS IN THE ARTS AND SCIENCES

means by which this great earth and its peoples have become
one to one another, the means by which news of discovery
or honor and the stories and songs of today travel and
resound throughout the world. But they are also the means
by which the true human community, the man knowing
man, the neighbor understanding neighbor, the school boy
learning a poem, the women dancing, the individual curi-
osity, the individual sense of beauty are being blown dry and
issueless, the means by which the passivity of the disengaged
spectator presents to the man of art and science the bleak
face of inhumanity.

For the truth is that this is indeed, inevitably and in-
creasingly, an open and, inevitably and increasingly, an
eclectic world. We know too much for one rr^an to know
much, we live too variously to live as one. Our histories and
traditions - the very means of interpreting life - are both
bonds and barriers among us. Our knowledge separates as well
as it unites; our order disintegrates as well as binds; our art
brings us together and sets us apart. The artist's loneliness,
the scholar despairing, because no one will any longer
trouble to learn what he can teach, the narrowness of the
scientist - these are not unnatural insignia in this great time
of change.

For what is asked of us is not easy. The openness of this
world derives its character from the irreversibility of
learning; what is once learned is part of human life. We
cannot close our minds to discovery, we cannot stop our
ears so that the voices of far-off and strange people can no
longer reach them. The great cultures of the East cannot be
walled off from ours by impassable seas and defects of under-
standing based on ignorance and unfamiliarity. Neither our
integrity as men of learning nor our humanity allows that.
In this open world, what is there any man may try to learn.

This is no new problem. There has always been more to
know than one man could know; there have always been
modes of feeling that could not move the same heart; there

ROBERT OPPENHEIMER

have always been deeply held beliefs, that could not be
composed into a synthetic union. Yet never before today has
the diversity, the complexity, the richness so clearly defied
hierarchical order and simplification. Never before have we
had to understand the complementary, mutually not
compatible ways of life and recognize choice between them
as the only course of freedom. Never before today has the
integrity of the intimate, the detailed, the true art, the
integrity of craftsmanship and preservation of the familiar, of
the humourous and the beautiful stood in more massive
contrast to the vastness of life, the greatness of the globe, the
otherness of ways and the all-encompassing dark.

This is a world in which each of us, knowing his limi-
tations, knowing the evils of superficiality and the terrors of
fatigue, will have to cling to what is close to him, to what he
knows, to what he can d^ to his friends and his tradition and
his love, lest he will be dissolved in a universal confusion and
know nothing and love nothing. It is at the same time a
world in which none of us can find hieratic prescription or
general sanction for any ignorance, any insensitivity, any
indifference. When a friend tells us of a new discovery we
may not understand, we may not be able to listen without
jeopardizing the work that is ours and closer to us; but we
cannot find in a book or canon - and we should not seek -
grounds for hallowing our ignorance. If a man tells us that
he sees differently than we or that he finds beautiful what we
find ugly, we may have to leave the room, from fatigue or
trouble; but that is our weakness and our default. If we must
live with a perpetual sense that the world and the men in it
are greater than we and too much for us, let it be the measure
of our virtue that we know this and seek no comfort. Above
all let us not proclaim that the limits of our powers corre-
spond to some special wisdom in our choice of life, of
learning, or of beauty.

This balance, this perpetual, precarious impossible balance
between the infinitely open and the intimate, this time - our

PROSPECTS IN THE ARTS AND SCIENCES

twentieth century - has been long in coming; but is has
come. It is, I think, for us and our children our only way.

This is for all men. For the artist and for the scientist there
is a special problem and a special hope, for in their extraordi-
narily different ways, in their lives that have increasingly
divergent character, there is still a sensed bond, a sensed
analogy. Both the man of science and the man of art live
always at the edge of mystery, surrounded by it, both always,
as the measure of their creation, have had to do with harmo-
nization of what is new with what is familiar, with the
balance between novelty and synthesis, with the struggle to
make partial order in total chaos. They can, in their work
and in their lives, help themselves, help one another, and
help all men. They can make the paths that connect the
villages of arts and sciences with each other and with the
world at large the multiple, varied, precious bonds of a true
and world- wide community.

This cannot be an easy life. We shall have a rugged time of
it to keep our minds open and to keep them deep, to keep
our sense of beauty and our ability to make it, and our
occasional ability to see it in places remote and strange and
in our villages, in keeping open the manifold, intricate,
casual paths, to keep these flourishing in a great open,
windy world; but this, as I see it, is the condition of men; and
in this condition we can help, because we can love, one
another. 1

!. This essay was originally the author's concluding Address in the Columbia
University Bicentennial Broadcast, December 26, 1954.

Science and our Future

by
W.F. G. SWANN

In the past, the life of nearly all mankind was spent in a
struggle for existence. Mother Earth demanded much tribute
in the form of labour as payment for the fruits which she
yielded. Labour was the necessary payment of man to nature
for his existence, and in turn, the potentiality of man for
giving labour represented a natural element of his wealth and
so a guarantee for his existence. From the dawn of history
almost until the present day he lived by what the earth gave
him spontaneously, and in the sweat of his brow he toiled
from morn to night to collect the gift; for the gift was made
in meager amount and he sought no means to expedite it.
Such ingenuity as he possessed was engaged in segregating
to himself as much of the gift as he could at the expense
of the greater majority of his fellows who, since there was not
plenty for everyone, must spend all strength in the struggle
for mere existence, with little of what we call happiness, and
with little apparent reason for the labour other than the
perpetuation of a monotonous existence from one generation
to another. What little there was in the way of scientific
discovery was housed in large part in the dens of the charla-
tans and sought close companionship in the black arts.
1 And then/barely more than a century ago, a new page
in the drama of history opened. The power of steam was
harnessed and the time and burden of travel shrank. Soon

W. K G. SWANN

came the era of electricity, an era in which each successive
discovery added further to the comfort of mankind. More
and more of the world's work was done by the forces of
inanimate things rather than by the toil of the arm and hand./
The seeker after truth had tasted the blood of conquest and
was encouraged to enter new domains. Science spread its
wings over all nature, and the search for new things was no
longer a dubious occupation, a companion to witchcraft,
but a legitimate and recognized ambition of the curiosity of
man. As if in reward for such recognition of pure idealistic
research, it turned out that investigations, started with no
immediate utilitarian purpose, and without the hint of a
promise of future service to mankind, yielded, in actuality,
ifruits in such service far beyond the wildest dreams of the
investigator.

I Today, we stand heirs to all this wealth of nature's re-
sources. The labourer of today has at his disposal conveniences
which no king possessed a hundred years agoi I think it would
be safe to say that if King Solomon could suddenly have had
installed in his house an oil furnace, a cooling system, electric
light, and a telephone with the other end at the residence of
the Queen of Sheba-if he could have gone careering through
the streets of Jerusalem at fifty miles an hour in an automo-
bile - he would probably have been renowned in his time
for possessions to an extent far beyond even the renown
recorded to his credit in Holy Writ. Today, even the humblest
artisan is possessed of conveniences which, seemingly, would
have outshone all the luxuries of the world of ancient times.
Yet, he who possesses these things today is often an unhappy
and disgruntled person, with a grievance against something
or somebody as his main source of mental exhilaration.

And if in the midst of all this potentiality for happiness
man is still unhappy, what is the reason for his state. What
does he seek for his goal of happiness and why can he not
attain it? Man is an active animal. Through the thousands of
years of his history he has become accustomed to count the

SCIENCE AND OUR FUTURE

gains of his labour, and the gains have, for the most part,
consisted in the past of accumulation of the means of
existence to succour him when he could no longer labour,
or better still, a means of existence without the necessity of
the enforced labour of the slave. Now, as more and more of
the world's work is being done by machines, we are reaching
a stage in which not only is the amount of toil necessary for
existence reduced, but in which the perpetuation of toil,
with the greatly enhanced efficiency which the machine age
has brought to it, has produced a new realm of strife, a strife
between the machines, whereby the equilibrium of life
becomes upset to a degree in which the little that man needs
for his existence fails to reach its proper goal of distribution
on account of the turmoil of activity created by the oper-
ations of inanimate things.

In the last analysis of the trend towards perpetual increase
of so-called utilitarian activity beyond a certain limit, my
mind turns to the thought of some great Mogul who,
having gained control of the running of the affairs of the
world, looks down upon our civilization and, whipping up
the speed of things, while egged on by the increasing efficien-
cy of the appliances which man has designed, comes to the
conclusion that in comparison with these appliances man
himself is a very inefficient animal and ought to be abolished.
If I ask this Mogul what the purpose of this marvellous
organization would be without man in it, I can imagine from
him no reply other than one to the effect that it constitutes
a beautiful, smooth-running machine which, like a picture
or a symphony, is an end in itself, and that he likes to see it run.
But, with man gone, there is nobody but the Mogul to enjoy
it. To the fundamentally and fatalistically morbid 1 present
this Mogul as, in all verity, a deity guaranteed to keep them
lusciously miserable for the lifetime remaining to them.
Under another chapter I might signify the aim of this being in
the title "The Devil in Control. 35

If I plead with this devil to let man live, I surmise that he

W. F. G. SWANN

may object on the grounds that man may tamper with the
machinery which is now in perfect running order. Here I have
some sympathy with this devil. And so I make a bargain with
him to the effect that man may be allowed to live provided
that he will guarantee never to do anything which, in the
sense of the old meaning of things, can be called useful. Man
shall not be deprived of the inspiration of continuing his
researches in science. He shall be allowed to continue the
enrichment of the arts. He shall be kept as a kind of domestic
pet of this devil, with no duties other than those concerned
with amusing himself.

And so I suggest to this devil that since man has, as it were,
worked himself out of a job, so that his potentiality for
labour no longer guarantees his right to exist, he be pension-
ed off, and allowed to pursue the rest of his existence in play,
confining what were formerly his utilitarian efforts to oiling
the machinery.

Now, of course, I do not wish to imply that we have yet
reached the stage at which the ideal I have cited is a practical
one. And yet I do envisage this ideal as a limiting one to which
the machine age should naturally tend. It is what the mathe-
matician would call an "asymptotic ideal' 5 ; something which
is continually approached but never actually realized. The
point which I wish to emphasize, however, is that even today
it may be true that many of the troubles of our economic
existence lie in failure to recognize the trend toward this
ideal and the necessity of a continual sensitivity to it. In the
attainment of such an ideal, wealth no longer has meaning
for the aims for which it exists are already attained.

However, if I take to mankind this treaty in which this
devil-like potentate has acquiesced, I surmise that there will
be many who will be unhappy in the thought that their
future activities will lie outside of the realm of that which
they have been accustomed to regard as useful. In an attempt
to appraise the ultimate value of things, perhaps I may be
pardoned for citing here an illustration which I have given

SCIENCE AND OUR FUTURE

elsewhere concerning a supposed conversation between a
pure utilitarianist and an artist of the "art for art's sake" type.
The conversation concerns the pictures which Michelangelo
painted in the Vatican.

"Of what use are those pictures?" asks the utilitarianist.
"They do nobody any good and only wasted the time of
Michelangelo, who painted them."

"And what kind of creative work would you regard as of
use?" asks the artist.

"Well, the development of the steam engine or the auto-
mobile," says the utilitarianist.

"But why are these of use?" asks the artist.

"Because they enable one to move about faster and get
more done," says the utilitarianist.

"But why move about faster and get more done?"

"Because by doing so you create wealth for yourself and
others; you save time and are enabled to enjoy more leisure,"
is the rejoinder.

"And what is the use of money and leisure?" asks the
artist. "Is it not rather boresome to have nothing to do?"

"Oh, it is not necessary to do nothing," is the reply. "You
can travel and enlarge your mind."

"But," says the artist,"what is the good of travelling? You
only get seasick and very tired."

"Oh," replies the utilitarianist, "it is a wonderful experience
to travel. You can go, for instance, to the Old World and visit
all those places of classic renown: Paris, Venice, London."

"But," says the artist, "is that not very disturbing? I hear that
many of these places are unsanitary. The food is not what you
are accustomed to, and sometimes the people are not over-
friendly."

"Those are but small matters," says the utilitarianist, "they
are far outweighed by all of the other riches you fall heir to.
You can bask in the exhilarating sun of the Alps. You can
drink in the beauties of the Mediterranean. You can visit
ancient Rome; and by the way, when you are there, do not

W. F. G. SWANN

fail to see those marvellous pictures which Michelangelo
has painted in the Vatican."

And so I have wondered if we should be far from the truth
if we should maintain the thesis that the only ultimate
excuse for the existence of the things utilitarian is that they
provide the means whereby we may enjoy the things non-
utilitarian.

And so in the life of mankind one recognizes two types of
activities, types which may crudely be described as utilitarian
and those which are non-utilitarian. In the ages whith have
passed there has been, for the most part, no danger of satura-
tion as regards the former. Nature claimed all the effort that
man could give as the price of his existence, and the second
category of effort- the non-utilitarian - was reserved for the
favoured few who, by the chances of fate, had managed to
acquire an exceptionally large proportion of the fruits of the
labours of their fellows. As the discoveries of science have
revolutionized the plans of the world's work, we have reached
the stage in which the very continued effort of man in the
utilitarian field can bring about lack of equilibrium of such a
kind that the residue available for the individual needs, either
through faulty distribution or a lack of appropriate planning,
is less than it would have been if the world had been less active
and if man had worked less hard. A condition, however, in
which people are idle because, if they worked more, they
would upset the equilibrium, is not a healthy one for the race.
He who is forced to work that he may survive feels a grievance
against nature, but he who is condemned to inaction lest his
efforts cause trouble has an even greater grievance.

The solution of the difficulty is, I think, to be found in a
proper organization of utilitarian effort to the maximum
degree of efficiency in such manner that the amount of it is
just sufficient and no more than sufficient for the needs of
healthy existence. We must then turn the spare time of man
into a non-saturable domain, a domain in which the effort of
one section does not render abortive the effort of another.

SCIENCE AND OUR FUTURE

We must, in fact, turn this surplus effort into the non-utili-
tarian field. If, in the utilitarian domain, I improve my
organization in the sense that I can create a product with less
and less of the utilization of manual effort, I may do somebody
harm unless the increase of my efficiency is accompanied by
a corresponding economic adjustment. If, however, in my
spare time I play the violin and I continue to improve, it does
not follow from my improvement that my neighbour, who
plays the piano, will deteriorate in his performance.

In the past, we have been too accustomed to assume that
support of science is justified only because of the utilitarian
advantages to be expected of it. Today we are approaching the
other extreme, where man is invited to keep his hands off
the machinery; but if this extreme is to be accompanied by
lack of provision of the means for the continuation of effort
which is not accompanied by utilitarian ends, then there is
much to be said for the decree of that devil to whom I
introduced you earlier and who sought the complete
abolition of man as an inefficient parasite upon the workings
of the universe. In the old days the cry of "art for art's sake"
or Science for the sake of science" was supposedly the cry of
the fanatic. In the future this cry, or the cry of "something
for something's sake," will be the cry of all mankind as a
reason for his existence, and as an end in itself. For if, relieved
of effort directed towards utilitarian ends, man becomes
ashamed to do anything because of a suspicion as to its lack of
usefulness, then he becomes, in all verity, the most collosal
bore in the universe, and my good devil will do well to
abolish him.

In the last analysis, is not happiness, in the broadest sense,
the goal of mankind? It is the promised land to which science
has brought us and which the future invites us to cultivate.

One trouble concerned with our existing civilization lies
in the fact that we have invented so many things for our en-
joyment and entertainment, and we have invented so many
labour-saving devices, that the mere operation of all these

W. F. G. SWANN

devices seems to leave less time than was available to a person
150 years ago to enjoy in life the things which really give
permanent enjoyment. It is a wonderful thing to listen to
the radio the first time we hear it. After a time it becomes a
habit, so that the machine is left to exercise its noise-making
potentialities when nobody is present in the room.

All of these devices give, for the most part, only superficial
pleasure and by that very token give a pleasure which
soon wears out and leaves the subject with a feeling of
discontent. I would suggest that lasting pleasure is only
obtained when the mind is active, or when there is conscious-
ness of development of some kind in the subject.

Earlier in these lines I have lamented the fact that man, the
inheritor of wealth beyond the dreams of the kings of olden
times, is often an unhappy individual, and often he is un-
happy when his state is such that he is among the favoured
group whom the economic battles of our times have left
unscathed. Happiness itself is a strange thing. I do not believe
that it is determined by the status quo of the individual, no
matter how high the level of that status quo. It is determined
rather by the progress of the individual from one state to
another. He who, while playing the violin in the capacity of
an amateur, has succeeded by his effort in surmounting some
difficulty which had previously baffled him, is happier at
the moment as a violinist than is Kreisler, for in this, as in all
things, there is more happiness in the consciousness of
improvement than in the finality of attainment. Never will
there be an age in which a being of the state of development
of man can expect happiness except as the result of progress
through effort expended on something; and those who ex-
pect happiness from idleness in the status quo I commend to
the company of their spiritual relative, the cat, whose
maximum of contentment seems to be reached in a state
only sufficiently different from that of slumber to admit
recognition of the outside world by the maintenance of a
purring sound.

The Means

(a few examples lay a few scientists)

The Prospects of Genetic Progress 1

HERMANN J. MULLER

Our present generation has been brought to realize more
vividly than any previous one the paltry dimensions of our
earth and everything upon it, in comparison with the
awesome reaches of the universe at large. To many persons
this perspective has seemed a forbidding one, as though a
great pall had arisen to overshadow and belittle the cherished
world of familiar things that our forefathers hav taught us to
believe in.

However, these pessimists have failed to take sufficiently
into their view one all-important aspect of the picture, that
serves to illuminate and transfigure it. This lies in the con-
clusion, supported by many modern studies, that the natu-
ral processes of genetics have in the course of ages enabled
primitive organic matter gradually to struggle upward and
blossom out into the wondrous forms of us human beings
and all the other living things around us. Equally significant,
moreover, is the proposition, following as a corollary to the
one just stated, that we humans - and we alone among all
earthly creatures - have through these processes of genetic
change gained the capacity rapidly to add a mighty cultural
evolution on top of the stupendous biological endowment
that we are heir to.

This essay, originally written for this book, was published earlier in 'The Ameri-
m Scientist", Vol. 47, 551-561, in 1959, since
time than was expected. It is reprinted he

can Scientist", Vol. 47, 551-561, in 1959, since publication of this book required longer

ited here with kind permission of the Editor.

HERMANN J. MULLER

In terms of geological time, that is, of the time necessary
for appreciable natural evolution of a genetic kind, this
cultural evolution is only just beginning. Yet in this biologi-
cal moment we have risen from the mastery of fire to the
governance of the atom, and from expletives through
speech to electronic computors. At the same time, our
cultural progress has become increasingly self-enhancing.
Moreover, in addition to promoting its own operations it has
even reached back into the course of biological evolution
itself. That is, it has acted upon the genetic processes of other
organisms so as eventually to reshape these organisms
drastically in adaptation to human needs.

EMPIRICALLY CONTROLLED BREEDING

True, the biological reshaping of earlier times was for the
most part accomplished by means of a crude empiricism,
ignorant of genetic principles, and acting one small step at a
time without any realization of the magnitude of the ac-
cumulated series of steps. Yet, even so, the changes brought
about within this period, most of them in less than 10,000
years, have proved to be far greater than any known to have
taken place in natural evolution in an equal interval. More-
over, they have been so extraordinarily serviceable as to
result in profound reorientations in the ways of life of the
human groups involved.

Thus, the primitive hunting economy was raised to a much
higher level not only by the development of weapons but
perhaps equally by the making over of the nature of dogs so
as to lead them to complement human efforts more ef-
fectively. Next, the success of an agricultural existence was
enormously augmented by the remolding of primitive
grains, tubers, beans, cucurbits, fiber-bearing plants, and so
on, into those numerous high-yielding cultivated types that
we today classify as species in their own right. And the

THE PROSPECTS OF GENETIC PROGRESS

genetic reconstruction of poultry, sheep, cattle, swine,
horses, the camel family, and even carps, bees, and silkworms,
has made possible further great advances, both quantitative
and qualitative, in human living. In fact, cultures are often
most aptly distinguished in terms of the type of remodelled
organism, such as maize, wheat, rice, sheep, etc., upon which
the livelihood of their peoples, their standards of living, and
the size of their populations, chiefly depend.

It is evident that, if these revolutionary changes could have
been wrought by such crude methods and with so little
awareness of routes and goals, even though at the cost of
centuries of effort, it should now be possible, with our
understanding of the principles of genetic mutation, combi-
nation, and selection, to telescope into a relatively few years
much more comprehensive transformations. Recent suc-
cesses with the development of hybrid corn and poultry and
of disease-resistant strains of many crops, give a substantial
foretaste of such possibilities. These have already reduced
greatly the acreage of cultivation that is necessary to support
a given population. Yet in this field of conscious genetic
engineering we have so far only scratched the surface.

THE METHODS NOW AVAILABLE

As the great VAVILOV demonstrated, the centers of origin of
cultivated species constitute vast reservoirs of genes already
selected by both nature and man for very diverse conditions
and purposes. The rational exploitation of these reservoirs
requires the reestablishment, in assorted situations, of
copious genetic "banks" of multitudinous strains and sub-
strains, like those VAVILOV founded but on a still more ex-
tensive scale. The potentialities of the types thus made
available must then be tested out under varied conditions of
climate and cultivation, both in their present forms and in
many of the innumerable combinations obtainable by

HERMANN J. MULLER

intercrossing and selection. This is an enormous, global task,
that calls for widespread cooperation of international scope.

It should be recognized from the start that this kind of
work is long-term and ever-continuing. It seldom yields the
quick and easy results falsely promised by the devotees of the
naive doctrine of inheritance of acquired characters, who
after gaining power allowed much of the fruit of the work of
geneticists to be lost. As in the far more protracted experi-
ments of nature, although in lesser degree, the great majority
of the genetic trials can give only negative results. Neverthe-
less, the relatively few successes can open up permanent
and expanding opportunities. They thereby yield immeasu-
rable recompense in return for the expenditures.

While this work of making the most of what is already to
be had is going on, there is also much to be gained by seeking
out the individual variations that are continually arising
within the strains presently in use, by testing them out and
incorporating those that prove useful into ever more service-
able combinations. Beyond this, there is the actual induction of
new mutations by means of radiation and chemical mutagens.

In considering the induction of mutations, it should be
borne in mind that the great majority (ordinarily, well over
99%) of induced mutations, as of spontaneous ones, are of a
detrimental kind, but that mutations which have already
existed in a population for a long time represent a more or
less selected residue from which the detrimental types have
tended, in proportion to their degree of detriment and the
time elapsed, to be eliminated. Moreover, it would be un-
realistic to bank on the dim and distant hope, unsupported
by critical analysis of the situation, that it may, even if some
centuries hence, be found possible to induce mutations of
diverse desired types at will by specific treatments. We must,
for practical purposes, therefore assume that among induced
mutations an even smaller proportion will usually prove
useful than among mutations already present in populations.
This being the case, the profitability of inducing mutations,

THE PROSPECTS OF GENETIC PROGRESS

in comparison with that of discovering suitable spontaneous
ones, varies directly with the expendability of the individual
organisms of the given species, with the ease of breeding them,
with the difficulty of culling already existing populations for
mutations contained in them, and with the difficulty of
transferring specified genes from their stock of origin into the
strain in which it is desired to have them. By all these criteria
smaller organisms, and more especially microorganisms,
constitute the material in which the induction of mutations
can most advantageously be practiced.

OBJECTIVES TO BE AIMED AT

The job of remodelling the genetic constitution of organisms
is a never ending one as needs and conditions change and as
the innovations in the organisms themselves open new
routes to their progress. So, for example, the use of more
effective insecticides, fungicides, and fertilizers allows more
of the metabolic effort of the plant to be concentrated upon
growth itself. Similarly, artificial aids and protection allow an
increasing fraction of that growth to be concentrated in that
portion - whether it be seed, fiber, tuber, fruit or sap - which
in the given organism is of special use to man. Thus, as our
non-genetic techniques of raising and tending our organisms
evolve, correlative genetic changes become not superfluous
but advantageous. It therefore seems likely, in view both of
our own inventiveness and of the almost unlimited genetic
plasticity of organisms, that as their artificially directed
evolution continues they will depart ever further from their
present norms until they become quite unrecognizable, even
as happened in their natural evolution but inordinately
faster.

When such work becomes more advanced, it should
become feasible to make blue prints for an ever larger
number of generations ahead, just as in some of the fruit fly

HERMANN J. MULLER

experiments of as long as two decades ago designs for genetic
synthesis covering more than forty successive generations
of precisely ordered crossings were successfully carried
through. At present, however, we are in the stage of little
more than feeling our way along in the improvement of
types of economic importance and it would be rash to predict
what only 10 years might hold in store for such work on
annual forms.

It should also be remembered that, although primitive
man brought so many species under cultivation and must
have tried out far more than those that he finally succeeded
with, we with our longer-range breeding methods and our
more analytical techniques for testing and utilizing organisms
may find many still wild species to be promising candidates
for conversion into cultivated forms. Some of these will be
useful for the food, drugs or industrial products they can
yield. Others will be valuable for services of a less direct kind,
such as promoting the fertility of the soil, preventing erosion
or drought, facilitating the turnover of materials for the
organisms of more direct importance, combatting pests and
parasites, and, in general, assisting in the maintenance of
ecological conditions favorable for the immediately useful
types or (as in the case of shade trees) favorable for man
himself. Here a rational union of the ecological and genetic
attacks appears to present rich possibilities. Such develop-
ments call for the pooling of much detailed familiarity with
local types, conditions, and problems along with knowledge
of general principles and advanced techniques. In this field it
is evident that the most effective efforts involve international
collaboration.

Among the most promising of the organisms for future
exploitation by man with the aid of genetics are those of
microscopic dimensions. Yeasts and bacteria have been
unwittingly employed by man for many thousands of years
but only recently have these and other microorganisms been
knowingly cultivated and improved upon. The five or more

THE PROSPECTS OF GENETIC PROGRESS

fold stepping up of the yield of penicillin by the judicious
application of radiation to the mold Penicillium for the in-
duction of successive mutations having this effect is a case
in point. Not only laboratory, factory, and hydroponically
bred organisms but also those bred at large, in soils, in fresh
water situations and even in marine waters, present oppor-
tunities here, for the production of food, food accessories and
drugs, and industrially useful materials, such as oils.

In this connection, nearly everyone nowadays has heard of
the experiments with green algae, notably Chlorella, which
seem to afford the possibility of supplying many times the
yield of food per acre that higher plants, with their excess of
inedible structural material, can offer us. It is not so generally
known, that, as DEAN BURK has recently shown, a special
"thermal" strain of Chlorella, adapted to growth at relatively
high temperatures, gives several times the yield that ordinary
Chlorella is capable of. With the application of genetic methods
to such organisms they could be molded to fit our re-
quirements still better under the special artificially contrived
conditions that we could make available to them, and
diverse strains could be adapted for different purposes and for
different situations. By such means wide stretches of our
planet now unproductive may be increasingly subjugated to
supply human needs.

Some advocates of the chemical approach might interrupt
at this point to say that long before any such union of ge-
netics, ecology, industry and food processing as is here in
question has come about, photosynthetic and chemosynthe-
tic reactions will have been mastered in the laboratory, and
put into mass operation, that will free men from their
dependence on living organisms. This may well be true.
Certainly, our present means of transportation and haulage
by inanimate machines is already for most purposes superior
to that by draft animals. Similarly, in the making of special
organic substances, such as many drugs, hormones, and
antibiotics, that form but a small part of the organisms

HERMANN J. MULLER

containing them or that have evolved relatively recently in
special groups of organisms, it is likely that organic chemis-
try, by the conversion of lessspecialized organic compounds,
will soon prove more effective for us than biosynthesis and
extraction.

However, the production of foodstuffs in general from
inorganic materials involves an incomparably more intricate
series of operations than has either transportation or the
production of a given end-product by the conversion of
organic precursors. For aeons natural selection has been
working to increase the efficiency of organisms in carrying
out this great series of syntheses. As a part of this work they
manufacture, maintain and multiply their own superb
organizations, in endless cycles, and only a minimum of
tending on our part is needed, as compared with the services
required of us for the replacement and repair of wholly
artificial mechanisms. It therefore seems unlikely that men
will in the "foreseeable future, 55 that is, for some hundreds of
years to come, at least, be able to surpass in large scale opera-
tions the potential efficiency of biological growth. At any
rate, we must for a long time to come be prepared to exploit
all available possibilities for supplying our material needs.
In doing so we shall find that the world of living things,
judiciously dealt with by a combination of genetic methods
and artificial appliances, offers us enormous opportunities of
the kind we are seeking.

GENETIC CHANGE IN EARLY MAN

It would be a strange incongruity if mankind instituted
extensive alterations in the genetic constitution of his
companion organisms in the interests of an ampler and
better life for himself, while leaving his own biological basis
entirely to the mercy of natural forces or of whatever
genetic currents his present artificial ways of living unin-
tentionally subjected him to. Surely his paramount obli-

THE PROSPECTS OF GENETIC PROGRESS

gation, as regards applications of genetics, is to himself; not
however under the delusion that he is already perfect in any
respect but in the knowledge that he too has plenty of room
for further progress. However, before undertaking to move
forward consciously it is necessary for him to realize what
direction was taken by his genetic evolution in the past,
what factors decided that direction, and to what extent his pre-
sent situation may have entailed changes in the direction or in
the factors. It is also imperative for him to reach a solid conclu-
sion concerning what direction he should consider "forward."

Studies of the remains of early men have made it increasing-
ly evident that their most distinctive characteristic, that
which enabled them so far to outdistance all other animals,
was their capacity for cultural evolution. This is a complex
capacity, requiring not only a modicum of intelligence (not
necessarily much higher at its inception than that possessed
by present apes) but also a social disposition that takes delight
in cooperating and communicating. Important accessories
were manipulating proclivities, that led to the use of fire,
tools, etc., and vocalizing and symbolizing proclivities, that
facilitated communication.

We need not here attempt to trace the development in
apes of the preparatory stages of these faculties. Nor can we
detail how men's transition to an erect ground-dwelling life,
surrounded by both predators and potential victims, was
conducive to an intensification of both defensive and ag-
gressive group behavior, mediated by their hands, and thus
forced human beings to act increasingly in concert both to
protect themselves and to overcome their prey. This situation
resulted in a natural selection that put a premium on intelli-
gence both of the manual, thing-conscious type and of the
type involving understanding of and communication with
other persons. This selection favored at the same time the
innate drives that led to the exercise of these faculties, and
the disposition that derived satisfaction from exercising them
in the service of others of the immediate group.

HERMANN J. MULLER

As these selective pressures resulted in the multiplication
of the mutant genes that happened to be conducive to
intelligence and cooperative behavior an ever better genetic
groundwork was laid for the acquirement, dissemination,
handing down, and consequent accummulation of the
lessons learned through the experience of many men in
many generations, and of the innovations in techniques
and mores based upon these lessons: in other words, for
cultural evolution. Reciprocally, as cultural evolution
developed, the conditions must for a long time have under-
gone an intensification that favored the survival of the
individuals and groups who were more intelligent, more
skillful, more cooperative, and better at communication.
That is, genetic evolution and cultural evolution must have
reenforced one another in a kind of zig-zagging fashion.
Thereby, along with the progress of techniques and mores,
the genetic bases of intelligence, of the communicative
propensities, and of the social impulses generally, became
rapidly enhanced, so as to give that appearance of a discon-
tinuity in evolution which is so striking a feature of man's
emergence.

The genetic bases even of some features of men's physical
structure became changed by natural selection as a result of
the new conditions resulting from their social evolution. For
example, the socially evolved use of weapons in hunting and
fighting, and of fire, knives, scrapers and pounders in the
preparation of food, replaced the earlier natural selection for
powerful jaws and teeth with conditions that allowed and
probably even favored their reduction. And the adoption
of clothing and other artificial protection from cold and rain
allowed the advantages of relative hairlessness (greater
opportunity for cleanliness and for eradication of ecto-
parasites) to take precedence, in selection, over the ad-
vantages of a native coat of hair. Again, when men's ad-
vancing cultures made it possible for them to live in colder
climates, a number of other bodily and physiological changes

THE PROSPECTS OF GENETIC PROGRESS

were favored by the types of natural selection thereupon
ensuing. Thus, in varied ways men's present genetically
determined constitution bears the unconscious imprint of
the artificial ways of life that he himself developed.

GENETIC PROCESSES IN MODERN MAN

With the further progress of culture, however, along the
lines laid down by men's advancing techniques and group
coordination in coping with their inanimate, human, and
other biological environment, the conditions governing the
natural selection of genetic traits among men have changed
greatly. With the growth and the progressive merging of
social groups and the concomitant reduction in the numbers
of groups, there has been an inevitable reduction in the
efficacy of that mter-group selection which, by favoring the
more cooperative and more skillful groups had tended to
enhance genetically based social traits as well as intelligence.
At the same time, the heightened efficacy of infra-group
cooperation has lessened the competition for survival
and reproduction among individuals and among families of
the same group. Those who through physical, intellectual or
character defects are less well able to fend for themselves or
to raise a family are increasingly supported by means of
social aids to a degree that may even allow them, if they will,
to leave more children than the others. Inevitably, then, the
increases of the last several centuries in the size of human
populations and in men's successes in their contests with
outer nature must have been accompanied by a slackening of
their genetic advancement and perhaps even by a genetic
decline in some important respects.

The advanced technologies of the present day and the
greater efficiency of social organization in ministering to
need must be having the effect of making these anti-evo-
lutionary tendencies much stronger. Genetic studies make it

HERMANN J. MULLER

very probable that in technically advanced countries far
more mutations, the great majority of them detrimental to
health, mentality, or character, are arising in each generation
than the number of genetically handicapped persons who
are failing to survive or to reproduce. This situation spells a
genetic retrogression that, if continued through a per-
sistance of the same conditions, could not ultimately be
compensated for by any conceivable advances in medicine,
education, automation, or other cultural methods. Thus we
are at present allowing our very successes to dig away
the foundations from under everything most valuable in our
own natures. The more advanced the peoples, the more is
this the case.

Another circumstance affecting the genetics of modern
man that merits our objective attention here is the recent
reversal of the tendency of human groups to become ge-
netically differentiated from one another. In earlier times the
differences in conditions of life between different regions and
the difficulties in travelling from one of these regions to
another undoubtedly led to the selection of some special
characteristics peculiar to and helpful specifically in the
given regions. Examples are the darker skin that serves for
protection against stronger ultraviolet, the narrowed eyes
that reduce the threat of snowblindness, and the small
stature that facilitates penetration through jungles. There is
no reason to think that these essentially superficial charac-
teristics connoted any parallel differences in the more basic
human faculties previously discussed, that were developed as
a result of the advantages accruing from intelligent cooper-
ation against the forces of nature in general, but they did
lead people of each group to emphasize their distinctive-
nesses.

Now, however, these special characteristics are losing their
value, with the development of man-made expedients for
meeting the special situations. These expedients are in effect
replacing the natural environments with ever more artificial

THE PROSPECTS OF GENETIC PROGRESS

ones. At the same time, our generalized modern culture is
diffusing ever more widely, rapidly and deeply, and is in-
creasingly bringing to all peoples alike not only its techniques
but its ways of thinking, mores, ideals, and standards of
appreciation. It is also promoting political mergers and
economic cooperation between peoples. And along with all
this cultural homogenization there is also an increasing
physical movement and interbreeding that is progressively,
as yet mainly at the edges, blurring out the lines between the
age-old genetic pools. With the accentuation of all these
factors by the progress of technology and education
mankind, barring a return to barbarism, will undoubtedly
come to form one world community within which local
differences of a genetic nature have largely lost whatever
importance they may once have had.

This course of events is a very different one from that
usually obtaining for successful species, which tend to split
and split again into divergent groups, among which selection
operates. Similarly, within each group, there has in man,
unlike the successful groups of the past, been a tendency to
obliterate the lines between the small semi-isolated sub-
groups that provided useful experiments in natural selection.
We cannot say that this tendency to merge is bad, for it is a
condition of human progress as we must think of progress.
However, it as well as the other peculiarities of the genetic
processes of modern man, previously cited, must be taken
seriously into account in the consideration of future policies
affecting human genetics. For when trial and error are re-
moved, foresight must be substituted.

PROSPECTS OF FUTURE GENETIC PROGRESS IN MAN

In any such consideration of policies and prospects there is
one not strictly genetic fact regarding human reproduction
today that must not be overlooked. This is the fact that

HERMANN J. MULLER

modern medicine combined with all our other artificial aids
to living is so reducing the death rate as to result - unless
there is a compensatory reduction in birth-rate much more
drastic than any now occurring - in serious global over-
population very soon. By no advances that we could con-
ceivably make in the next 500 years in the production of food
and other materials could we decently provide for the world
population of some 15 trillion (more than 5000 times the
present world population) that would theoretically be in
existence if only the present rate of increase of a doubling
every 40 years - an increase that applies to the present United
States population and is not so very much higher than that in
the world as a whole today - were maintained.

The slowing down of population growth that will un-
doubtedly prevent the attainment of this calculated plethora
of people can come about only by the resumption of an
increased death rate, brought about by the failure of civi-
lization to achieve human betterment, or else by an adequate
voluntary restriction of births. In the past such voluntary
restriction has only developed among peoples who at-
tained a high standard of living. There are some reckless
optimists who think that this will happen again. However, it
is very doubtful whether such a living standard can be
attained by the populations that are at a low level of tech-
nology and grossly overcrowded already, unless the means
and motivations for planned parenthood are brought to
them with little delay. In other words, birth restriction
should be initiated even while the standard of living is low,
or it may never be able to achieve an adequate and stable
rise. At the same time, enormous efforts should be put forth
to effect the rise as rapidly as possible.

The voluntary restriction of births that will have to be
adopted if civilization is to succeed implies a recognition of
men's responsibility toward their children and descendants.
It constitutes a break with the hoary tradition of having as
many children as possible to honor oneself and one's ances-

THE PROSPECTS OF GENETIC PROGRESS

tors. It opens the door to the recognition by modern men
and women everywhere of their obligation to bequeath to
the next generation the best conditions possible. With the
spread of education, men will come to realize that not least
in their ultimate importance, among such conditions, are
the genetic ones. They will therefore develop the desire to do
their bit in leaving humanity somewhat better off, even
genetically, than it was in their own day.

The growing social conscience of men, developing along
with their cultural progress in cooperation and under-
standing, will cause increasing numbers to regard the having
of children as a service to mankind, not to be undertaken for
purely personal vainglory. This reorientation can lead them
to look upon the production of children who are likely to
suffer from more than the average share of genetic defects as
an act to be avoided while, on the contrary, it should be felt a
special honor to produce children who are likely to be
especially fortunate in their genetic endowment. This
redirection of motivation can in itself turn the scales from
genetic decline to genetic progress. It involves a way of
looking at things that must not be imposed, but must
represent an outgrowth of men's natural seeking for better-
ment. But it can be materially aided by wise policies in
education, economics, and law, that facilitate the course of
action that would follow from such motivation.

It is, however, naive to use such words as "betterment"
unless one has some concept of what one means by "good."
Yet, despite minor diversities in the ideals of different major
cultures, they are in fundamental agreement in attaching
especially high value to service to one's fellows, that is, to
cooperative behavior, and to wisdom. As we have seen, these
are the very qualities that are genetically as well as culturally
most characteristic of man, and it is they above all others that
have brought him to his present high estate as compared
with other animals. At the same time it is universally recog-
nized that even in man the degree of their development still

HERMANN J. MULLER

leaves much to be desired. So far as the genetic side of this
development is concerned, grounds have been cited above
for inferring that, after human groups became larger and
fewer, progress in these directions must have slackened, so
that men were left inwardly stunted. But it is still in the
power of civilized men to remedy this situation, if only they
will recognize it and act realistically upon it.

The task here confronting humanity is that of guiding our
progress in genetic respects so as to allow it once again to
parallel our cultural progress. Here the word "our" implies a
feeling of unity of the individual with the species as a whole.
This attitude of responsibility to all humanity is the very
antithesis of that of the racists who not so long ago brought
the world to the brink of ruin by their monstrous perversions
of both genetic and cultural perspectives. Concentrating
upon the fundamental human values regarding which all
peoples can agree, men of modern outlook will seek to
strengthen these values in every way possible, and to reduce
the stress too often laid on superficialities. Given a peaceful
world, joined in a universal cultural cross-fertilization, this is
a logical development.

Acting on the same principle, good parents today seek to
strengthen these same values by cultural means, in the
process of educating their children. The same standards are
needed in their attitude toward genetic matters.

As in all human activities, the rise of techniques can often
act as a lever to implement a change in social practices and
attitudes. So, for example, in the control of population the
working out of substances that would readily and safely
prevent overpopulation might be decisive. Similarly, in the
sphere of positively planned parenthood, there is still much
room for finding practicable ways for controlling the pro-
duction of reproductive cells, for storing them, and for
transferring them, that may bring radical possibilities within
the reach of those who take these matters seriously.

Despite the progress that man makes, he finds many

THE PROSPECTS OF GENETIC P ROGRESS

phases of his transitions painful, and is often reluctant to
move. Yet he does move eventually. And as he learns to
control more powerful forces, no matter what their nature,
he must also learn to apply them wisely in the light of his
newer, wider knowledge. In this way he may at times proceed
beyond the horizon, but he will be enabled to rise to heights
hitherto undreamed of.

Men would indeed be ignoble if they, Narcissus-like,
worshipped their present selves as the acmes of perfection,
and reserved their efforts to bring about genetic betterment
for their cattle, their corn, and the yeast that gives them beer.
But not all men will continue to maintain such smugness of
attitude. And those who look higher will find that, increasing-
ly, they can put their ideals into corporeal form, and help to
create men worthy of the great new material opportunities
that they have opened up. And for such men, in their turn,
.still further advancement, cultural and genetic, will always
be the major aims.

Science, Scientists and World Policy

by
HAROLD D. LASSWELL

An unavoidable consequence of innovation in science and
technology is the rearranging of power relations. The
balancing process sometimes operates so smoothly that no
crises of coercion occur as Nation-States change their re-
lations to one another or the whole structure of the world
arena undergoes extensive modification. It is, however, too
much to assume that the dynamic equilibrium of world
affairs is set up to avoid friction at all times.

Great waves of war and revolution have sometimes follow-
ed in the wake of innovations in the technology of warfare.
We can relate some of the invasions from Inner Asia with
innovations in the bow and arrow, or in cavalry tactics.

We know what happened when European civilization
eventually welded gunpowder, metallurgy, and the internal
combustion engine into a lethal combination.

But political structures are tough and have been capable of
withstanding and even dominating the applications of
science. Consider the enormous growth of population that
has occurred in modern Europe, and the cumulative curve
of invention that helped launch and sustain the industrial
revolution. It is noteworthy that despite tremendous
innovations of production (and destruction) the Nation-
State system of Western Europe became an identifiable
structure as soon as England, France, Spain, Austria, Sweden,

HAROLD D. LASSWELL

Russia, Prussia and the Low Countries grew to be among the
principal entities in the world arena. Despite the vast scientific
and technological efflorescence of recent centuries it was not
until after World War II that the Great Power system began to
give way with some rapidity to a bipolar pattern.

The tenacity of the Great Power system is not, however, the
most significant evidence of the durability of political insti-
tutions. The crucial factor is the expectation of violence itself, the
assumption that whether we like it or not, many conflicts
are going to be settled by recourse to large-scale and organ-
ized violence. Even today the political elites of the world do not expect to
be as well off by making the sacrifices required to change the situation as they
are by allowing it to continue. The key probleni of political
science in this domain is to discover the factors, short of
physical conquest, that will alter these expectations. The
problem of statecraft is to devise and execute policies that
realize upon all available potentials for voluntary unification.

I shall not present a thorough analysis of the factors that
conjoin to keep a divided world alive despite the impressive
potentials of modern science and technology for destruction
on a global scale. It may be enough to recall the fact that the
officials of every independent Nation-State keep in power
because it is expected that they will maintain the "security" of
their State by the use of organized violence if necessary. As an
indication of how deep-rooted the expectation of violence has
become one may cite the fact that no one seriously challenges
the legal "right of self-defense." There are doctrines, of
course, that forbid "aggression" and impose an obligation to
come to the assistance of a Nation-State that is deemed (by an
appropriate authority) to be a target of aggression. But all this
is further confirmation of the ubiquity of the expectation of
violence and the acceptance of organized coercion. 1

1. Concerning the present plight of the world community as a legal entity the
following treaties are especially outspoken: WALTER SCHIFFER, The Legal Communi-
ty of Mankind, New York, Columbia University Press, 1954; CHARLES DEVISSCHER,
Theory and Reality in Public International Law, tr. by P. E. Corbett, Princeton,
Princeton University Press, 1957; MYRES S. McDouGAL and Associates. Studies in
World Public Order, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1960.

SCIENCE, SCIENTISTS AND WORLD POLICY

What factors explain why scientists and engineers, despite
the world view that frequently prevails among them,
continue to act as the servants of the politics of a devided
globe? It is evident that the generalizations of science are
universal. It is equally evident that the applications of science
are, in principle, universal. But in fact every application is
localized at first. Hence the "paradox," if you will: The
universal is introduced parochially. If after a long series of develop-
ments the patterns initiated at a point of origin diffuse and
multiply until they nearly succeed in covering the globe,
we can properly speak of universality. When we examine the
process in detail we find that the moment-by-moment,
locality-by-locality sequence of introduction enables an
innovation to be absorbed with minimum damage to the structure
of interests that prevails at the centers of origin. This almost
surely carries the further implication that minimum damage
is done elsewhere to the alignment of vested and sentimental
interests as the innovation diffuses.

The latter point - the occurrence of minimum damage
during further spread - follows from the automatic sequence
by which a threat is defended against. Consider the classical
analysis of power balancing: Assume that State A gets bigger,
richer and better armed than its neighbors; neighbor B joins
neighbor C in order to deter neighbor A from attacking them
and enlarging its domain further as a result. This analysis is
unobjectionable as far as it goes, but it fails to describe the
situation as a whole, and ignores important responses that
are likely to be made by and C concurrently with the
diplomatic acts that are mentioned. The ruling elites of B
and C will, in all probability, focus attention upon A to
discover why A has become a potent threat. A typical dis-
covery is, for example, that A is employing new weapons, or
that A is encouraging the growth of a native steel industry
by means of subsidies and tariffs. The typical response of jB or
C is to do the same thing. We speak of this as restriction of Power
A by partial incorporation of the patterns that are expected by

HAROLD D. LASSWELL

others to account for A *s strength (Total incorporation would be
the amalgamation of B with A). The outcome of the tactic of
partial incorporation is that the positions of the ruling elites
in B and C are kept intact while scientific and technological
innovations - in this case new weapons and industrialization -
are encouraged.

It would take us too far afield to examine the compli-
cations that appear when these relations are subjected to
further examination. The principal point that concerns us
here is that the spread of science and technology does not
necessarily - or typically - bring scientists or technologists
into power. They may, of course, contribute more indivi-
duals with scientific training to the White House or the
Senate (or to equivalent top decision spots in other nations).
But the individuals who get these posts are ex-scientists and
ex-engineers. Anyone who makes a transition from the
career of a specialist in science to become a politician must
rise or fall according to the usual criteria that register
success or failure in politics. For instance, he must continue
to carry conviction that he is devoted to national security.
Hence he will find it necessary to keep alive the expectation
of violence in the world by fortifying the position that his
Nation-State is able to play in the world power process.

As indicated before, we recognize the fact that the practice
of science produces more than a few men and women who
long to use the methods and results of science for the uni-
versal benefit of mankind. They think in all-inclusive terms
and recoil from any exploitation of knowledge for the benefit
of those who apply it first, and who perpetuate the dangerous
cleavages that divide the globe. They are imaginative enough
to see the remarkable opportunities that are now within the
reach of mankind.

Under today's conditions these universal minds feel
remarkably ineffectual. How can they possibly move the
Nations toward a cooperative world of knowledge, friendship
and abundance? A disturbing insight is that the customary

SCIENCE, SCIENTISTS AND WORLD POLICY

tactic of enlightenment - outspoken disclosure of universal
propositions - does not promise to be politically effective.
To utter a universal principle is not to perform a universal
act; on the contrary, it is parochial, limited in time and space.
It is a particular case of the general statement formulated
above in saying that in politics at least all innovations have
parochial points of origin.

What, if anything, can be done by men of universal vision
and good will under these circumstances? The question can
receive an intelligible answer, and one that provides at least a
modicum of policy guidance. The problem is to de~paro-
chialize the impact of desirable innovations. The reply would
appear to be that a special strategy is required. The challenge
is to cultivate a strategy of parallel action at representative places over the
globe. All nations and all cultures are necessarily included
within the scope of such a program.

On reflection it is apparent that during the early phases at
least the strategy requires tactics at the centers and sub-
centers of introduction that evoke the support, not the
hostility, of local elites. This implies that local elites must be
led to accept the probability of net gain rather than net loss
for themselves by joining the movement.

An inference is that the agenda of the operation should be
composed of long-term undertakings of common concern to
mankind until an institution wins enough acceptance to
enable it to turn to the clarification of more immediate
problems. There is no dearth of long-range issues. Experi-
mental embryologists are bringing us close to the time when
it will be practical politics to consider the treatment to be
given to intelligent forms which are different and in some
ways, no doubt, superior to man. Specialists on machines are
engaged in planning and constructing automata whose
functions are ever closer to those of living systems. 2

2. Elsewhere I have raised the question when we should extend the provisions of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to these non-human forms. "The
Political Science of Science: An Inquiry into the Possible Reconciliation of Mastery
and Freedom," Amer. Political ScL Rev., I (1956) 961-979- Reprinted in The Sci. Monthly, 84
(1957) 34-44-

HAROLD D, LASSWELL

In an era of space travel we can look forward to the oppor-
tunity of experimenting with new biological and institution-
al models in habitats isolated from one another in the
galaxies.

If the intelligence function of governmental and private
organizations is to become more effectively attuned to the
tempo of the epoch of science and technology, new agencies
must be brought into existence which enable a sample of the
ablest minds of the Earth to devote themselves intensively
and often to the consideration of problems that touch upon
the destiny of man. As I have hinted, not the least of these
challenges is that of mobilizing all our knowledge, experi-
ence, judgement and imagination to accomplish the rational
planning and preparation of man's successor. It may be that this will
prove to be the noblest work of human history.

The Significance of Border Sciences
for the Future of Mankind

by
S. W. TROMP

PREFACE

In September 1957 the author was invited by Dr. HUGO BOYKO
to prepare an essay for the book "Science and the Future of
Man," to be published as a first step towards the creation of
a "Universal Academy of Art and Science." This Inter-
national Academy would transcend national frontiers, both
spiritual and geographical, and act as a forum of humanity.
Despite the great honour bestowed upon him by this request,
the author was most reluctant to accept because in his
opinion far more competent scientists with longer experience
in research and teaching might have been asked instead.

However, after careful consideration he accepted the invi-
tation on account of the very specific subject he was asked
to discuss: "The Significance of Border Sciences for the
Future of Mankind."

An explorer by profession I have always been attracted
more to the unknown realms of science, which require
careful balancing along the steep ravines of human
knowledge, than to well trodden paths, which ensure a
feeling of safety for those adhering to them. However, it is
my personal conviction that progress in the development
of mankind has been achieved not so much along those es-
tablished roads of scientific knowledge as along more hazard-

S. W. TROMP

ous trails. Still, it should be realized that the consolidation
of the newly acquired knowledge requires a team of men
specially interested in the levelling and cultivation of the
newly discovered mountains of promise.

The idea of a Universal Academy of Sciences appealed to
me because "as one .who has lived as a geologist with the
people of other lands, his affection for his own country and
his own science undergoes a change in perspective. Instead
of admiring the accomplishments as selfish things to be
confined within its borders they are viewed in the light of
the advantages they may offer to those outside, who are not
so fortunately situated. This is true internationalism, the
political philosophy which stresses the solidarity and mutual
dependence of all nations and offers a foundation for inter-
national peace." i

Geology as a border science has affected humanity so
much, both in its fundamental concepts and its material
welfare, that I always felt an urge to spread its concepts to
other scientific disciplines.

Geology, like astronomy, leads us to the borderland of
the unlimited precipices of time, as PIERRE TERMIER, the
famous French geologist, used to say. But it gives us more
than astronomy, because it teaches us that nothing on
earth is eternal, that everything changes, both matter and
mind. We geologists feel daily the instability of the best
organized systems in nature, the fragility of the most solid
concepts of human mind. In other words, we are continu-
ously aware that the universe in all its appearances is a
function of time and no barriers of development, however
strong and unconquerable they may seem at this moment
can resist the pressure of human mind if the will prevails
to overcome these barriers.

YOUNG 2 in his book "The Medici" wrote the following

1. LINN M. PARISH, geologist, in "The true Strength of America", N. Dakota, 17
June 1941.

2. Col. G. F. YOUNG: The Medici. London, John Murray, 1911.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER SCIENCES

warning to the present generation: "In the fifth century
storm upon storm out of the dark swept away in a great
deluge of barbarism all the civilisation of the western half
of the Roman Empire. From the Atlantic to Constantinople,
and from the Rhine and Danube to the deserts of Africa,
all that learned and cultivated, all that was artistic and
beautiful, was overwhelmed in an avalanche of ruin in which
the triumphs of architecture, literature, arts and sciences
were involved in one general destruction. After a night of
thick darkness, at length in the nth, i3th and i4th century
the re-civilisation of the west began in Italy with men like
NICCOLO PISANO, the father of modern art, DANTE ALLEGHIERI,
the immortal poet, GIOTTO DI BONDONE, the father of modern
painting and PETRARCH, the father of modern learning. But
as yet there was none w^ith power to make these efforts
produce their full fruit and to spread the knowledge of them
throughout the world. And then, in the city which had
produced three of these men, arose a family, who with the
power of wealth and with a great love for these things, lifted
learning from its grave and gave art the encouragement to
advance to its highest achievements. 33

In the 2oth century, when new attacks are threatening to
destroy the fundamental concepts of mankind, we see among
a group of scientists the growth of a love for, and a desire to
preserve the knowledge obtained in the past, and with it a
desire to spread this knowledge for the welfare of mankind.
This group is trying to build a Universal Academy of Sciences
where the vital problems of mankind can be discussed ob-
jectively and scientifically and plans for exploration in the
future can be reviewed.

Just as the grandeur of the concepts of the human mind
is not due to the individual cells of the brain, but to the inter-
action of groups of cells, so the greatest achievements in the
future of science will result from the interaction of existing
and recently developed branches of science. It is this inter-
action which creates the true border sciences, one of the

S. W. TROMP

most recent being Bioclimatology and Biometeorology. But
before we can enter deeper into their significance a more
distinct definition is required of what we actually mean by
border sciences, a term barely defined even in the largest
encyclopaedia,

I. INTRODUCTION

A. DEFINITION OF BORDER SCIENCES

The word science in its broadest sense means learning or
knowledge, from the latin word "scientia" (latin scire - to
learn or to know). Therefore, in principle, it can be used in
connection with any qualifying adjective which indicates
a certain branch of learning. In general usage, however, a
more restricted meaning has been adopted. As a result,
science is usually defined as "purposefully acquired, system-
atically ordered knowledge of natural phenomena and of
the relations between them."

At the time of ARISTOTLE (350 B.C.) only knowledge based
on stingent proof and a small number of axioms, as in
mathematics, was considered to be pure science. Gradually,
through the ages a wider concept developed, particularly
after the French philosopher AUGUSTE COMTE (abt. 1800) had
developed his philosophical concept of "positivism." Ac-
cording to COMTE the task of science is mainly the discovery
of statistical laws and rules, irrespective of the explanation
of observed facts.

When Paleolithic man was faced with the apparent irregu-
larity of sequence and connection between observed phe-
nomena, he may have been inclined to believe that these
apparently capricious events were due to the intervention
of some unseen being of a nature essentially similar to his
own.

In view of the fact that in younger prehistoric periods

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER SCIENCES

certain monuments were oriented in such a way as to suggest
a certain amount of astronomical observation, it is probable
that the purely mythological view of primitive man formed
the basis of one of the oldest sciences : Astronomy.

Whereas primitive man considered disease to be caused
by some malignant demon, in Greek times a more rational
thought developed and later formed the basis of Biological and
medical sciences.

During much of the first half of the i9th century it was
generally believed, that the known forces on earth, in the
atmosphere and the earth's crust, were insufficient to ex-
plain observed geological processes of the past. It was mainly
due to Sir CHARLES LYELL (1797-1875), an outstanding English
geologist, that the Concept of actualism (previously expressed
by JAMES HUTTON in 1785) was introduced about 1830. This
formed the basis of all succeeding geological sciences. Al-
though it is not denied that certain geological processes may
have taken place with greater intensity in earlier periods of
earth's history, considerable evidence has been collected,
indicating that for at least 2000 million years no fundamental
differences have existed between the type of forces acting
and shaping the earth today and those in the past.

Another important concept in geology was the recog-
nition that fossils were remnants of animals and plants
which had been living on earth millions of years previously.
LEONARDO DA VINCI and the Veronesian doctor FRACASTORC
assumed, as long ago as 1517, that fossil prints represented
organisms. But even in 1726, when SCHEUCHZER discovered
near the Lake of Constanz the skeleton of a salamander,
almost a meter in length, he assumed that it had belonged
to a man who had been a witness of the deluge ("Homo diluvii
tristis testis"). It was by CAMPER and CUVIER that this skeleton
was first recognized as that of a giant salamander.

The development of the various concepts which furthered
the growth of geological science gave sufficient support to
Paleontology and General Biology for the Theory of evolution,

S. W. TROMP

another outstanding concept of human knowledge mainly
developed by CHARLES DARWIN (1809-1882), to be generally
accepted as a fundamental pillar of human knowledge.

During the i9th and 2oth centuries several branches of
science grew from this group of concepts, which have been
classified differently, according either to subject of research,
or to problems, methods applied, etc.

These sciences are sometimes classified into four main
groups: the Norm - or Standard-Sciences (arithmetic, ge-
ometry, etc.), Natural-Sciences (Physics, mechanics, chemis-
try, astronomy etc.), Vital-Sciences (biology, medicine, etc.)
and Mental-Sciences (Sociology, Jurisprudence, etc.). Where-
as the Natural Sciences are objective in their basic concept
but subjective in the interpretation and validity of their
conclusions, the Norm-Sciences are subjective in their basic
concept, but objective in the validity of their conclusions.
For example, a straight line without dimensions (an object
of geometry) does not exist in reality, it exists only in our
subjective mind.

Sciences have also been classified into Exact Sciences, De-
scriptive Sciences, Theoretical and Applied Sciences, etc. It
was mainly in the later years of the first half of the 20th
century that a new group of sciences developed, the so-called
Border Sciences, one of the oldest being the Geological
Sciences as indicated above.

Border Sciences comprise those branches of science which
interconnect the fringes of well-established basic sciences
(either norm-, natural-, vital- or mental sciences) forming
new independent sciences. They also comprise those types
of fundamental research which penetrate into completely
unknown realms of human knowledge, until recently con-
sidered the domain of vague, unrealistic quasi-scientists and
unfortunately often the hunting-ground of unscientific
charlatans.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER SCIENCES

B. TENTATIVE CLASSIFICATION OF THE PRINCIPAL
BORDER SCIENCES

Some of the most important border sciences can be classified
as follows:

1. Established Border Sciences

A) Geological Sciences

B) Psycho-physics

(1) Physical embryology

(2) Physical neurology

(3) Geo-ecology

(a) General Geo-ecology

(b) Medical Geography and Geographical Pa-
thology

(4) Biorhythmics

C) Cybernetics

2. Non-established Border Sciences

A) Astronautics

B) Supersensorics

(1) In Man

(a) Paragnosy (telepathy, clairvoyance)

(b) Stigmatization

(2) In animals

(a) Direction finding of birds

(b) Homing instinct of salmon, eel and shad
Each of these branches of Border Sciences can be defined

as follows :

Whereas Geological sciences are concerned particularly with
the study of the history and development of both the inor-
ganic and organic part of the earth (and of the earth's crust
in particular), psycho-physics is a modern concept for a group

S. W. TROMP

of border sciences which study the fundamental psycho-
chemical properties of the web of life and its interre-
lationships with the inorganic and organic world sur-
rounding it.

Psychophysics comprises several branches of border
sciences:

Physical embryology, the study of the physico-chemical, but
particularly the purely physical aspects of the fundamental
problems of life in its embryonic stages; Physical neurology, the
study of the physical mechanism of nerve conduction and
brain processes in general; and Geo-ecology, comprising the
study of the interaction between environment and living
organism. This interaction determines for a considerable
part the conditions of life, behaviour and geographical distri-
bution of plants, animals and man (General geo-ecology), and
also the geographical distribution of diseases (Medical geo-
graphy) and the differences in clinical symptoms, severity and
development of these diseases in different parts of the world
(Geographical pathology).

The environmental factors affecting the living organism
are determined by four principal groups of inorganic forces :
the lithosphere (earthcrust), the hydrosphere (rivers, lakes,
oceans and underground water), the atmosphere and the
extraterrestrial or cosmic sphere, particularly those parts of
it which lie in the neighbourhood of the earth. This depends
greatly on the physical conditions of the sun and the changes
in its activity.

These four domains of the inorganic world have de-
termined the type and distribution of living organisms both
in the past and in the present. They comprise the so-called
biosphere which, in itself, forms a -fifth group of forces af-
fecting the individual living organism.

Whereas the forces of the lithosphere and hydrosphere
are studied in the geological sciences and those of the bio-
sphere in biological and medical sciences, the effect of the
atmosphere and nearby cosmic events on the living organ-

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER SCIENCES

ism are mainly studied in a relatively new border science,
Bioclimatology and Biometeorology, which will be described later
extensively in the following sections.

The study of the living processes in plants, animals and
man have shown us the existence of certain fundamental
rhythmical phenomena in nature, the study of which has
grown in recent years into another independent border
science: Biorhythmics.

Another fascinating border science of recent years -is
called Cybernetics (from the Greek cubernetes = steersman),
the study of the direction and control of certain distance
mechanism in the inorganic and living world. It comprises
the "Control and Communication Theories" and the study
of the so-called Feed-back mechanisms 3 and the processes in-
volved in "Memory" both in the mechanical and living
world.

Although the general idea of Cybernetics was developed
in principle by C. MAXWELL (1868) it has been formulated more
specifically about 1943 by N. WIENER (Prof, of Mathematics
at the Massachusetts Inst. of Technology at Cambridge,
U.S.A.) and Dr. A. ROSENBLUETH (Institute Nacional de Car-
diologia, Mexico), assisted by a large number of scientists
from various disciplines of science: physiology, sociology,
anthropology, biology, etc.

Dr. ROSENBLUETH always insisted that "a proper explo-
ration of the blank spaces on the map of science could be
made only by a team of scientists." He had dreamed for
years of an "Institution of independent scientists, working
together in one of these backwoods of sciences, not as sub-
ordinates of some great executive officer, but joined by the
desire, indeed by the spiritual necessity, to understand the
region as a whole, and to lend one another the strength of
that understanding."

3. "Feed-Bad" is the mechanism in which the result of a certain process is auto-
matically signalled back and therefore has a regulating effect on this mechanism
'(e.g. thermostat in an oven, certain muscular movements, etc.).

S. W. TROMP

Whereas the previous review of border sciences deals with
"Established Border Sciences" there are a number of less
established or even non-established Border Sciences which
in my opinion may, in a not too far distant future, develop
into new independent branches of Border Sciences, e.g.
Astronautics and Supersensorics.

Astronautics studies the problems involved in the transport
both of living and of non-living objects from the earth's
crust into the universe (i.e. to other planets or satellites) and
the study of conditions under which living organisms could
live in the outside space.

This science is extremely young and inexperienced. The
first milestone was passed on October 4, 1957, when scientists
of the USSR launched the first 84 kg artifical moon, "Sputnik
I" to a height of 900 km. This was followed on January 1958
by the 13 kg "Explorer", launched by U.S.A. scientists to an
elevation of 1700 km. These artifical celestial bodies, moving
around the earth at the immense speed of almost 30,000
km/hr, represent the first victory of the human mind in
conquest of outer space.

Supersensorics (by others defined as extra-sensorics) represent
the study of certain phenomena shown by living organisms,
the registration of which seems to take place by means of
physiological or other mechanisms, unknown at present in
human physiology. Part of these phenomena are only
observed in animals and, although apparently missing in
man, they can be explained at least partly, by the known
laws of physics. However, other supersensory phenomena
have been carefully studied in animals the explanation of
which is entirely lacking.

The study of this group of phenomena was primarily the
work of charlatans until recently, when these problems
began to be studied by scientists of good repute. The problem
of Supersensorics has now reached a stage at which extensive
scientific research seems to be warranted.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER SCIENCES

C. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE AND UNIVERSAL
CHARACTER OF BORDER-SCIENCES

In chapter II four promising new Border-Sciences will be
discussed in greater detail. This discussion will demonstrate
more clearly the significance of Border-Sciences in general.

The fact that a Border-Science, by definition, represents
the interconnection of the fringes of well-established basic
sciences (see p. 88) into new independent sciences, clearly
demonstrates their universal character. It is also evident
that such extremely complex branches of human knowledge
as these Border-Sciences can only be developed by a great
many experts in various disciplines of science, and unless a
truly universal team spirit can be developed no results can
be expected.

In chapter II we have briefly indicated the significance of
these Border-Sciences for the future of mankind. Parts of
these sciences are not sufficiently established yet, for their
real significance remains to be demonstrated. It is for this
reason that we review in this section the significance of one
of the oldest and best established of the Border-Sciences for
the development and future of mankind, i.e. the Geological
Sciences.

Geological Sciences have been applied to different problems
of mankind, of which the most important ones can be tenta-
tively classified into four main groups :

i. PROBLEMS ARISING FROM NATURAL CATASTROPHES; such as
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, etc.
It is well-known that certain places on earth have been
devastated again and again over many centuries as a result
of heavy earthquakes originating along the same regional
faultlines in the earthcrust. For example, the city of Erzincan
in Turkey has been destroyed 26 times during the last 900
years, causing thousands of casualties. Similar examples
could be given from Japan and other seismic areas.

S. W. TROMP

In recent years the frequencies and causes of earthquakes
have been studied more scientifically. In many instances the
geologist has been able to suggest better locations for re-
building destroyed villages. New types of building con-
struction have been discovered which can resist even big
earthquakes. By scientifically studying the history of vol-
canoes it is often possible to predict approaching eruptions
and the prevailing direction of the devastating lava and mud-
streams ejected. In certain areas too, energy from volcanic
steam has been utilized for industrial purposes.

2. PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE STRUGGLE OF MAN FOR HIS
PRIMARY NECESSITIES OF LIVING: For his modern way of life
man needs a great variety of raw materials, both biological
(food, textiles, etc.) and geological (various metals, precious
stones, radioactive minerals, etc.). The distribution of bio-
logical raw materials is determined both by climate and the
geological conditions of the soil. Geological raw materials
are needed for the construction and decoration of living
quarters of man. Problems due to underproduction or lack
of water in arid regions can only be solved with the as-
sistance of hydrologists and geologically trained engineers.
Modern electrical methods enable us to determine the lo-
cation of underground reservoirs of water in desert regions.
Dam constructions or the building of underground reser-
voirs in arid regions enable us to store water during the
rainy season and to irrigate and cultivate large areas, which
would otherwise support a much smaller population.

3. PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ACTIVITIES OF MAN FOR THE
IMPROVEMENT OF LIVING CONDITIONS AND FOR THE INCREASE OF
His POWER: Geological studies are required for large tunnel
projects through mountains and under rivers and seas, to
foresee the technical problems likely to be encountered.
Railroad constructions, harbour works and many other

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER SCIENCES

engineering problems often need the assistance of the ge-
ologist to prevent the subsoil from sliding, to estimate the
reserves of construction materials, etc.

Man needs, above all, large quantities of energy both for
transport of himself and of his industrial and agricultural
products, and for heating and lighting purposes. The dis-
covery of enormous oil and coal reserves on earth faciliated
the development of airtransport which has changed com-
pletely intercommunication between far-distant population
groups. This is largely a result of the development of the
Border Science of Geology. In recent years the discovery of
large quantities of radioactive minerals has enabled the
development of atomic energy, another powerful tool of
modern man.

4. PROBLEMS RELATED TO RELIGIOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL
PROBLEMS OF LIFE: On pp. 84 and 87 we indicated that the de-
velopment of geology, and especially of its subscience Palae-
ontology, has given an important impetus to the under-
standing of the concept of time and the continuous evo-
lution of the universe. Geology and Astronomy have
probably contributed more to the understanding of the
fundamental problems of life than have any other sciences.

D. CAUSES OF SLOW PROGRESS

In chapter II various reasons for the slow progress in the
Border Sciences will be discussed in greater detail. As an
introduction some general remarks can be made.

As mentioned in the previous section, Border Sciences
require both the National and International cooperation of
many experts in the various disciplines of science. Apart
from personal factors cooperation is often hampered by
national differences. Although international cooperation
is making rapid progress, particularly in science, consider-

S. W. TROMP

ably more is required in these extremely complex and
difficult border sciences.

Another important problem is the fact that each science
has its own language which often makes it difficult for a
research worker in one discipline to grasp the problems of
others. In addition, lack of mental flexibility often prevents
scientific compromise in definition and nomenclature.

Furthermore, each individual working in a particular field
of science, has his own "pet-projects." Unless he has a very
broad field of interest, he dislikes being forced to scatter his
energy by cooperating in complex team-projects which
require great adaptation and flexibility both in mind and
character. It is not only unwillingness to cooperate, but
more often inability resulting from his psychological pattern
which prevents him from becoming a good Border-Scientist.

Although innate character to a great extent determines
the working field of a scientist, in my opinion a drastic change
in educational systems is required to overcome this problem.
By teaching children the details of several specific sciences
and by stressing the interwoven relationships between them,
future scientists' may be trained who, despite problems of
personality, may be valuable tools in the future development
of the Border-Sciences.

II. REVIEW OF SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL
BORDER-SCIENCES

On p. 89ff a brief review was given of a number of important
Border-Sciences, four of which will be discussed more ex-
tensively: Biorhythmics, Supersensorics, Medical Geography
and Bioclimatology and Biometeorology.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER SCIENCES
A. BIORHYTHMICS

The scientific study of biological rhythms, which in this
essay has been called briefly Biorhythmics, is a comparatively
new branch of science, which received a major impulse after
the creation of the International Society for the Investigation
of Biological Rhythms 4 about 20 years ago, the first inter-
national conference being held in 1937 in Ronneby, Sweden.

As all living substance, either the body as a whole or its
components are constantly moving and as external or
internal resistances usually prevent unlimited movements,
most biological movements, after reaching a certain limit,
have to be reversed. When this process repeats itself with
more or less constant time intervals, the phenomenon is
described as Biological rhythm, either endogenous or exogenous.

Endogenous biological rhythms can be observed only if organisms
are cut off completely from all external stimuli. The frequen-
cy and amplitude of the various observed endogenous
biological rhythms differ greatly. Considerable changes in
these rhythms may occur due to the interaction of external
physical rhythms, such as rhythmic variations in light,
temperature and humidity of the air, rhythmic fluctuations
of the barometric pressure, fluctuations in the electric field
of the atmosphere, etc.

In view of the great variety in periodicities, both in the
inorganic and organic world, many scientists in various
basic sciences are deeply interested in the mechanism and
fundamental causes of biological rhythms, for biorhythmics
touches many branches of sciences: biology, physiology,
chemistry, geophysics, mathematics, etc. It is therefore a
Border-Science in the true sense.

Despite a vast amount of research carried out during the
last 20 years and the introduction of modern methods of
statistical analysis, neither the exact location nor the ana-

4. Its present, very active, Secretary-General is Mr. A. SOLLBERGER, Solnavagen i,
Stockholm 60, Sweden.

S. W. TROMP

tomical and physiological composition of the biological
rhythm centres in the living organisms are known. As these
rhythms are closely connected with the fundamental nature
of life, biorhythmics is a promising Border-Science of the
future.

It has been shown by GERRITZEN (the Netherlands), MEN-
ZEL (Germany) and others that human diuresis has a 24 hour
rhythm with maximum excretion around 2 p.m. and mini-
mum around 2 a.m. This rhythm applies both to the ex-
cretion of water and to chloride and urea excretion by the
human body. When the experiment is carried out in various
parts of the world, this rhythm is found to be determined
by local sun-time. Artificial changes in the daily light and
dark rhythm of the environment can cause a reversal of the
original rhythm.

Rapid airtravel over large distances is responsible for
serious disturbances in this natural rhythm, and may even
lead to disease. After the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
travelled to Tokyo by air it took the members four days to
become fully adapted. Similar experience were learned from
European athletes at the Melbourne Olympic Games. Even
more serious consequences can be expected in interspatial
travel as planned by "Astronautics."

MOLLERSTROM (Sweden) and DENNEMARK (Germany) were
able to demonstrate, independently, that the hour of the
day at which various drugs are administered greatly effects
the results of the therapy depending on the time-phase of
the endogenous rhythm.

Several psychiatrists assume that external stimulation
during inhibitory phases of the human nervous system may
be responsible for many of the contemporary psychosomatic
disorders. Disturbances of the day-night rhythms of the
autonomous nervous system may be responsible, according
to various scientists, for peculiar experiences during sleep.
Many of the so-called Weather-sensitivity phenomena, to be dis-
cussed later, may depend on similar disturbances in the

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER SCIENCES

endogenous adaptation rhythm or other physiological
rhythms.

KLEITMANN, ENGELMANN, GIFFORD and other psychologists
in the U.S.A. could demonstrate that the adaptation of the
infant's autonomous endogenous rhythm to the 24 hour
activity pattern of the mother creates a sleep-wakefulness
rhythm in children long before the 3rd month of life. GIF-
FORD (Boston) stated in 1957 during the congress of Biological
Rhythm that "although the highest functions of time-
perception are established in later childhood, it is possible
that the quality of these early experiences (rhythm adap-
tations) with time and external reality influences the adult's
attitude toward time, his capacity to estimate duration and
orientation, his tolerance for frustration and delay, his need
for punctuality or freedom from restriction and his ability
to adapt or depart from fixed schedules of activity."

Important rhythms have also been reported from both
the plant and animal world, the occurrence of endogenous
rhythms in plants having been known for a very long time.
Sir NIGEL BALL (London) recently has demonstrated a 24 hour
rhythm in the growth of coleoptiles of seedlings of the Oat
(Avena Saliva) due to lightdark cycles in the environment.
This rhythm could be retarded by lack of oxygen. He also
demonstrated that the time-keeping mechanism is not con-
fined to the tip of the coleoptiles.

CLOUDSLEY-THOMPSON (London) has pointed out that in
most animals there is a rhythmic alternation of activity,
during which feeding, mating and dispersal takes place, with
periods of physiological recuperation, the activity usually
being linked with rhythm of daylight and darkness. Rhythms
of diurnal and nocturnal activity are common and, in the case
of terrestrial arthropods, often related to fluctuating light
intensity or variations in temperature and humidity and
affected by the water-balance of the animals.

In the case of insects a close parallel has been observed
between the rhythm of biting activity of certain East African

S. W. TROMP

mosquitoes and the bimodal flight activity of the Trichoptera.

STEPHENS (Minneapolis) has shown the influence of temper-
ature on the 24 hour rhythm of the movement of the melano-
phore pigment in the fiddler Crab, Uca pugnax, a light-
controlled rhythm previously established by KALMUS (Lon-
don), The phases of induced rhythms could be shifted by
sudden changes in temperature, provided these exceeded
certain threshold values.

General problems like the daily or seasonal time concept,
very marked both in plants and in animals, and the
observation that many people are able to wake up at pre-
fixed hours, are also probably related to certain endogenous
and exogenous biological rhythms.

The above examples, a spectrum of the various impli-
cations of the theory of biological rhythm, clearly demon-
strate the importance of this new Border Science for the
future of mankind. The problems involved are extremely
complicated and unless scientists of various disciplines of
science join hands, we shall never be able to penetrate into
the deeper causes of the rhythmic activity of the living
organism.

B. SUPERSENSORICS

Supersensory phenomena, as defined on p. 92, have been
observed both in animals and in man. Of the many reported
observations a few can stand critical scientific tests despite
the fact that these observations have been made many times
by a large number of observers. The processes involved and
the conditions under which they have to be observed facili-
tate fraud. Furthermore, even in well-controlled experi-
ments it is difficult to collect sufficient evidence for a sta-
tistical analysis or to reproduce the results at any given time
for a group of unbiased observers. It is for this reason that
we have selected a number of phenomena in which the

100

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER SCIENCES

available evidence seems to warrant extensive future re-
search by a team of scientists consisting of physiologists,
neurologists, psychologists, geophysicists, etc.

Of the various reported Supersensoric phenomena in man which
seem to be worth studying I should like to mention the
following ones : Paragnostic phenomena (from the Greek para -
next and gnosis - insight, i.e. observations made without the
aid of the well-known human sense organs) and in particu-
lar the reported studies in telepathy and clairvoyance;
Summarization phenomena (i.e. appearance in males and females
of usually non-infectious bleeding wounds on hands, feet or
breast, little affected by medicine, appearing often with
regular intervals on certain religious days, and mainly
occurring in very religious Roman .Catholics; after the
bleeding has stopped no scars can be found); Hypnosis and
Trance conditions (peculiar sleep conditions as a result of certain
external psychic influences, during which the person does
not wake up to noises, the whole condition being character-
ized by reflexes different from ordinary sleep; and according
to various research workers also differing in encephalo-
graphic pattern); Yogi phenomena (comprising methods, re-
quiring intensive mental training, developed in India proba-
bly around 1500 B.C., enabling a person to control extreme
physiological conditions, such as cold, hunger, thirst, and
purposely lowering the whole metabolic process of the body,
and apparently facilitating paragnostic observations).

Of the Supersensory phenomena in animals the following seem to
be of particular interest for future research: direction finding
of birds and the homing instinct of salmon, eel and shad. 5

5. Other supersensory phenomena in animals, recently explained by physics, are
the sensitivity of bees to polarized light and the sensitivity of bees and other insects
to supersonic waves.

101

S. W. TROMP

(i) The study of par agnostic phenomena

For thousands of years man has believed in the existence of
unknown forces in the world surrounding him. This has
been based partly on mystical belief and various religious
concepts, partly on spontaneous experiences and, in more
recent times, on scientific experimental research. This ex-
perimental work has arisen from a vast hinterland of spon-
taneous events which have been described as "paranormal
phenomena" or "extra-sensory phenomena" (RHINE). The
term extra-sensory phenomena more or less implies that
all these observations take place without the aid of our
sensory organs, whereas no evidence for this assumption
exists. However, since these experiences may be related to
other physiological mechanisms, unknown to us at present,
it seems better to speak of Supersensory phenomena, i.e. sensory
registration with a sensitivity surpassing that of the known
sense organs in man. The study of most of the so-called
paragnostic phenomena can be described as investigations
into the apparent transference of ideas, sensations and
mental images from one mind to another in the present,
past or future.

Two important groups of phenomena have been described :
Telepathy (a name introduced in 1882 by F. W. H. MYERS, a
famous classical scholar and inspector of schools) and Clair-
voyance. Both terms have a very poor reputation amongst
scientists because they have been so often connected with
charlatans and parapsychological "cranks."

SOAI, Senior Lecturer in pure mathematics at Queen Mary
College of the University of London, one of the leading
experimental workers in this field in W. Europe, gave the
following definitions of these phenomena: "If a present
mental pattern of a person wholly or in part corresponds
to a past, present or future mental pattern of another person
(who may be dead or living) and the correspondence cannot

102

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER SCIENCES

be accounted for by ordinary physiological sense-perception
or by inference based on sense-perception or by chance
coincidence, the phenomenon is called Telepathy. However,
if a person experiences a present mental pattern which corre-
sponds wholly or in part with sensory aspects of a past,
present or future physical object or event, in such a way
that the observed correspondence cannot be accounted for
by sense-perception or inference based on normal sense-
perception or by chance coincidence, we are used to describe
this phenomenon as Clairvoyance."

Around 1930 it was felt more and more that unless rigidly
controlled experiments could confirm the reality, or the
great probability of various reported phenomena, no pro-
gress in this new field of research would be possible. The
great resistance of orthodox science however prevented and
still prevents the necessary scientific studies from being
carried out by large research teams, as in the case for example
in modern atomic research.

What have been the reasons for the resistance?

i. Orthodox scientists are often less unbiased and less open-
minded than one would expect. ALEXIS CARREL ("Man the
Unknown," 1935) rightly pointed out that "our mind has a
natural tendency to reject the things that do not fit into the
frame of the scientific and philosophical beliefs of our time.
After all scientists are only men. They are saturated with
the prejudices of their environment and of their epoch. They
willingly believe that facts that cannot be explained by
current theories do not exist." "Evident facts having an
unorthodox appearance are suppressed. By reason of these
difficulties the inventory of the things which could lead us
to a better understanding of the human being has been left
incomplete." In other words it is the mental condition of
man which is usually more important for the infiltration of
new ideas than the facts themselves.

2. The interest shown by charlatans and ' * cranks' ' in these sub-
jects makes a scientist reluctant to enter this field of research.

103

S. W. TROMP

3. The acceptance of the phenomenon of clairvoyance of
future events, so-called "precognition," requires a funda-
mental and revolutionary change in the basic concepts of
natural sciences, physics in particular, overthrowing several
fundamental pillars of knowledge and creating a feeling of
mental unrest and instability which most scientists cannot
endure.

4. It has been very difficult to supply sufficient evidence
to satisfy most present day scientists. In other words, facts
should be made highly probable with mathematical sta-
tistics, a concept greatly neglected in the past, although in
recent years highly overrated.

SOAL rightly pointed out that "cases of apparent thought-
transference, of a presumed observation of future events in
dreams or in a physical state of high nervous tension and
awareness of what is happening to friends or relatives at a
distance, without the normal means of communication,
have been reported in ancient as well as in modern times,
among primitive and civilised peoples, both religious and
non-religious groups of mankind. To attempt to apply
modern statistics to such spontaneous cases usually fails for
lack of precise figures giving the expected probability."

In July 1955 a symposium was organized by the Society for
Psychical Research in London, together with the Parapsy-
chology Foundation of New York City, at Newnham College,
University of Cambridge (England). This provided an oppor-
tunity for an exchange of views between scientists interested
in Supersensorics. Prof. MURPHY, well-known American
psychologist and Director of Research of the Menninger
Foundation (Topeka, Kansas), Prof. STRATTON (Cambridge),
Prof. BROAD (Cambridge), Prof. PRICE (Oxford), Prof. HART
(Dept. of Sociology, Duke Univ., U.S.A.), Dr. HENRY MAR-
GENAU (Sloans Physics Lab., Yale Univ.) and several other
leading European and American scientists were able to meet
and discuss fundamental problems of supersensorics and
the reasons for slow progress. During this conference MAR-

104

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER SCIENCES

GENAU pointed out correctly that scientists working in this
field may be inclined to overrate the competence of wholly
empirical material as a means for convincing, heaping fact
upon fact without theoretical concepts to explain these
observations. "Full credibility involves i) immediate experi-
ences or reports of them, 2) certain well-connected theo-
retical concepts, and 3) rules of correspondence between
them. The two latter points must be provided before the
need for accepting experiences as real will be universally
felt," which does not mean that the observations are not
true if these points cannot be provided.

Considerable statistical evidence for the existence of para-
gnostic phenomena has been gathered during the last 30 years
particularly through the work of Prof. RHINE and his co-
workers at Duke University (USA), Prof. SOAL (London Uni-
versity), Prof. HEYMANS (Prof, of Psychology at Groningen,
the Netherlands) and VAN BUSSCHBACH (School Inspector in
the Netherlands). These four types of research were carried
out independently in different parts of the world and con-
firmed, with a high degree of probability, the existence of
paragnostic phenomena. However, due to reasons given
above, various scientists have tried to belittle the results
obtained and have not hesitated to accuse them of fraud.
However, a sufficiently large number of well-known scien-
tists have been able to check their work and none of them
seems to doubt the truthfulness of the observations re-
ported.

In most of these experiments the so-called Card calling test
is used. This was developed about 1928 by Prof. FISCHER and
Miss INA JEPHSON in London.* The test employs so-called
Zemr cards, a pack of 25 cards of five groups of symbols: crosses,
squares, stars, circles and waves, five cards of each symbol.
By pure chance-guessing in a series of 25 trials one has an
average chance of five hits only. Mathematical statistics
permits us to determine, provided any form of fraud or

6. For details see BETTY M. HUMPHREY: Handbook of tests in Parapsychology.

105

S. W. TROMP

ordinary psychological sense perception is excluded? , the
degree of probability that such card guesses (surpassing the
chance figure 5) are due to pure chance only.

RHINE, PRATT and WOODRUFF demonstrated in 1939 by a
series of 96700 card tests, carried out under rigidly controlled
conditions at Duke University with 66 different percipients,
that a surplus in guesses was obtained representing a critical
ratio of 7.8, in other words a possibility that this result could
be obtained by chance only in i to io 14 cases. A comparison
between those 96700 cards and a group of cards turned at
random, without using a percipient, gave a critical ratio of
o.s only. Similar experiments by SOAL in London and by
HEYMANS in Groningen (the Netherlands) 8 indicated proba-
bilities of even more than i to io 3 <>. In other words it seems
difficult to explain these results by pure chance only.

A recent series of scientific experiments has been carried
out since 1951 in Dutch schools by VAN BusscHBACH. 9 Using
modified Zener cards and the class teacher (who could not

7. For example by placing the Agent, who is presumed to initiate a telepathic trans-
mission, and the Percipient, the person who endeavours to receive the mental
message, in different rooms far apart.

8. SOAL and GOLDNEY carried out similar experiments during 1941 and 1942, at Queen
Mary College, University of London, using pictures of animals. In a series of 3946
pictures with the percipient Shackleton a critical ratio for surplus guessing was
obtained of 13.2. In other words a result to be obtained by chance only in i to io 35
cases. A series of 17000 guesses with the percipient Mrs. Stewart even gave a critical
ratio of 52.

About 1921, at the Psychological Institute of the University of Groningen (Nether-
lands) HEYMANS, assisted by BRUGMANS and WEINBERG, carried out carefully con-
trolled draught-board guessing experiments, in which the percipient, van Dam
(a student in Physics), obtained a surplus in "good" guesses which can be explained
by chance only in i to io 80 .

9. The first series of experiments made in Amsterdam with pupils of 10-12 years of
age and the teacher as agent consisted of 20,190 trials. A significant critical ratio of
good guesses was obtained of 2.79. Similar experiments in the city of Utrecht con-
sisting of 26,880 trials gave a critical ratio of 2.73. Both series together give a critical
ratio of 4.07. The most interesting result was, however, that similar extensive tests
with older pupils, or tests with young pupils but a stranger as agent, gave only
chance results. In 1956 VAN BUSSCHBACH received an invitation from the Parapsy-
chology Lab. at Duke Univ. to conduct similar investigations in American schools.
After 36,160 trials with 5th and 6th grade pupils a positive deviation was found with
a critical ratio of 2.70, a result almost identical to that obtained in Holland. Again
20,160 trials with 7th and 8th grade pupils or a stranger as agent produced results
almost according to chance.

106

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER SCIENCES

be seen by his pupils) as agent, VAN BUSSCHBACH tested the
success with which pupils in a class could acquire knowledge
from their teacher by supersensory means. It was found that
only young children (10-12 years of age) produced statisti-
cally significant results. In the case of older children no
positive results were obtained, nor if a child or stranger were
used as agent with a group of young children. His experi-
ments were repeated in the USA and his results con-
firmed.

During 1956 similar experiments were carried out in the
USA by ANDERSON and WHITE on the influence of the teacher-
pupil attitude. These experiments (and similar tests carried
out by BETTY HUMPHREY and others in previous years) seem
to suggest that the positive attitude of percipient and agent
improves the results, whereas a negative attitude causes
considerable negative critical ratios. If these observations are
confirmed they will clearly show the enormous difficulties
to be encountered in this type of research because the ob-
server may affect the results obtained in a way similar to a
thermal experiment in Physics in which the observer is
getting too close to the measured object.

The results obtained by these various research workers in
different parts of the world make it difficult to deny the
existence of some kind of supersensory communication be-
tween men. Unless we assume, as some critics do, that all
these scientists have been practising fraud systematically, we
have to accept the existence of a group of unknown phe-
nomena, whose existence is supported by a vast number of
spontaneous cases described in recent years by various serious
research workers.

The greatest stumbling block for disbelievers in super-
sensorics is the phenomenon of f recognition. SOAL and others
were able to demonstrate statistically, that the percipient
often guesses not the card at which the agent is looking but
the succeeding one, at that moment unknown to the agent.
Well-established spontaneous cases reported in recent years

107

S. W. TROMP

also suggest in certain people the existence of a supersensory
faculty, i.e. the capacity to experience events before they have
taken place.

If future events are accessible to us, it implies that the
future is already predetermined. In a similar way, a passenger
in a train can watch the scenery of the present and remember
what has passed before. But he lacks the capacity to look
ahead, although the future scenery is already in existence.

It seems that the philosophical consequence of precog-
nition, in other words the doctrine of predestination, forms
one of the greatest mental obstacles both for certain religious
groups and for people who believe in absolute free will and
in freedom of choice for the human mind.

Another difficulty in the acceptance of precognition is the
consequence that the effect can precede the cause. In card-
calling experiments the percipient is apparently guided by
events in the future. Something in the future is governing
the percipient's behaviour in the present. Many theories,
like those of the British philosopher BROAD and of the Dutch
scientist KOOY, have been proposed in an attempt to explain
those difficulties. They involve modern space-time theories
using various dimensions. Recent developments in nuclear
physics may help to shed light on these hypotheses which
are still unsatisfactory.

(2) Supersensorics in animals

It is surprising that the same scientists, who deny the ex-
istence of any supersensory capacity in man, accept biologi-
cal observations on animals suggesting e.g. a peculiar gift
in birds to find their home thousands of miles away, even if
they have to cross the ocean without any landmarks. Despite
the many theories advanced in the last fifty years to explain
this direction-finding capacity in birds, no satisfactory expla-
nation has been given yet.

108

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER SCIENCES

Even less comprehensible is the homing instinct of the
Salmon, Eel and Shad. NIERSTRASZ (1916) demonstrated by
tagging salmons (Salmo solar), which live in small brooks in
the centre of the Netherlands, that after spending three
years in the Atlantic Ocean they returned to the same spots
in those brooks in the Netherlands. Similar experiments
were carried out in the USA (SHEER and others, 1939) where
newly born hatched salmons were removed from their
birthplace to other rivers. After few years they returned, not
to these latter rivers but to the original brooks in which they
were hatched. SCHMIDT, Director of the Royal Danish Com-
mission for Sea Research, was able to demonstrate (between
1903 and 1922) that the full-grown eel (Anguilla anguitta) of
approx. i m length, migrates in autumn from the rivers of
Scandinavia, W. Europe and the Mediterranean area to the
Saragossa Sea, N. of Puerto Rico and S. of the Bermudas
(3000-4000 miles from <their home) and breed there at a great
depth. The females drop their eggs which are fertilized by
males who die afterwards. From the eggs the young eels, the
leptocephali, develop. After three years they reach the coasts
of Europe again. The same happens to eels living in the
southern part of the USA, but the European type of lepto-
cephalus never migrates to the American coast or vice
versa.

Extensive studies in the USA by LEIM, BORODIN, BARNEY
and GREYLEYin 1948, and by HOLLIS and HAMMER in 1951 have de-
monstrated similar almost unbelievable migrations amongst
shads. The young shad, which spends the first few months
of its life in fresh water basins of N. America hear the Atlantic
Ocean, moves in autumn to unknown parts of the Atlantic
Ocean. Experiments with tagged fishes have shown that the
shads return, usually after 5-7 years, to the same fresh water
basins in which they spent the first months of their lives.

These examples of very astonishing migrations, which
could easily be extended by others, are difficult to under-
stand without accepting certain supersensory sensitivities

109

S. W. TROMP

in the animal world, which may comply with the laws of a
future branch of physics, "Psycho-physics."

In this chapter more facts are given than in other parts of
the essay, because most scientists seem to be ignorant of
them; and without this knowledge the study of supersensory
phenomena does not seem to be a very realistic science.

Although the study of supersensory phenomena still be-
longs to the non-established Border Sciences, there seems
to be little doubt that this new branch may one day grow
into a vast new science opening vistas of knowledge not
even dreamt of in the present atomic age.

C. GEO-ECOLOGY

(i) Medical geography:

Medical Geography involves the study of the geographical
distribution of diseases and the fundamental causes of the
interaction between the environment and living organisms
and their conditions of health in the different parts of the
world.

The differences observed in the structure and external
appearances of living organisms seem to be entirely, or at
least largely, determined by the influence of the Lithosphere,
Hydrosphere, Atmosphere and Cosmic (extra-terrestrial)
sphere. This influence could be a direct one, but may also
be indirect through food (animal - or plant food) consumed.
Differences in food or climate (determined either geographi-
cally or topographically) may change even the anatomical
and physiological characteristics of populations, both ani-
mal and human. Differences in climate and soil and in useful
raw materials available in or on the earth crust may affect
social habits, such as differences in housing, hygienic con-
ditions, clothing, etc. Complex groups of such factors affect
marital habits, and so on. Similar environmental differences
have affected, particularly in previous centuries, methods

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER SCIENCES

of heating, lighting, road construction and means of transpor-
tation.

In recent years the discovery of so-called trace-elements
in the soil has taught us the far-reaching effects of slight
deficiencies or surplusses on plants, and indirectly on man
and animals consuming them. Cattle in one region may he
strong, healthy and active; the same breed in another area
having a certain trace-element deficiency in the soil, but
with the same climatic conditions, may be weak or slow.
Thus the agricultural methods and food conditions of
peasants living in such an area are affected. The same may
apply to the mental capacity of people of the same race
living in different parts of the world.

Complex environmental factors, affected by the geological
history of a particular region during hundreds of million
of years, may even determine the origin of beliefs or religions
in some parts of the world.

The study of this complex geo-ecological web of life has
become a very important tool in recent years in the study
of the diseases of man.

Diseases can be studied in laboratories or clinics, but more
and more it is realized that several complex diseases, such as
cancer, must be also approached in a different way. "We
should start with a field study and try to establish beyond
doubt whether two areas really differ in mortality or mor-
bidity from a certain disease. Age group corrections should
naturally be made. In addition medical and hospital facilities
and training of physicians should be comparable, before it
is decided that observed differences are real. In other words,
we should be certain that differences in degree of accuracy
of diagnosis are not alone responsible for the observed
differences.

Once such regional differences have been established
beyond doubt, a field team composed of experts should
study these different deathrates in order to discover the
actual reasons for the observed differences. This empirical

S. W. TROMP

approach can be of inestimable value, in the study of disease.
Results can only be obtained, however, if a true team-spirit
exists amongst scientists; and this may explain the relatively
small progress made in this new Border Science: Medical
geography.

The significance of Medical Geography for the future of
mankind is gradually being realized. In fifty years or perhaps
even sooner it may play an important part alongside the
orthodox sciences.

(2) Bioclimatology and Biometeorology

The fourth Border Science that I should like to discuss more
in detail is the science of Bioclimatology and Biometeorology.
This was defined in 1956 by the "International Society of Bio-
climatology and Biometeorology" as "the study of the direct
and indirect interrelations between the geo-physical and
geo-chemical environment of the atmosphere and living
organisms, plants, animals and man, the term "environ-
ment" being broadly conceived and including micro-, macro-
and cosmic environments and the diverse physical and
chemical factors comprising these environments."

The great influence of the atmospheric environment on
man is known to everybody who has been forced to be active
on a hot summer day and to those who have lived in tropical
climates. People living in the Swiss Alps, Austria or Bavaria
are well acquainted with a group of peculiar symptoms
described as "foehn-disease," which seem to be related to
specific weather conditions, known as "foehn."

Despite a great number of subjective observations, it is
extremely difficult to prove in many instances that such
experiences are really due to specific weather conditions and
not merely to coincidence. In those cases in which a weather-
disease relationship has been established it is often not
known through which physiological processes these weather
conditions are reflected in the body. In some instances the

112

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER SCIENCES

influences seem to involve a direct cause- and effect re-
lationship; in others a more complicated indirect relation-
ship seems to exist. This is common in the case of animals
where the indirect influences of climate and weather on
soil and plants may affect physiological processes of animals
living on those plants.

Two kinds of studies are being made in the field of Bio-
climatology: so-called "empirical" and "experimental
studies." Empirical studies (from the Greek empeiria - experi-
ences) comprise observations of facts or events and the
knowledge resulting from them without a preconceived
idea or theory, whereas in the case of Experimental studies (from
the Latin experiri - to try) observations of facts or events are
made during a trial with the purpose of testing a special
hypothesis, theory or assumption.

Bioclimatology can be classified therefore into two main
groups depending on the methods of Research.

i. EMPIRICAL BIOCLIMATOLOGY:

In this type of approach observations on certain physiolo-
gical or pathological phenomena in man, animals or plants,
caused or triggered by atmospheric agents, are collected on
a statistical basis, without any preconceived idea or theory.
Usually there are no clear-cut, quantitative relations between
the atmospheric agent and the observed biological effect.

In one group of such studies the effect of more or less
known atmospheric agents is being studied. These are either
specific meteorological factors (temperature, humidity, etc.)
or groups of such factors, air pollutants or aerosols. In such
studies the effects are often basically reproduceable.

Other studies involve the effects of either little known or
unsuspected atmospheric agents on certain biological phe-
nomena, the results being based on statistical data and often
difficult to reproduce.

In recent years new methods have developed from this

113

S. W. TROMP

group of studies which are described as Experimental Bio-
climatology.

2. EXPERIMENTAL BIOCLIMATOLOGY:

In this type of research observations on exactly measurable
changes in man, animals or plants are collected under repro-
duceable, controlled experimental conditions, both in the
laboratory and in the field. Such conditions are the result
of measurable environmental factors, the effect of which is
understandable from the physical, chemical and (or) bio-
logical viewpoint and usually enables us to predict the
qualitative and quantitative aspects of responses to those
particular environmental conditions. The purpose of these
observations is usually to test a special theory, hypothesis or
assumption.

In order to understand the wide scope of bioclimatology
as a Border Science and its significance to living organisms,
man in particular, we must consider not the different
methods of research but the various branches of Bioclima-
tology and their significance for various aspects of life.

In the case of Phytological bioclimatology the influence of
climate and of various meteorological factors on the de-
velopment and distribution of plants is being studied for
general phytological, agricultural and forestry purposes. In
experimental laboratories artificial climates, which enable us
to study the effect of specific meteorological factors on
certain plants, are created.

These studies enable the bioclimatologist to determine the
best periods for sowing and harvesting and the species which
is best adapted to a specific regional climate.

A special aspect of Phytological Bioclimatology is Bioclima-
tological phenology (founded by LINNAEUS in 1751 in his "Philo-
sophia Botanica"). It is the study of periodic phenomena in
the development of organisms. In the case of plants, the
periodicity is caused by seasonal variations. In practice in

114

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER SCIENCES

various parts of an area dates are collected on which a certain
type of plant or tree reaches a specific stage of development,
e.g. first budding, first appearance of flowers or of certain
pollen or spores, first ripening of wheat, etc. Such data are
plotted on a map and then connected by curves, indicating
regions with equal development. This may give us infor-
mation about the best areas for growing certain plants in a
country, expected dates of harvesting, etc.

A new branch of Phytological Bio climatology has been
developed in recent years by BOYKO (Israel). It is known as
Ecological dimatography. The ecological climatologist defines
climate on the basis of plant and animal associations of a
region, a valuable tool for underdeveloped areas where there
is a lack or shortage of accurate meteorological data.

Another important branch of Bioclimatology is Zoological
biodimatology with its two main sections, Entomological and
Veterinary biodimatology. The entomological bioclimatologist
studies the influence of climate and weather on insects and
other terrestrial Arthropoda, the effect on their physiolo-
gical processes, development, diseases and geographical distri-
bution. It is evident that the study of this branch of bioclima-
tology has far-reaching practical applications if we only
think of the yearly damage caused by locust swarms. Veter-
inary Bioclimatology is a more recent branch of Zoological
Bioclimatology which studies both quantitatively and quali-
tatively the effect of climate and weather on the anatomical
and physiological characteristics of domestic and farm ani-
mals and birds, and on animal products such as eggs, wool,
milk, etc.

The oldest and probably most extensively studied branch
of Bioclimatology, even known to the ancient Greeks, is
Human biodimatology. Four main sections of this subject have
been developed in recent years:

Physiological human biodimatology comprises the study of the
influence of specific single or groups of meteorological
components and of different climates (mountain-, marine-,

115

S. W. TROMP

forest-, tropical climates, etc.) and of their seasonal vari-
ations, on the various physiological processes of normal
healthy man. It also involves investigation of their effect on
race and body structure of man, his capacity to become
adapted to extreme climatic conditions, etc. The methods
applied belong mainly to Experimental Bioclimatology,
using special climatic chambers in which various conditions
of temperature, humidity, etc. can be changed at will.

A second section of Human Bioclimatology is known as
Social bioclimatolofty. In this branch the influence of climate and
weather on the social habits of man in general is studied. In
a more specific way the use of favourable climatological
factors for the treatment of large population groups as pre-
ventive or curative measures, and the various social impli-
cations in the field of organization of climatic health stations,
social insurance, etc. are studied. The Social Bioclimatologist
also studies the influence of climate and weather on the
mental processes of man (Psychological bioclimatology) and on
his aesthetic expression (Aestheto-biodimatology). He is also
interested in the deeper climatic causes (either direct or
indirect) of the origin, distribution and disappearance of past
civilizations (Archaeological bioclimatology).

A third section of Human Bioclimatology is known as
Pathological biodimatology. Here the influence of climate and
weather on the various physiological and pathological phe-
nomena associated with the diseases of man, both their
frequency, intensity and geographical distribution are studied.
The effect of air pollution, either organic (pollen and spores)
or inorganic particles or chemical substances, the latter
notorious for their devastating effects during "smog," are
also investigated. In recent years the great importance of
Aerosols 10 in biological processes has also been realized.
Finally, various therapeutic effects of climates are being

10. Aerosols are gaseous, liquid or solid aggregates, with diameters of i/iooo toiopt
and often with either positive or negative electrical charges, which float in the air
and are able to penetrate deeply into the lungs of man and animals.

116

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER SCIENCES

studied. These branches of the subject are more specifically
known as Thalassotherapy (sea climate therapy), Helio-
therapy, Aerosol- and lonotherapy, etc. Man is gradually
beginning to realize that he is not living as an independent
subject, unaffected by his environment, but that he is continu-
ously influenced by the atmosphere surrounding him, both
by its favourable and by its detrimental influences.

The fourth main section of Human Bioclimatology is
Urban bioclimatology. This is the study of micro-climates in
houses and cities and their influence on the health of man.
Methods are being developed for eliminating unfavourable
influences and for increasing favourable biological effects in
certain types of architectural construction and in town
planning. It is often not sufficiently realized that in the
regional planning of a city, the spaces between buildings,
their height and the creation of large parks whose vegetation
affects the amount of solar energy and ionization of the air,
etc. present important biometeorological problems. In ad-
dition the type of heating and chimneys used and the location
of industries in relation to the prevailing direction of wind
govern the local micro-climates and the health of large
population groups. Closely related to this problem is the
study of the best locations and construction methods for
sanatoria from the point of view of climato-therapy.

Another interesting branch of Bioclimatology is known
as Cosmic bioclimatology. This is the study of the effect of extra-
terrestrial influences on biological processes. It is well-known
that variations in the activity of the sun affect the meteoro-
logical conditions of the outer parts of the atmosphere.
These in turn influence weather conditions at the lower
levels in which we are living. Such long-range indirect effects
may seriously influence economic conditions in an area
through abnormal rainfall, snow, heat, cold, or drought
spoiling harvests and often killing animals in the open fields.

Recent studies by PICCARDI (Professor of Physical Chemis-
try in Florence, Italy) suggest a possible direct effect by

117

S. W. TROMP

unknown cosmic agents on physico-chemical processes,
both inorganic and organic. If these studies can be confirmed
an important new field of research will be opened up.

The fifth main branch of bioclirnatology is Palaeo-biodima-
tology. It involves the study of the influence of climatic con-
ditions in the past on the development, evolution and geo-
graphical distribution of living organisms. Recent develop-
ments in the border Science Geology, the improvement of
methods of dating geological periods (in particular those
using various radioactive methods), the introduction of
Palynology and other related sciences have enabled us to
analyse the type of climate prevailing during the different
geological periods in various parts of the world. In many
instances the flora and fauna during these periods are also
known so it has been possible to draw some interesting bio-
climatological conclusions, often with far-reaching philo-
sophical consequences.

These various aspects of Bioclimatology and Biometeoro-
logy, originally studied by individual research workers in
different countries have been coordinated recently through
the creation of the "International Society of Bioclimatology
and Riometeorology," n comprising 500 members from 44
countries. The members represent many scientific disciplines
and come from countries with widely differing political
systems. The friendly relations between the members of this
organization clearly demonstrate how a border science,
perhaps more than any basic science, is able to unite people
of good will all over the world, irrespective of race, creed or
political conviction.

ii. Founded i January 1956. Secretariate Hofbrouckerlaan 54, Oegstgeest (Leiden),
The Netherlands.

118

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER SCIENCES

III. SUGGESTIONS FOR THE CREATION OF A
UNIVERSAL ACADEMY OF BORDER SCIENCES

In the previous chapters a review has been given of the vari-
ous problems studied in four new Border Sciences. The
solution of these requires the cooperation of many scientists
trained in different disciplines. Although by correspondence
and regular international contacts the necessary cooperation
between scientists can be furthered, it is doubtful whether
real progress can be made in a complex Border Science
unless an international team of scientists actually works
together in the same research institute. In the field of atomic
research we have a good example of international cooper-
ation in International Research Institutes. Similar Institutes
should be created in future for the Border Sciences.

Of the various Border Sciences the international team
spirit seems to be most strongly developed in the field of
Bioclimatology. Therefore, if funds could be raised for a
Universal Academy of Border Sciences, a Universal Centre
for the Study of Bioclimatology and Biometeorology in its
various aspects should first be created as a Faculty of bioclima-
tology and biometeorology in the future Academy. The experience
obtained in such a truly International Centre could be
applied to the creation of other Universal Centres for the
Study of Border Sciences. Although it seems preferable that
the different 'Faculties" of a Universal Academy of Border
Sciences should be located in the same area, this does not
seem to be an essential requirement.

In the previous chapters I have tried to review the signifi-
cance of a number of Border Sciences, both established and
non-established, for the future of mankind. I fully realize
that there is a long way to go before the ideas expressed can
be realized. On the other hand, it is the first time in the
history of mankind that many scientists in the world have
become fully aware of the urgent need for universal cooper-

119

S. W, TROMP

ation. Let us therefore be confident and believe in the creed
of the geologists that "the Universe in all its appearances is
a function of time and no barriers of development, however
strong and unconquerable they may seem at this moment,
can resist the pressure of human mind if the will prevails to
overcome these barriers."

120

The Human Significance of
Natural Resources

(with special reference to man's cultural resources)
by

RICHARD M. FIELD

All human beings are animals and therefore depend on the
material, natural resources which constitute their environ-
ment. Human beings should not try to conquer their environ-
ment but learn to live in harmony with it. Whether the earth
was created for man or with man, they are inter-dependent
correlated expressions of life, and it is either man's God-given
or man's inevitable responsibility to explore, develop and
distribute the earth's material, natural resources for the
benefit rather than the ultimate impoverishment of himself
and his fellow-men.

Probably most organized warfare since the dawn of civili-
zation has been because of the unequal geographic distri-
bution of material, natural resources, beginning with the
areas for food collecting or hunting by the smallest groups
of humanlike beings hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Because history is cyclic, as well as progressive, we are now
in one of the most tempestuous cycles in the history of
mankind. This is due to that particular branch of man's
activities which we call science, and its powers for war as well
as for peace. If man wishes to avoid the most devastating war
of all time scientists and statesmen must cooperate so that
the future role of science will be increasingly social in that
science and human affairs have become inseparable.

Popular science may no longer be defined only in terms of

121

RICHARD M. FIELD

the marvels of inventions and new gadgets; popular science
must also include the relation of science to society, and the
sincere attempt by scientists to see that this information is
available not only to a few favored individuals or groups, but
also to all elements of society through whose cooperative
efforts their developed environments have been created. As
HUGO BOYKO says in one of his communications (July, 1957);
"So we shall have to find ways to stabilize the equilibrium of
our Society, and the ways to this aim cannot be sought
through egotism or through terrorism. The sole power lies in
our own (the scientists) hands and has to be brought about
by trying to amalgamate science with humanitarism. There-
fore new ways of teaching have to be found in all and every
ways and branches of science; teaching not only of knowled-
ge but also of responsibility."

All living things have their responsibilities, chief of which is
re-creation (reproduction of species). This is just as true of
plants and animals as it is of man; but man's responsibility is
greater than that of all other living things because of his
greater mind, thought, reason and conscience. A consci-
entious person may be defined as one whose moral sense
within himself determines whether he considers his own
conduct right or wrong. This constitutes the spirit and soul
of man. Consequently, for thousands of years, man has pray-
ed for a mysterious, extraneous power to help him live with
the least trouble and the most happiness. All the great
philosophers and prophets have advised man that he cannot
be happy without trouble. That he cannot have a clear
conscience and consequent peace of mind without some
suffering. Therefore, I believe that each man's religion is his
greatest natural resource; and that although it is super-
physical it is not super-natural. How can any man claim to be
an atheist unless he is so conceited that he believes only in
himself? To quote from Sir RICHARD TUTE in his essay "The
Loom of a Plan": "Every thing is super-physical, and remains
super-physical after it has acquired the additional attribute

122

THE HUMAN SIGNIFICANCE OF NATURAL RESOURCES

of being perceptible. You and I are super-physical here and
now. When death supervenes we will continue to be what
we are, while disappearing from the physical stage. What we
will encounter when we come face to face with the naked
forces of four dimensional reality is unknown to us, except
in mystic reports" ... This statement should appeal to all
scientists, no matter what their theology, because it was
written by a lawer, scientist, and devout Anglican.

Because human beings are the greatest of all natural
resources, all the factors which constitute the complex
interrelation of the material, cultural and spiritual activities
of human beings should be considered as natural resources;
and because no human being lives only to survive, we must
assume that the joy of living must overcome the fear of living. The mere
act of living depends on the fundamental physical factors
which affect all human beings, such as climate, topography,
water, plants, animals, and minerals, including air and soils.

Therefore, the physical welfare of all human beings requires
the exploration, development and distribution of the world's
geographically varied material resources. The joy of living requires
the exploration, development and distribution of the world's
geographically varied cultural and spiritual resources.

It would be a very useful step forward in mutual under-
standing of peoples, if we could achieve a thorough survey of
all natural resources, namely not only of the material
resources but also of the cultural and spiritual resources of
all peoples.

In this sense the following classification of Natural re-
sources was used at the International Conference on Science
and Human Welfare, Washington, D.C., 1956.

MATERIAL RESOURCES

I. ORGANISMS,
la. Plants:

1. Food plants (cereals, vegetables, fruits, sugar plants, spices,
beverage plants, etc.)

123

RICHARD M. FIELD

2. Fodder. plants (grasses, leaves, fruits etc.)

3. Fibers (textile plants, paper plants, etc.)

4. Forest products (for Wood, Cork, Tanning materials, etc.)

5. Latex plants (for Rubber, Gums, Resins, etc.)

6. Plants for Essential oils (perfume plants)

7. Fats and Waxes.

8. Medicinal plants.

9. Plants for Fumitories (Tobacco, etc.)

Masticatories, (Cola, etc.), Narcotics (Opium, Hemp, etc.)
10. Various plant raw materials (e.g. vegetable ivory for buttons,
palm leaves for roofs, starch for industry, lichens for Agar
agar, fungi and bacteria for inoculation, fermentation, and
so on).
Ib. Animals : Many raw materials are to be found in the animal world.

1. from food to hormones used in medicine.

2. from furs and leather to ivory and pearls, strings for musical
instruments, hairs for the brushes for the painter or for
hygrometers for the Meteorologist, etc., etc.

II. FUELS:

Such as peat, coal, natural gas and petroleum. It should also be
noted, however, that power resources include wind, water and
solar radiation, as well as fuels. Although atomic power depends, to
a certain extent, on several types of minerals this source of power
should not be considered except as a special problem from the
destructive as well as the constructive point of view.

III. USEFUL MINERALS:

1. Soils (Complex sediments composed of minerals and mineral
salts, and certain amounts of living and decayed organisms).

2. Ceramics (Aluminium silicates which are used in the manufacture
of china, tiles, bricks, etc).

3. Fertilizers (Rock phosphates, Chile saltpetre, etc.)

4. Refractories and Insulators (Asbestos, Graphite, Mica etc.)

5. Chemical Compounds (Numerous mineral salts used in the
chemical industries.)

6. Abrasives (Diamond, Corundum, Garnet, etc.)

7. Structural (base) Metals (Iron, Copper, Lead, Zinc, etc.)

8. Ferro-alloys (Manganese, Tungsten, Chromium, Lead, Zinc, etc.)

9. Precious (noble) Metals (Gold, Silver, Platinum, etc. These are
also termed the monetary metals).

IV. STRUCTURAL (MINERAL) MATERIALS:

1. Building Stones (Such as Granite, Sandstone, Limestone, Gyp-
sum, Marble, Slate, etc.)

124

THE HUMAN SIGNIFICANCE OF NATURAL RESOURCES

2. Sands and Gravels (Detrital and fragmental aggregates, naturally
derived from various types of rocks.)

3. Natural Cements.

CULTURAL RESOURCES
I. RHYTHMIC.

1. Music. Instrumental and vocal. 3. Historical,
a. Individual, b. Group 4. National.

2. Dance. 5. International
a. Individual b. Group.

II. GRAPHIC

1. Pictures. Picture-writing, Symbols. 5. Historical.

2. Sculpture. Mobile, architectural 6. National.

3. Etching and Engraving. 7. International.

4. Printing and Lithography.

III. ARCHITECTURE

1. Religious structures 4. Historical.

2. Domestic structures. 5. National.

3. Business structures. 6. International.

IV. DRAMA

1. Folklore. 3. Historical.

2. Theatre. 4. National.

5. International.

V. REPRODUCTIVE.

1. Cinema and Television. 3. Historical.

2. Phonographic and Telephonic 4. National.

5. International.

TECHNICAL RESOURCES
I. SCIENTIFIC

1. Literature 4. Field work. 7. Historical.

2. Organizations. 5. Schools. 8. National.

3. Laboratories. 6. Societies. 9. International.

II. ENGINEERING.

1. Mapping. Topographic : 3. Historical.
a. ground, b. aerial. 4. National.

c. geological, d. geophysical. 5. International.

2. Construction.

a. Roads, Railroads, b. Airfields.

c. Bridges, Tunnels, Aqueducts.

d. Vehicles, e. Airplanes.

125

RICHARD M. FIELD

W. F. G. SWANN correlates the experience of the scientist and
the artist. He recognizes the awe with which all scientists and
artists view the "cleverness" of the Universe, the "potentiality"
for "happiness" in "living things as part of the experience of
beauty as the whole worth-while purpose of living beings."
Although his essay concerns music, he points out three truths
for all the arts: 1 ) As one seeks for the stimuli which are re-
sponsible for exaltation, he finds great simplicity ... as the
forbear of grandeur. 2) In general, beauty may be divided into
two types, that which represents an immediate appeal to him
that beholds it, and which emerges only in the light of under-
standing ... sometimes it embraces both. 3) In seeking
perfection in such an art as music ... the goal must be divided
into two categories; perfection of concept, and perfection of
realization on the instrument or instruments on which the
music is played.

JOAN FIELD, Chairman of the A.I.G.N.R. Dramatic Council
sums up these thoughts with evidence of theatre and
folklore as experience, thereby having "happiness potential"
for a majority of- not all - people at all times in history. The
analysis of any classic play or folk-story reveals a simple basis
character-situation which has universal appeal. This situation
inevitably concerns one of the "moments of exaltation" in
which a human being has a positive realization of beauty in
his relationship to others, thereby giving the viewer or
listener, whether in a group or "solo" experience, a sense of
being "part of the structure." In other words he finds enter-
tainment in being drawn into the universal experience of the
story's character; he escapes into a larger world and finds a
larger self.

Folklore, being close to nature and based on elementary
values, can be successfully presented through any of the
handicrafts or the performed or graphic arts, but perhaps
the theatre is the most challenging of media for the presen-
tation of folklore, for it offers the interpretive play wright,
composer, director, designer or choreographer the widest

126

THE HUMAN SIGNIFICANCE OF NATURAL RESOURCES

possible combination of effects in the complexity of the
selection required to eliminate non-essentials and point up
the main line of action and related elements.

In our day, the Japanese Kabuki theatre, American musical
plays such as "South Pacific" or "Fanny," JOHN GIRAUDOUX'S
fantasy "Ondine," are all examples of complex theatrical
production based on simple fables or folk stories. Any style
can be used to reach out and touch the heart of the onlooker,
making him one with all. "And so, if we pray for anything,
pray that ye may find senses to which all nature's beauties
bring response, for then shall ye be angels. Then shall ye
have attained the pinnacle of what may have been the intent
of the Universe, the creation of the realm in which happiness
may grow to full maturity."

The theatre's primary purpose is recreation for groups of
people, whether through creative participation or as
members of the audience. It is the common sharing of
experience which makes the theatre especially rewarding,
therefore the primary "natural resources" necessary for
theatrical production are people. Any group is potential
"theatre-material." Specialists such as playwrights, talented
performers, composers or designers, develop in certain
places individually for reasons which seem to be beyond
control, but the finished theatrical product usually flowers
and finds recognition and wide usefulness in centers of
concentrated population and relatively advanced culture:
the great cities of the world.

A survey of the "theatrical wealth" of the countries of the
world should have two branches : i) The listing of production
groups or centers of each nationality which offer the finest
entertainment for its own people as for people of other
nations. 2) The listing of all known groups or centers in each
nation which emphasizes creative theatre work of any kind:
a) commercial, b) educational, c) community, and d) social
welfare and therapeutic. Of particular interest because of
their universal appeal are the four fields of the theatre: i) The

127

RICHARD M. FIELD

use and development of theatre methods. 2) The growth
of the creative individual through improvisation. 3)
Children's theatre, and 4) Folk-drama. Through existing
organizations such as ANTA or other national theatres and
regional groups throughout the countries of the world, a
survey might be made of the resources already developed in
these fields, and any special contributions which these
groups are making.

Needless to say the desire for theatre (although painfully
unencouraged in some places) is common to all people, and
the potential resources of theatre are world-wide. Children
do not need to be encouraged to "play house," they only
need to be discouraged from stopping when they think the
child in them is childish.

The border between imaginative play and art in general,
poetic vision and science is not as sharp as many people
believe. They all are ways to the joy of life and many bridges
bring them together.

A short poem and a few additional lines may serve as
example:

Ode to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River

What makes the lingering night so ding to thee?
Thou vast, profound, primeval hiding-place.
Of ancient secrets, - gray and ghostly gulf
Cleft in the green of this high forest land,
And crowded in the dark with giant forms.

Now, far beyond all language and all art
In thy mid splendor, Canyon marvellous,
The secret of the stillness lies unveiled
In wordless worship: This is holy ground;
Thou art no grave, no prison, but a shrine,
Garden of Temples filed with Silent Praise
If God were blind thy beauty could not be.

128

THE HUMAN SIGNIFICANCE OF NATURAL RESOURCES

Thus sang the poet HENRY VAN DYKE as he watched the
many splendors of this great canyon gradually develop
under the rays of the rising sun. Here are line-color marvel-
lously compounded in grand structural simplicity, which
delights the eye of the engineer and the architect as well as
that of the poet and the painter. Probably in no other region
of the world is the structure of so vast a scene so clearly
displayed. Even those who have had no geological training
cannot fail to notice that this great canyon, a mile deep and
ten miles wide, has exposed to view a great series of hori-
zontal formations which, on each side of the narrow inner
gorge, have been still further dissected into spires and
castellated blocks of many sizes and shapes. To the geologist,
the canyon looses nothing of its beauty under his analytical
attack. To his trained eye, the architectural splendor has a
glorious history, which he traces by the most delicate use of
line and color, combined with the techniques of petrology
and structure. He too paints a picture, both scientific and
spiritual, which rivals the Semitic conception in Genesis, or
the later emotional and artistic song of the poet. If the
canyon is the work of God, then it is through His agents that
it has been wrought. Surely there can be no better place for
the wedding of science and religion than before such a
splendid spectacle as this chasm, which exposes the history
of the earth down to the oldest known rocks. So might a
geologist add two more lines to the final hymn of praise:

If God were blind thy beauty might not be

So to compel the searching eyes of man

And thus reveal the history of His work

Summarizing we may say that science and art are
functioning, or should function, as parallel ways to the same
goal, to achieve joy in living for all, and that means, to real
progress in human welfare. Organizational links of these
two roads can be and should therefore be found.

It was for this reason that apart from all other Institutions,
Organizations, and Personalities also the International

129

RICHARD M. FIELD

Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, through its committees
on the social Value of the Earth Sciences, during the Xlth
Assembly of the I.U.G.G., held at Toronto, Ontario, Canada,
September 3-14, 1957, unanimously approved the suggestion
for a "World Academy of Arts and Sciences, as P. B. SEARS
expressed it:

"On behalf of free and cordial collaboration

among scientific men of all nations

at a time when the power of modern technology

is being employed out of all proportion

to the exploitation, rather than to the nurture

of man's environment"

130

Resource Planning:
A Problem in Communication*

by
PIERRE DANSEREAU

The leading authorities on gamesmanship recommend that
scientists who find themselves intimidated l?y confreres in
another field of knowledge extend an immediate invitation
to visit their own bailiwick. By no devious route that is what
I intend to do: my area of investigation is ecology, and where
it emerges on the social plane it has some bearing on resource
utilization, an area of human activity now potentially
dominated by physicists. Furthermore, in alluding to com-
munication in my title, I do not have in mind the transport
of iron ore from the Ungava or long-distance telephone calls,
but the difficulties of exchanging information and achieving
verbal and working co-ordination. The incentives and the
duties of the academic community are very great in this
respect.

Before I venture the opinion that the universities do not
show enough awareness of the problems of resource plan-
ning, I feel I must draw a brief historical sketch of the sciences
that are involved therein and outline some of the pioneering
plans that have been put into effect in the past ten years in a
few institutions.

1. Yale Conservation Studies, Vol. 6, pp. 3-6 (1957). Reprinted by kind per-
mission of the Editor.

131

PIERRE DANSEREAU
THE MEANING OF CONSERVATION

A key word, at this point, is conservation. Much has been
said about the conservative mind by royalists, republicans,
liberals, socialists, progressives, reactionaries and revo-
lutionaries. It is not inappropriate, in fact, that scientific
conservation received some of its early impetus from politi-
cal conservatives who are traditionally dedicated to a cult of
the national patrimony. But it is hardly less in keeping with
the liberal and the socialist doctrines to have stressed the
pre-eminence of public ownership where resources are
concerned. In other words, the good state of the land has
long been everybody's business, from the right to the left,
and back,

Lest the scope of my topic be obscured by this statement,
let me define conservation as a wise utilization of natural resources.
Such a definition poses three questions :

(1) What is a natural resourced It is a mineral, plant, or animal
which occurs in the spontaneous state, such as water,
soil, iron, coal, lumber, fish.

(2) How can it be utilized} It may be used indirectly for power
or irrigation (water), nutrition of crops (soil), recreation
(water, forest), or directly for industry (copper, timber)
or food (blueberries, ducks).

(3) What is wisdom in this case? Surely this is more difficult to
answer. The only reasonable reply is that good steward-
ship is proportionate to enlightened planning for the
future. This suggests the further question of immediate
objectives, inasmuch as natural resources are not all
renewable and that some justification must be made for
exhaustive tapping.

It seems to me, that public opinion and the recommen-
dations of scientists who have variously led and followed it
have undergone four phases, which I would call: legislative,
biological, ecological, and sociological.

Legislative phase. At the beginning of the century protection

132

RESOURCE PLANNING: A PROBLEM IN COMMUNICATION

afforded to wild plants and animals was largely decreed by
law and was focussed almost entirely on rare species. Birds of
paradise were saved but not the Arctic penguin or the dodo
bird. Such rulings did not concern themselves with soil and
water, for instance.

Biological phase. As detailed inventories of flora and fauna
were made, a more scientific approach was initiated. Natural-
ists demanded freedom of certain areas from disturbance so
that individual plants and animals could be studied. Others
requested protection of large populations of trees and birds,
as a sort of capital investment. This did not save the passenger
pigeon, although it halted the decline of the buffalo and the
caribou.

Ecological phase. Presently, however, with the extinction of
many beautiful or valuable plants and animals, and because
of a rising consciousness of the interrelatedness of living
beings, the claim was made that no efficient protection of
individual species was possible if the habitat as a whole were
not free from interference, direct or indirect. For instance,
the continued integrity of the landscape became expedient
when it was realized that forested banks maintained high
water levels and cool temperatures in Canadian streams and
allowed the salmon to spawn: spruce and fir protection was
the condition for a normal cycle in the fish.

Sociological phase. The far-reaching effects of flooding, fires,
the introduction of pests soon made it evident that a scien-
tific approach was not enough. It did not always provide a
satisfactory answer, and it did not begin to meet the social,
political, economic, and occasionally religious aspects of the
utilization of natural resources. It was not possible to quaran-
tine the chestnut blight and the Dutch elm disease. The
antagonisms of hydraulic power and agriculture, of lum-
bering and game management came into the open, and
conservationists began to strike at the social and economic
systems. But reactionary politicians were long reluctant to
impose burning of corn stalks that harbored the dreaded

133

PIERRE DANSEREAU

corn-borer, and relict stands of timber were ruthlessly
lumbered. The complicity of the ignorant and the mighty
resulted in indiscriminate farming off of resources without
concern for the upsets of natural balances.

Conservation has meant various things at various times,
and has involved many kinds of thinking and campaigning
in the course of its development. Some of the classic
figures are THEODORE ROOSEVELT, his heroic mustaches
aquiver, bringing peace to the African and Brazilian wilder-
ness, and that group of determined ladies brandishing their
umbrellas on Trafalgar Square to prevent the murder of
offending pigeons. Even sturdier battles were fought in
varous legislatures to stop irresponsible licensing of streams
and forests to private interests. Above all, the press and the
universities, especially in their departments of forestry, have
carried the torch and have finally destroyed the myth of
inexhaustibility. As a result, great works of conservation
like those in the Tennessee or the Fraser Valleys in North
America have been a concentration ground for the testing
and application of a new-found knowledge.

RESOURCE UTILIZATION PROBLEMS

The harnessing of the natural resources of the world is now
being viewed in a new light and a joint attack is being made
upon the question as a whole, which is nothing less than
man's survival. The conflicting forces are: increasing human
populations and decreasing resources. The favored so-
lutions are: limitation of births, technological increase of
renewable resources, halting of waste, and economic read-
justment of distribution. On all counts, at this time, there are
apparent deadlocks: religious and cultural opposition of
birth control, resistance to industrialization of production,
and disparity in standard of living. In the minds of many who
have written on this subject, the hope of making progress on

134

RESOURCE PLANNING: A PROBLEM IN COMMUNICATION

all fronts is so dim that humanity is doomed to a terrible
regression, unless generalized atomic bombing be indeed
considered a feature in the self-regulating process of popu-
lation-resource balance.

We must therefore ask ourselves what we actually know
about population, about resources, and about the management of
human societies. Do we really know enough to point to a
scientific solution? Furthermore, what use are we making of
the knowledge that we do possess? And finally, are these
different kinds of knowledge being co-ordinated as they must
in order to fit the problem at hand?

I would like to give an optimistic answer to these three
questions, and I am somewhat encouraged to do so by the
fact that a small number of our fellow scientists now seem
able to read the problem in its full complexity and no longer
incline to a single solution.

Population. We know much less about humans than we do
about the fruit fly and the corn plant. But our knowledge of
the interplay of heredity and environment, as it affects man
in health and disease is now considerable. The mapping of
anatomical and physiological features has progressed a great
deal, and many valuable statistical analyses of birth and death
rates in different environments are available. The causes of
fertility and sterility are now better known, and so are means
of increasing and decreasing them. Although no valid
understanding of these biological functions can be achieved
without a thorough grounding in physiology and genetics, it
does not follow that a pertinent social interpretation can be
drawn by the methods of natural science alone. Life cycle
figures do not speak for themselves outside the ethnical,
cultural, religious and economic context of human societies.

Resources. The world inventory of water, minerals, soils,
plants and animals is, or course, not complete, not even
qualitatively. And where quantitative surveys have been
made, our grasp of the complex interrelationships that
permit renewal (at certain rates and times) is not yet very

135

PIERRE DANSEREAU

firm. Although, on the one hand, one may be impatient with
the optimistic technologists who predict indefinite progress
in harnessing new or untapped resources, on the other hand,
it is hard for some of us to go along with the negative pro-
nouncements of those who say that saturation is in view.
There is cause for alarm in the large-scale ravages of soil
erosion, the apparently irreversible destruction of many
forests, the drying up of water courses and lowering of water
tables, the virtual extinction of valuable trees and animals,
and the complete exhaustion locally of coal or oil. For all of
these, technology may or may not produce adequate substi-
tutes, and our future way of life may or may not make the
same demands. Much more ecological research is needed
which should be focussed on natural balance in the landscape.
All existing ecosystems 2 can be exploited and even harnessed
much more efficiently when we have measured the forces
that hold them together.

Society. If our knowledge of population and resources is
incomplete and insecure in many ways, how much narrower
is our view of human societies. The precision which bears on
the mechanics of hereditary transmission, or on the life-
cycles of domesticated plants and animals has been usefully
carried over to anthropology, and much has been learned
which has dispelled some time-honored beliefs of man about
himself. But social psychology, history, economics, and
political science must of all necessity handle more delicate
tools. So many of the "facts" in the sciences of man are
values that cannot be tested to provide truly experimental
answers.

I cannot pretend, with the means at my command, to
delineate in its entirety the population-resource problem. I
can only outline the requisites to a proper understanding, the

2. Ecologists have coined this term which deserves recognition in every man's
vocabulary: it refers to the interacting whole which comprises the substratum
together with the living population which it supports: thus, a lake, a bog, a dune, a
forest.

136

RESOURCE PLANNING: A PROBLEM IN COMMUNICATION

lines of a valid perspective. I would like to follow this by
pointing to the functions in the university which can best
serve the interest of such a concern.

EDUCATION FOR RESOURCE PLANNING

Whether the scope is local or world-wide, resource-planning
must draw from many sources. And since it is impossible for
one man to be equally well-versed in genetics, forestry,
pedology, anthropology and economics, some kind of team-
work has to be undertaken. And yet the mere addition of
specialties does not engender a synthesis. The latter has two
basic requirements, in my mind : a solid grounding in at least
one field and an early awareness and general understanding
of the principles and basic facts in other fields. A plea for
"generalists" instead of specialists should not lead us so far
astray as to renounce technical competence in at least one
discipline for each worker. There probably is no such thing
as "general culture", unless it is an aggregation of various
kinds of knowledge around a solid nucleus in one field.

It would seem to me, therefore, that a programme of
education for conservation practices, for land-use planning,
and for natural resource utilization should of all necessity
have its point of departure in somewhat specialized training.
In the past, this initial step has almost always been taken in
forestry, agronomy, engineering, zoology or botany. At
present, it seems just as valid to begin in geography, eco-
nomics, or political science. In either case, it is expedient not
only to rise above the initial field of concentration and to
apply its data and principles to the problems of resource
utilization, but also to dig right back into other fields, at the
elementary level if necessary. For instance, a student who has
come up from economics can be required to take forestry or
hydrology courses, to attend a regional geography or an eco-
logy seminar. A good deal of such preliminary acquisition of

137

PIERRE DANSEREAU

knowledge will provide an ample background for the specific
attack upon problems of resource utilization.

Such plans have been in effect since 1950 in two American
universities, Michigan and Yale. It is not as important to look
into the administrative structure that supports these studies,
as to note the pre-eminence of a programme system over a
rigid departmental curriculum. Guidance of students in the
early stages of their development and orientation towards a
well-integrated course can give a totally different meaning
even to their undergraduate years.

COMMUNICATION TROUBLES

The problems of natural resource utilization can neither be
posed nor solved by one discipline alone. Therefore an ef-
ficient understanding of them awaits a better communication
between the natural scientists and the social scientists and the
emergence of a larger number of men capable of encompas-
sing both aspects and of acting upon this improved
knowledge. Maybe this can be done by mature men in
prominent places in government, public administration,
industry, business, and the liberal professions. But I should
have more hope of its being achieved in the microcosm of the
university campus, where representatives of all fields are
available to each other, if they will just learn to take advantage
of their opportunities.

Communication trouble does not stop here, in the inner
circle of our academic milieu. No matter how rationally we
organize our data and map out our knowledge, no matter
how well agreed we are on ways and means, we still face the
task of providing the people with an intelligible and relevant
plan. The campus must be an open forum where adult
education groups as well as youth organizations feel at home.
The natural and social scientists who have together elabo-
rated these plans are also bound to go out into the economic

138

RESOURCE PLANNING: A PROBLEM IN COMMUNICATION

and social world and make their views known. Let us destroy
no ivory towers; in fact we need more of them, for the
peculiar alchemy of creative thinking is a secret process that
does not function well in the open. But let us not be so vul-
nerable to difficulties of social reality as to shrink before the
task of fighting for a more enlightened planning of natural
resource utilization, if we are convinced that we bear some of
the light in our own hands.

This thrusts great responsibilities upon us as educators. On
this subject, more than on many others, our capacity for
objective thinking will be strongly tested. We are committed
to teaching the truth. We are supposed to be living examples
of lucid thinking. As free men we may subscribe to some
religious or political dogma, but as teachers we may do no
violence to fact. A Catholic historian is not bound to justify
the Inquisition, a fundamentalist geologist is not bound to
deny the accuracy of Carbon-i4 datings.

With respect to the dynamics of human population, the
test is a severe one: there are few topics upon which doctrinal
issues impinge more strongly, few which invite more academic
evasions and rationalizations of one kind or another. It is all
too easy to invoke a commodious ignorance of the actual
level or potential of resources and to trust blindly in tech-
nological progress. This is the worst way in which our true
mission can be by-passed, and eventually also the least efficient
way of serving the very dogmas which we adhere to as
individuals: a breach with one truth is a breach with all and
every one of them. If our religious and political orthodoxies
are aspects of truth or compendia of human wisdom, they
should welcome the confrontation.

I can draw no simple conclusion and I am sure you expect
none. In blueprinting a plan for natural resource adminis-
tration, many difficulties are involved. Some are semantic
and some are technical but most of them can be overcome.
The main area of the contest is in the now broadly overlap-
ping fields of the natural and social sciences. It seems to me

139

PIERRE DANSEREAU

that we, on university campuses, would be well advised to
direct much of our energy to the development of mutual
understanding and to the elaboration of joint programmes
that would instill new life and a new hope for the solution of
problems that require an open mind and a dedicated effort.

LA PLANIFICATION DES RESSOURCES: UN PROBLEMS
DE COMMUNICATION

par

PIERRE DANSEREAU

Le mot conservation a connu une evolution qui reflete la preoccupation
croissante de la societe au sujet de ses ressources naturelles, et particu-
lierement au sujet de celles qui ne sont pas renouvelables. On peut dire
qu'une premiere phase (biologique) s'est accomplie par des inventaires
detailles de plantes et d'animaux, et surtout de ceux qui etaient mena-
ces; qu'une seconde (ecologique) a cherche a placer ces etres vivants dans
leur cadre naturel, Phabitat qu'il fallait alors proteger tout entier; et
que nous sommes entres depuis peu dans une troisieme (socioloftiquey
qui tient compte davantage des structures sociales, economiques, poli-
tiques et religieuses et de leurs exigences.

Pour bien poser les problemes d'utilisation de nos ressources nous
devons puiser dans nos connaissances concernant la population, les res-
sources elles-memes et la societe. Ces trois termes nous sont inegalement
connus. Les donnees de Panthropologie et de la sociologie ne se pre-
sentent pas a nous avec la meme precision que celles de Phydrologie,
de la botanique ou de la physiologic. Nous disposons encore moins
d'un personnel qualifie pour faire la synthese de deux ou plusieurs de
ces disciplines. Quelques pas ont toutefois ete faits par des universites
ou Ton a mis au point des programmes d'etudes auxquels on accede
desormais aussi bien a partir de la sociologie ou de Peconomique que de
la foresterie, de Pecologie ou de la zoologie, voies traditionnelles. Ce
curriculum nouveau exige d'ailleurs que les economistes se plient a la
biologie et a la geologic et que les naturalistes s'instruisent en sociologie.

Ainsi Parmee montante de ces "conservateurs" nouveau-genre, de
ces administrateurs des ressources humaines et naturelles, nous aide
presentement a rompre certaines barrieres : les difficultes de communi-
cation entre les disciplines scientifiques et sociologiques d'une part et
entre les diverses classes sociales d'autre part.

140

Food Supply and
Increase of Population

M. J. SlRKS

The statement, that in many countries there is a large excess
of food-production and food-supply, while in other parts of
the world the great masses of the people suffer from an
almost permanent scarcity of food, periodically leading to
starvation, looks like carrying coals to Newcastle, or like we
in this country say, like carrying water to the sea. There is no
doubt whatever that a regular and sufficient supply of food
is one of the primary conditions of life, not to say the most
fundamental one. There is no doubt whatever that starvation
is one of the most cruel and merciless processes, by which
life is menaced, that death by starvation is the hardest fate
human beings can meet. Those of us who live in one of the
privileged countries, look upon a good breakfast, a loaded
table at lunch or dinner as phenomena of the same
regularity as sunrise or sunset, they not only consider a
quantitatively and qualitatively good feeding one of the
claims to which every-one is entitled, but they accept a well
stocked pantry as a matter of course. In quite exceptional
cases, our Western populations are put up against a serious
food-shortage, or even against starvation: the last months of
World War II have taught the urban population in the
Western part of this country the gravity of a situation in
which foodsupply has been decreased to the extremely low
level of 600 calories a day. But we all know that this situation

141

M. }. SIRKS

in other parts of the world is not an exception at all, we all
know it and we all shall be conscious of the fact that in many
other countries a large majority of people do not receive the
amount of food, which is taken for the minimum necessary
for a worthy living of human beings. And for those who are
not yet fully aware of this extremely alarming fact, a study of
books like that of the WOYTINSKI'S and that of Sir JOHN RUSSELL
may serve as an eye-opener.

We all have to face this very big problem squarely; not only
because those who suffer from under-nourishment are
human beings, our fellow-men and by this it is our moral
duty to help as much as we can, but also because there is a
serious danger in this situation that hunger fetches the wolf
out of the wood, that hunger demoralizes the people, sets
going the unreasonable elements within a population, and by
that causes an explosion of the large masses, which by their
state of mind destroy by sheer force what has been achieved
and acquired during long years for the profit of the people's
welfare.

To all appearance this situation of a shortage of food in
large parts of the world has taken a turn for the worse since
the last World War. I may quote two conclusions from RUS-
SELL'S alarming book: "The quantities of food produced
during the last ten or fifteen years have changed but little
while the population has been steadily increasing" (p. 329).
And : u The net result of all these changes is that the countries
of Asia, already ill-fed before the war, are on a still lower
dietary now, but while in the aggregate they used to produce
the whole of their food supply and even have margins for
export they now no longer do so but have become dependent
on America and Australia for the reduced amount of food
they are getting" (p. 352).

The urgency of this very big problem of food supply has
not decreased in the least; this problem is a problem for today,
for tomorrow, for the near or a more remote future.

The problem for today is one for the economist: to find a

142

FOOD SUPPLY AND INCREASE OF POPULATION

better way of international exchange of food materials for
other merchandise available for export in the food-lacking
countries. Such an exchange, however, demands that in these
countries where deficiency of food continuously threatens
the peoples welfare, materials for exchange shall be available
and as long as this requirement is not satisfied, a real exchange
remains a wishful day-dream, which like most dreams, is
empty. A remedy for the present situation can be obtained
only by a one-sided relief-action on an extensive and large
scale, and therefore asks for so much understanding from
both sides that I am afraid that the most competent and the
most altruistic economist will be unable to find an efficient
and immediate solution for this lack of equilibrium between
different parts of the world.

The problem for tomorrow belongs to the domain of the
biologist, more especially to that of the plantbreeder and the
animal breeder. In many of the Western countries varieties
and strains of cultivated plants, of cattle, of fowl are available
which are much better producing than the rather primitive
races in the food-lacking countries. These improved races
have been obtained by a long year program of hybridization
and selection and they are available now for immediate use.
It seems to be a task for the biologist to pick out those strains
which are suited to be grown and raised in those destitute
countries and to introduce them there for further cultivation
and for improving the production rate of the indigenous
agriculture. It is a difficult problem which needs some time
of experiment, but which in my opinion can be solved before
long by international cooperation.

There are various problems for the near future which aim
at developing agriculture and agricultural methods all over
the world, most especially in the socalled less developed
countries.

The first and most obvious one is a subject of technical
education. In many of those countries methods and
equipment for agricultural practice are still primitive and

143

M. J. SIRKS

not at all efficient. Modern technics has been developed
since a number of years and by that it is a task for educational
technicians to teach the agricultural labourer in those
countries how to handle these modern machinery and to
adapt these tools to the needs of the native farmers. This task
shall be performed with the greatest care : it is quite easy to
import large stocks of modern implements into these
countries, but it takes much time and patience to teach the
farmers how to use them and how to keep them in repairs.
Education is a matter of time and forbearance, a very simple
thesis, which by advanced people, even in highest politics, is
too frequently forgotten, which rouses the teachers indig-
nation and disappointment, the pupils unconcern and
apathy.

The second problem for the near future is that of extension
of agricultural areas. This problem shall be committed to the
charge of a cooperative team of soil scientists and biologists.
It has a bearing in all opportunities of extension of foodpro-
ducing areas, of opening up those large parts of the world,
which still are out of cultivation, which still do not produce
any foodsubstances at all, though they are well qualified to
do so. This is not only a question for less developed regions,
but for the most advanced countries as well. I should like to
mention one or two special cases only: those who have seen
the province of Drenthe in this country fourty years ago and
now again, or the new polders, reclaimed from the former
Zuiderzee, will understand how even in prosperous countries
still many possibilities are present like sleeping beauties, to be
wakened by an enterprising conqueror.

A counterpart to this opening up new and thus far
untapped resources of foodproduction is becoming more
and more important in recent years: the prevention of
erosion and as its results barrenness of large areas which for
long years have contributed a great deal to the worlds
foodsupply. This problem also belongs to soilstudies in its
widest sense; it speaks in favour of modern agricultural

144

FOOD SUPPLY AND INCREASE OF POPULATION

science that not only extension of agricultural areas shall be
tried, but that also intensification and preservation of
agricultural standards is considered a factor of utmost
importance.

A third way in which the near future may contribute to the
worlds foodproduction is that of breeding and selecting
indigenous plants and animals and raising their yield and
productivity. In those less developed countries races of
cultivated plants and of farmanimals mostly are as primitive
as agricultural technics; plantbreeding and animal breeding
are sciences which for these primitive crops and live-stock
promise to be of as much value as they have proven in
countries of Western Europe and the United States. But this
plantbreeding and animal breeding again takes some time
for development and so its results cannot be expected
tomorrow, but after a lapse of years only.

All this looks promising and hopeful for the near or more
remote future; those masses of people who are suffering
from undernourishment may find some comfort in the
knowledge that the present scientists are aware of their duty
to do as much as possible for a change for the better in the
worlds foodsituation. However, the extremely serious and
continual warning by Sir JOHN RUSSELL in his book, shall be
permanently kept in mind: "No scheme, however attractive,
should be attempted until the basic knowledge has been
acquired by properly conducted experiments" (p. 130) and:
"The general rule is that planning easily outruns achieve-
ment in agriculture" (p. 315) and so on.

There is more: modern science of nutrition has learned to
admit the value of foodquality. We know now that not so
much quantity of food is a matter that counts, but that
before all quality in its scientific meaning, like digestibility,
caloric values and contents of vitamins, are of the greatest
importance for human wellbeing. Years ago, in the middle of
the twenties, when visiting the United States, I had my
breakfast in one of New Yorks Childs Lunchrooms and I was

145

M. J. SIRKS

quite astonished to see, in what part at that time already,
science took a place on the menu-card. For each dish the
contents of vitamins was mentioned in three grades: a large
V for many vitamins, a small one for little contents of this
valuable substance and no v at all when the food did not
contain any vitamins at all. Two numbers were added: one
for the total value of calories of the dish, and one for the
number of protein calories. One may doubt if the general
guest of such a lunchroom will be impressed with the real
drift of this information, but for those who are inclined to a
scientific outlook, such an advice probably is not quite
useless. And for those visitors, who prefer a more philosophi-
cal contemplation of life, the same firm gave this lesson:
"Everything springs from the egg; it is the world's cradle"
runs a Hindoo legend. On the measureless waters Brahm
placed a great golden egg, in which were locked Wisdom and
Power and of these the world was made. Advice on the
menucard: "To those in search of wisdom and power the
egg is still recommended, for it is rich in food iron which
now enriches the brain and strengthens the body."Once again :
the great majority of the customers of such a lunchroom
will leave the matters there, while they are not to be bothered
by that, but the attempt to give some advice in the choice of
food, in dietetics, certainly deserved our appreciation.

There is still more: in the modern world one of the slogans,
most in use, is the cry for industrialization. We have reached
the point already, that in every drugstore you can obtain a
few cents tablets containing the type of vitamin or a combi-
nation of vitamins you think to need on behalf of your
metabolism, of your good health. Nutrition is a chemical
process: the human body needs a number of chemical
substances by which it is enabled to perform its physiological
functions. In this line it seems quite conceivable that our
foodproducers some day will succeed in preparing a tablet in
which all elements, necessary for one man for one day, are
present; the right contents of foodsubstances, of vitamins,

146

FOOD SUPPLY AND INCREASE OF POPULATION

the right production of calories. Theoretically there is no
limit to foodproduction for everybody in the world, provided
that science develops methods for an artificial making-up of
the right mixture of the foodstuffs we want.

In this way the scientific needs of nurture are fully satis-
fied. But quality is more than a scientifically calculated
mixture of elements ; there are qualities of taste, qualities of
individual choice, qualities of religious precepts. By that the
constitution of our food is not only a scientific problem of
metabolism; it has become a problem of psychology as well.
Equalization of foodsupply in a scientific way is a serious
mistake; though there is some truth in the statement of the
nineteenth century german philosophers, like JEUERBACH,
who said "Der Mensch ist was er isst," "Man is what he eats,"
there is also a good deal of psychological fallacy in this
superficial and purely materialistic view. Certainly, hunger is
the best sauce, or like we in this country say "hunger sweetens
raw beans," but the problem of foodsupply reaches more
than taking off the edge of hunger; foodsupply shall not
lower the demands of a truly human life. Human beings are
no robots; they have a body which is composed of chemical
substances, but they have something more; they possess a
spiritual character of no less importance. It is true, this side
of human life may be latent and undeveloped in numbers of
human beings, but nobody will deny that the aborigines of
Australia and the pygmies of Africa do belong to the bio-
logical species, which we still call Homo sapiens, the wise
man, anid because of that they are entitled to be considered
human beings in the full sense of the word. It is one of the
mistakes of our present time, that we make a pretence of
considering human psychology one of the most important
sciences, but that we omit its conclusions in problems of
foodsupply. Foodsupply is not only a problem for economy
or physiology, it is also a problem with many psychological
faces.

There is no end to industrial developments. It requires no

147

M. J. SIRKS

stretch of imagination to picture a future in which almost
every side of human life wili be favoured by new tools, new
machinery, new inventions. If we believe what is told to us all
about the possible prospects of industrialization, we can
fancy a future in which so to say every square metre of the
worlds surface, not in use for industrial purposes, will be
available as a shelter for one human being, who receives his
food in the form of an all-containing pill and the water he
needs in a measured bottle.

And so it would appear that there is an effective solution
for the problem of foodsupply, not only for the near or more
remote future, but also for years and centuries to come.
Increase of the worlds population seems no longer matter of
concern. There will be room for everybody, there will be a
sufficient foodproduction to feed every individual no matter
where, in what country. Our technicians will see to that, and
the economists will find the suitable ways of a fair distri-
bution.

However, when we consider the problem of food supply
and the increase of population not only from the one-sided
and limited viewpoint of the technician and of the economist
but with the broader outlook of a human being in the full
sense of the word, we are seized with fear of this industrial
way of thinking.

It is true, we all are impressed by the many ways in which
modern industry has contributed to human welfare. We
all are thankful for her numerous gifts. We all enjoy the
comfort of our homes with its many tools produced by
industrial technics. We greatly appreciate the variety of
conveniences for our daily life, born from industrial activi-
ties. We all accept gratefully the services of railways and
airplanes. In our so-called civilized countries we all hope
that these blessings in a not too remote future will be availa-
ble for everyone all over the world. But notwithstanding that
we keep modern industry in high esteem, we shall not shut
our eyes to the dangers of its development. Wise men have

148

FOOD SUPPLY AND INCREASE OF POPULATION

warned frequently against the levelling down of man as a
human being caused by the recent developments of the
industrial way of thinking, I may quote here a few lines from
the Nobel prize winner ALEXIS CARREL in his admirable book
"Man, the unknown." He says: "Man should be the standard
of everything. In fact, he is a stranger in the world he has
created. He has been unable to organize this world for the
good of himself, because he did not understand his own
nature. The enormous progress of the sciences of the inani-
mate things as compared to the advance of those of the
living beings is one of the most tragic events in the history of
humanity. The environment we have constructed by means
of our intellect and our inventions is not adjusted to our
size, not to our shape. It fits us badly. We feel unhappy in its
surroundings. We degenerate morally and mentally. The
very groups and nations, where the industrial developments
have reached the pinnacle, become most weakened. They
return to barbarism with a fatal speed."

We all, who have lived for five years in the prison of a
country, occupied by enemy forces, have gained some
experience of the effects of this barbarism. And all those who
have passed through the hell of war, have learned the same
tragic lesson. But this barbarism not only expresses itself in
wartime. I may remind of the fatal accidents which occurred
in recent years in various countries, where crazy demon-
strations of the speed of cars before a public in search of
sensation, led to the death of numerous people. Such
demonstrations are the symptom of a mentality, poisoned by
a diseased worship of technical power; they are not only
crazy, but they come very near to crime.

This holds good not only for industrial developments in
engineering; the same danger of levelling down threatens
the production of foodsubstances as well. Human beings are
no automatons, no robots. They need more than nourish-
ment alone. The more technical our food, the more mechani-
cal man will become.

149

M. J. SIRKS

But even if we accept such a change in our way of nutrition,
if we allow our technicians to deprive us from a part of our
joy of living, if we submit to the worlds crazy adoration for
industrialization, even then a second danger comes to the
fore. The scheme propagandized by our food industrialists
engenders the thought that an unlimited increase of popu-
lation all over the world should be considered a blessing for
mankind. Here again: human beings are no robots, they
cannot be packed like herrings in a barrel.

We have the disposal of a rich collection of statistical data
concerning the increase of the worlds population. I do not
intend to discuss these data in detail. A few figures will show
the far reaching facts.

The worlds population in millions three hundred years
ago was about 540, two hundred years ago 730, one hundred
years ago 1170 and now more than 2600 millions. The annual
increase in these three centuries in percentages of the popu-
lation was 0.29, 0.51 and 1.20.

The population of a so-called well-developed country with a
high standard of living, like the Netherlands, has increased from
3 millions in 1850 to 5 millions in 1900 and to n millions in 1956.

The population of a less developed country like China has
increased in the last fifty years from 360 millions to 460
millions, that of India from 235 to 357 millions, that of Japan
from 44 to 85 millions.

Those are bare facts. Statisticians have snowed us under
with collections of data, and with studies of the background
of this population-pressure. There is a great diversity of
demographic causes of this enormous increase, different for
different countries. Large birthrate, decrease of deathrate,
improved hygiene have all contributed to this almost
morbid growth. The most spectacular phenomenon in
figures is perhaps the increase of life expectation; in this
country one hundred years ago 40% of new born reached the
age of 50 years and 5% the age of 80 years; now these figures
are 90 and 35.

150

FOOD SUPPLY AND INCREASE OF POPULATION

There are numberless people who consider these facts
symptoms of a healthy and robust existence. Quantity
should be the ideal to be pursued. There is however a reverse.

We have respected with warmest admiration the strenuous
efforts by the United States to improve the conditions of
living for the crowded population of Porto Rico, to further
hygienic measures, to apply modern medicine, to advance
public health, to raise the level of education, to put science
into service of the people. We may rejoice the results obtained,
the fact that mortality has been reduced half, that the
population of one million in 1900 has increased to two
millions in 1943. But with a heavy heart we state that this
population is growing three percent every year, that in 1960
the population has surpassed 3 millions, in 1970 possibly
4 millions. For this means that the density of population,
now already 245 per square kilometer, within twenty years
will rise to 500, that the area of cultivable ground, at present
only 1300 square meters will be dwindled to 650. A number
which tells its own tale by comparison with the extensive
agriculture in the United States, where 10.000 square metres
of cultivated land is available for one man, or with our own
country with its dense population and its very intensive
agriculture, where 2500 square metres of agricultural fields is
available a head. Compare these numbers with Porto Rico
with its careless and unkempt agriculture, where only 1300
square metres are available.

In the American periodical Journal of Heredity in 1947
attention has been drawn to this terrifying situation. Since
1934 committee after committee has studied the conse-
quences of this population growth and proposed radical
measures. Harrowing descriptions of the situation told the
truth, but no improvement has been obtained. Stimulation
of emigration since 1946 was undone by the overspill of
birthfrequency over mortality. Porto Rico is a small island,
but its situation may be considered a lesson for all those who

151

M. J. SIRKS

think the quantity of a population the standard of well-
being. A hard and serious lesson.

For such an increase is observed not only in Porto Rico,
but also in many States of Central America and Asia and in a
few countries of Europe. An annual increase of more than
two per cent leads to a population density which becomes
fatal for the population itself and for the human race as well.
A population of one million with a growth rate of 3 percent
annually after fifty years will have reached the size of 4
millions, after hundred years 16 millions. An increase of only
two per cent rises the population from one million today to
3 millions within 50 years, to 7 millions one hundred years
hence.

Three ways may lead out of this deathly strangling laby-
rinth:

Common opinion tells us that the problem is rather easy
to solve. The quantitative character of the worlds population,
as well for its various countries, is generally considered one
of the most important problems for the economist. Food-
supply is regarded its central question. Technical, industrializ-
ed food production and distribution indeed may seem to be
the determining weapon in the fight against hunger for
everyone on the earths surface. It is true, for the time being
we have not yet reached this equilibrium between foodsupply
and population growth, but if we believe what we are told by
many industrial economists, we are on the right way. Many
agricultural projects have been set up for improving foodpro-
duction in so-called less developed countries, but as soon as
these projects, successful as they may be, will have resulted
into doubling the foodsupply, the population has grown
threefold. I quote from an interesting article by KARL SAX on
population problems of Central America (p. 163): "The
experience of the Rockefeller Foundation indicates the need
of a completely balanced program. For many years a public
health program had been conducted in Mexico. The public
health program was very effective and the population grew

152

FOOD SUPPLY AND INCREASE OF POPULATION

rapidly, even though dietary standards were low. The
Foundation saw little virtues in preventing death from
disease if the people were to die more slowly from starvation
and malnutrition. In 1943, the Foundation established an
agricultural project, in cooperation with the Mexican
government, to increase food production. This project, too,
was very successful, but the population grew faster."

Besides, it should not be our only aim to save the popu-
lation of these less developed countries from starvation, but
also to improve their living standards and the number of
calories they receive. Here again SAX may be quoted con-
cerning Mexico: "During the past ten years, beginning in
1943 when the agricultural program was initiated, the popu-
lation increased about 30 per cent. As a result the advances in
agriculture have been absorbed by rapid population growth
and the diet of the common man has shown little im-
provement."

Population problems, complex as they are, have three
different aspects. One is that of the quantity of the worlds
population, the second one that of the conditions to which
these populations are subjected, their way of living, their
standards, and the third problem lies in the quality of the
population itself.

The first problem, that of the quantity may possibly be
solved by our technical economists, but even if they reach
their aim, the population problem is not solved at all. The
present trend of considering food supply the only medicine
for the world miseries is a monstrum, a quack medicine, a
stunning substance, not a remedy at all. This is clearly
recognised by the Indian Health Survey, as stated in its
report published in 1946 : "We feel, however, that such measu-
res can constitute only a temporary expedient, because a
limit to economic productivity will be reached sooner or
later, and uncontrolled growth of population must, as far as
we can see, outstrip the production capacity of the country/ 3

The first way out, food supply alone, either by improving

153

M. J. SIRKS

agricultural production as such, or even by preparing a
fantastic concentrated industrial foodsubstance in pills,
takes into account only the quantitative side of the popu-
lation. It will never lead to improvement of the conditions
of living for all human beings. It will lock in the entire
mankind in one large prison, without any possibility for
recreation or free exercise. It will lead to a population
pressure, to a density of population, which is rightly charac-
terized by KARL SAX, professor at Harvard University, in the
title of his fascinating, but alarming book "Standing room
only." The economists view in my opinion is an extremely
narrow one; the solution presented very dangerous and
fatal for the human race.

The second way which is thought to prevent overpopu-
lation is that of emigration. Many people consider emigration
an efficacious remedy of all troubles caused by a too high
population density. Many and ponderous doubts however
may be advanced against this optimistic suggestion. One
hundred seventy years ago BENJAMIN FRANKLIN has said this:
"In my piece on population, I have proved, I think, that
emigration does not dimmish but multiplies a nation. You
will not have fewer at home for those that go abroad." The
experience of our own nation since the last war has led to the
same conclusion: in ten years about 250,000 individuals from
the Netherlands have emigrated, while the normal increase
of the population in this period has been six times this number.

In his clever book "Hungry people and empty lands," Dr.
CHANDRASEKHAR, the Director of the Indian Institute for
Population Studies, defends the thesis that the population of
Southern and Eastern Asia cannot be confined to its present
geographical limits, as long as there are empty spaces around
the world. It is true, there are countries in which the popu-
lation is far too large for an existence worthy of human
beings, and there are countries where empty spaces are
available which by reasonable opening up could give room
to large numbers of people, but I think Dr. CHANDRASEKHAR

154

FOOD SUPPLY AND INCREASE OF POPULATION

overrates these possibilities, certainly in the long run. In his
foreword to this book WILLIAM VOGT gives a serious warning :
"Much of the "Empty 55 land Dr. CHANDRASEKHAR would use
as a home for surplus people is as undependable as a pair of
paper shoes: expose it to the rain and it melts away. As other
students of the tropics have also pointed out, we simply do
not know to use most tropical soils without destroying
them. The empty lands are not nearly so empty as some of
us wish they were.' 5

Besides, emigration has two important drawbacks for the
people staying at home; it harms the quality of the remaining
population in a serious way. Those who are willing to
emigrate belong to a type of character, which is of great
value for the nations prosperity; they are energetic and
enterprising, they have got the nerve to accept the diffi-
culties, presented by a change of environment, to adapt to
new conditions of life. They certainly belong to the better
part of the population. And secondly they are young,
anyhow under a certain age, and by their leaving the re-
maining population is ageing artificially. It seems to me that
this danger for a nations existence is generally overlooked by
those who propagate emigration as an effective way out from
the maze of overpopulation. Emigration counteracts the
increase of population in a small scale temporarily only, not
for years to come, while it also is injurious to the populations
quality.

The third way, which may lead to a solution of the problem
of overpopulation is that of birth control. In our Western
countries this process is regarded as most delicate and sensi-
tive, out of reach of governments measure. Limitation of the
family number is left entirely to the desire and the sense of
responsibility of the individual. On the contrary, in many
countries government-measures by means of family-al-
lowances stimulate the number of children and by that an
uncontrolled increase of population. Clerical parties support
these governmental efforts and the clergy propagates the

155

M. J. SIRKS

cult of large families. These government-measures however
involve a great danger. For birth control is applied mainly by
those who have enough mental ability to see and to value
the impending dangers of overpopulation. This means that
on the whole those families with a larger intellectual capaci-
ty and more social responsibility have a smaller number of
children than have those who are less intelligent and more
careless. Here we meet the very serious problem of the
differential birth-rate, which is strongly linked to that of the
increase of population in so-called civilized countries.
Already in 1934 LORIMER and OSBORN in their Dynamics of
Population have pointed to a decrease of national intelligence
caused by this differential birth-rate. And in 1946 the Presi-
dent of the Royal Commission on Population in Great
Britain, Sir CYRIL RURT has said : "In a little over fifty years the
number of pupils of "scholarship" ability would be approxi-
mately halved and the number of feeble-minded doubled.' 3
This danger of "genetical erosion" threatens all countries
withahigh standard of development when thefamily numbers
are stimulated without any attention to the inherited quality
of the members of these families.

For the less-developed countries the danger of stimulating
family numbers lies in a somewhat different direction. I may
quote here one of the best friends of the Chinese people,
GERALD WINHELD: "All the proposed steps toward industri-
alisation and increased agricultural productivity, all the
processes necessary to enable China to play her logical role
in a world community, all plans for her progress, are and
will be futile unless her population growth can be controlled.
Existing misery and poverty can be permanently eliminated
only when there are fewer, healthier people, with longer life
expectancy and greater economic security. The future
welfare of the Chinese people is more dependent on the
prevention of births than on the prevention of deaths." Or a
quotation from an article by A. A. BUZZATTI-TRAVERSO
(Science and Freedom, N. 2, April 1955, p. 24): "The obvious

156

FOOD SUPPLY AND INCREASE OF POPULATION

facts of the case were actually admitted at the September
meeting of the National People's Congress of Red China,
when the Deputy SHAO Li-TzE declared: "It is a good thing
to have a large population but in an environment beset with
difficulties it appears that there should be a limit set". I will
not say more on this extremely difficult, but also extremely
grave and serious subject. I may only say that blindly stimu-
lating family numbers all over the world on grounds of
national or party political motives is an unsound procedure.
Here again I may ask attention for the book by KARL SAX,
"Standing room only."

To sum up :

Promoting foodproduction and foodsupply is highly neces-
sary for today and the near future, but this method is quite
unsatisfactory to prevent all troubles of population increase
in the long run.

Emigration is a temporary means of relief for overpopu-
lated countries but its results will never lead to reducing the
population of such a country to its desirable size.

Stimulating family sizes under present world conditions is
a grave mistake; the counterpart, reasonable birth control
the only way out on behalf of the well-being of mankind.

Increase of population asks for action, for radical measures,
but these measures shall be supported by well-founded and
sober reason, not by sentimental bias.

LITERATURE

BURT, CYRIL, 1946. Intelligence and fertility; the effect of the differential
birth rate on inborn mental characteristics. London Cassel and Com-
pany. Occas. Papers on Eugenics 2, 1946, Sec. ed. 1952: 44pp.

CARREL, A., 1935. L'homme, cetinconnu. Paris, Plon, 1935: 400 pp.

CHANDRASEKHAR, S., 1954. Hungry people and empty lands. London,
Allen and Unwin, 1954: 306 pp.

LORIMER, F. and F. OSBORN, 1934. Dynamics of population. New York,
Mac Millan, 1934.

157

M. J. SIRKS

OSBORN, F., 1951. Preface to eugenics. Rev. Ed., New York, Harper Bros.

1951: 333 pp.
RUSSELL, E. }., 1954. World population and world food supplies. London,

Allen and Unwin, 1954 : 513 pp.
SAX, K. 3 1954. Population problems of Central America. Ceiba, a scientific

journal issued by the Escuela agricola panamericana, 4: 153-164, 1954.
SAX, K., 1955. Standing Room Only, the Challenge of Overpopulation.

Boston, Beacon Press, 1955: 206 pp.
WINFIELD, G., 1950. China: the Land and the people. Rev. ed., New York,

Sloane, 1950.
WOYTINSKI, W. S., and E. S., 1953- World Population and production.

Trends and outlook. New York, The twentieth Century fund, 1953:

1268 pp.

158

Quelques voies probables
de developpement des nouvelles

techniques en agronomie 1

par
P. CHOUARD

Avec tous les risques d'erreur que comporte fatalement une
telle initiative, je voudrais essay er de degager les tendances
actuelles du progres technique en agronomic, de decrire,
par anticipation, quelques unes des techniques qui entreront
d'ici cinq a vingt ans dans la pratique. Par la, je me propose
d'attirer ^attention des techniciens agronomes sur certains
aspects de la Recherche Scientifique, et de les porter a s'en
tenir informes pour en assurer le plus tot possible la trans-
position agricole ou horticole.

RESISTANCE A LA SECHERESSE

L'eau etant le premier des facteurs limitants la croissance
des plantes, son utilisation presente une importance capitale,
et nous pouvons nous attendre ici a de nouveaux progres.
Par exemple, nous comment; ons a savoir ou a soup^onner
qu'un emploi judicieux d'oligo-elements tels que le cuivre,
ou des traitements infliges aux graines avant le semis, peuvent

i. Get article contient la substance d'une conference faite au Comite parlemen-
taire pour les Sciences et les Techniques (Bull. No. 2, 24 fevrier 1955) et a la Confe-
deration Internationale des Ingenieurs et Techniciens de FAgriculture. A cet
article 1'auteur a ajoute mention des decouvertes recentes et des tendances nou-
velles, en vue du rapide progres dans ces dernieres annees en nombre des branches
scientifiques liees a I'agriculture.

159

PIERRE CHOUARD

peut-etre ameliorer la resistance ulterieure des plantes a la
secheresse. Si de telles decouvertes se confirment et se pre-
cisent, il sera possible de faire reculer plus ou moins la limite
des terres arides; les plantes cultivees pourront gagner sur
les territoires ou, jusqu'ici, la pluviosite etait insuffisante; ou
bien le rendement de 1'eau disponible dans les terres deja
cultivees sera ameliore et la production accrue.

On peut citer ici les perspectives d'emploi plus economique
de 1'eau (par exemple par des cultures sur le sable des deserts
irrigue par dessous en solutions nutritives), et d'approvision-
nement des deserts en eaux dessalees par divers precedes,
etc. 2

FUMURE FOLIAIRE

La fumure foliaire nous offre des perspectives peut-etre plus
immediates. On sait en effet depuis longtemps que les plantes
peuvent absorber les matieres fertilisantes, non seulement
par la voie normale des racines, mais, dans une certaine
mesure, par la voie anormale des surfaces foliaires et meme
des ecorces. Mais cette connaissance physiologique n'a fait
que depuis peu Fob jet de recherches systeniatiques et de
tentatives d'application. Cependant, les experiences faites

2. Note de PEditeur : A ce propos on peut peut-etre signaler les resultats des re-
cherches suivantes, a cause de leur probable importance mondiale:

Depuis 1949, en Israel, H. et E. BOYKO ont prouve avec succes qu'il est possible
d'irriguer des plantes economiquement importantes par des eaux tres saumatres
et meme avec de Teau de mer a concentration oceanique.

II y a plus: Cette methode est particulierement indiquee pour rendre productives
les vastes zones sablonneuses des bords de la mer et des deserts, ainsi que les terrains
graveleux.

Ces experiences ont combine 1'approche geophysique avec celui de 1'ecologie
vegetale, et elles ont ete recemment verifiees par 'des experiences semblables en
Suede et en Espagne.

Cette methode s'est ainsi montree valable pour le profil climatique tout entier,
depuis le chaud desert d'Eilat et la semi-aride plaine mediterraneenne d'Israel et
la chaleur temperee d'Espagne jusqu'a la Suede fraiche et humide. En Suede on a
me'me pu utiliser des terrains argileux, grace aux pluies plus frequentes et aux
temperatures plus basses.

Ces experiences ouvrent des nouvelles lignes de recherche en plusieures direc-
tions, et nous montrent comme on pourra peut-etre un jour ajouter aux terrains
actuellement cultives d'autres grandes extensions comparables a un vaste continent

160

NOUVELLES TECHNIQUES EN AGRONOMIE

dans divers pays commencent a montrer qu'il est possible,
d'une maniere economique et efficace, de suppleer par cette
voie a certaines insuffisances de la penetration des engrais
par les ratines, notamment dans les cas de certains sols trop
pauvres ou trop difficilement fertilisables. Ainsi, le phosphore
si souvent immobilise par le calcaire dans le sol, peut, de la
sorte, penetrer plus facilement chez les plantes ; Pazote peut
etre introduit sous forme de sels mineraux ou, souvent
mieux, d'uree; dans un tel cas, ou dans Pemploi de carbona-
tes ou de bicarbonates, c'est meme un peu Pequivalent d'une
fuinure carbonique, non point gazeuse mais soluble, que
Ton distribue de la sorte sur les plantes. Des ameliorations
sensibles de rendement ont deja ete observees dans quelques
cas. Et si 1'experience se generalise et aboutit a une mise au
point, il sera, sans doute, possible de Tappliquer dans les
cultures en sols squelettiques, en combinaison avec 1'apport
d'eau ce qui constituerait une sorte de renovation des prin-
cipes de la culture "sans sol" et peut-etre permettrait de doter
d'une fertilite reelle des territoires reputes incultivables
comme ceux de certaines zones au pourtour du Sahara. Je
tiens a souligner la marge d'incertitude qui cerne une telle
perspective, mais aussi ^importance qui s'attache aux essais
qui pourraient etre entrepris dans ce sens.

En ce qui concerne les applications de la genetique, nous
avons encore devant nous des progres importants et dont on
peut deja deceler Torientation:

RACES RESISTANTES AUX MALADIES

La production de races genetiquement resistantes aux
maladies ne cesse de progresses chaque annee on decouvre,
par recherches dans les pays d'origine des plantes cultivees

161

PIERRE CHOUARD

ou Ton cree par hybridation, des races nouvelles resistantes
a 1'une ou 1'autre des maladies ou des parasites. Par exemple,
il n'est pas exclus de penser qu'un jour nous disposerions
de pommes de terre sur lesquelles le Doryphore ne saurait
pas se multiplier, ni le Mildiou s'etablir, ou meme qui seraient
resistantes a certains types de virus.

HYBRIDES HETEROSIS

D'autre part, le succes enregistre chez les mais dans 1'accrois-
sement de la production par Femploi d'hybrides de premiere
generation, autrement dit par "heterosis," se retrouve peu a
peu chez d'autres plantes: il y a peu d'annees, les Americains
ont decouvert une race d'oignons chez laquel le pollen est
incapable d'assurer Pauto-fecondation; ils ont pu trans-
mettre cette auto-sterilite a n'importe quelle race ou espece
d'oignons. A partir de ces races auto-steriles il est facile
d'assurer la fecondation par une autre race ou variete nor-
male et d'obtenir de la sorte, a Pechelle commerciale, des
graines hybrides de premiere generation qui sont capables de
redonner le type d'oignon qu'on desire, mais avec une
vigueur accrue et une productivite augmentee de Tordre de
30%, Recemment il vient d'etre fait de meme pour le ricin et
1'etude de tels hybrides est actuellement en cours. On peut
penser qu'une telle methode d' amelioration pourra s'etendre
a bon nombre d'especes et qu'une marge importante d'ac-
croissement de production est contenue en puissance dans
un tel processus.

MUTATIONS PROVOQUEES

On doit mentionner aussi lafaf on de plus en plus precise avec
laquelle nous savons maintenant appliquer sur les plantes
des rayonnements divers, depuis les rayons X jusqu'aux flux
de neutrons. Par de tels moyens, nous creons dans la plante

162

NOUVELLES TECHNIQUES EN AGRONOMIE

des accidents genetiques d'ou il nait un grand nombre de
mutations, c'est-a-dire de races ou de varietes nouvelles. La
plupart ne sont que des monstruosites. Mais Fanalyse syste-
matique des effets de tels agents mutagenes a permis de
montrer que certaines mutations utiles pour nos besoins
peuvent etre obtenues de temps en temps et isolees par un
effort attentif et methodique de selection; de sorte que, la
encore, un champ certainement important et imprevisible
d'amelioration nous est ouvert. L'eniploi des agents chimi-
ques mutagenes se developpera au moins autant que celui
des rayonnements mutagenes.

PLANTES INDEMNES DE VIRUS

Dans la voie de la phyto-pathologie, les progres possibles sont
considerables et on peut indiquer quelques-uns des chemins
par lesquels ils parviennent. Par exemple, dans Fetude des
virus, nous commenjons a savoir que des applications
menagees de temperature chaude permettent, dans certains
cas, de detruire le virus dans Finterieur de la plante sans tuer
celle-ci. Ou bien, grace a une decouverte franfaise faite a
FInstitut National de la Recherche Agronomique, il a ete
montre que les points vegetatifs de beaucoup de plantes ne
contiennent pas le virus qui a envahi tous les autres organes
du vegetal; et grace a une technique delicate de prelevement
et de culture des extremites des tiges, il a ete possible de
regenerer, dans Fetat absolument exempt de virus des varie-
tes de pommes de terre ou de dahlias, que Fon croyait tota-
lement perdues parce que entierement contaminees par les
virus. Cette methode pourra sans doute s'etendre.

CHIMIOTHERAPIE CONTRE LES PARASITES

Mais c'est surtout dans le domaine de la chimiotherapie que
des decouvertes imprevisibles vont se faire dans des delais les

163

PIERRE CHOUARD

plus proches; chaque annee, chaque semaine meme, apporte
Pannonce de la decouverte de produits nouveaux, qui
jouissent de proprietes extremement pulssantes dans la
destruction des parasites: bacteries, champignons, insectes,
etc. Comme je Fai dit plus haut ces produits, a cote de leurs
vertus, presentent souvent des dangers graves, soit parce
qu'ils sont toxiques pour Phomme, soit parce qu'ils detrui-
sent, en meme temps que les parasites, certains des facteurs
de Pequilibre faunistique et floristique. Mais si ce sont des
armes a double tranchant, cependant il est hautement
probable que leur connaissance approfondie, leur emploi
judicieux, menage et convenablement diversifies, permettra
une lutte de plus en plus spectaculaire contre les parasites
qui detruisent encore une fraction si importante de beaucoup
de nos recoltes.

NOUVEAUX EMPLOIS DES HORMONES

La physiologie moderne nous ouvre enfin les perspectives les
plus surprenantes, celles sur lesquelles portent a la fois le
doutequis'attachea toute anticipation, et Fenthousiasme qui
s'allie a toute suggestion nouvelle.

On peut indiquer, par exemple, qu'en matiere d'emploi
des hormones vegetales, notamment des auxines, a cote des
decouvertes classiques, d'autres peut-etre interviendront
dans Fagriculture: Je viens de lire, dans un periodique
agronomique de Californie, deux resultats experimentaux
assez significatifs: dans Fun une pulverisation a 33 parties par
million de 2, 4, 5 - T, substance connue comme un puissant
debroussaillant est capable, a une telle dilution, de provoquer
une precocite considerable et une regularite remarquable de
fructification chez certains arbres fruitiers a noyaux; ce qui
peut notamment modifier les conditions d'ecoulement de
ces fruits a faible duree de conservation. D'autre part une
application a 15 parties par milliard de 2, 4 - D> le celebre

164

NOUVELLES TECHNIQUES EN AGRONOMIE

agent herbicide, s'est montree capable de stimuler puissam-
ment la croissance de boutures d'Avocatier avec une sensi-
bilite telle que 5 parties par milliard en plus se montrent deja
toxiques, 5 parties par milliard en moms ne donnent qu'un
resultat tres faiblement ameliore par rapport au temoin. De
telles indications signifient que les progres dans la connais-
sance de ces substances stimulantes capables d'agir a des
doses aussi petites, peuvent apporter d'un jour a Pautre des
bouleversements importants dans les techniques agricoles de
production, mais en exigeant des precautions de plus en plus
delicates dans leur emploi.

LE PHYTOTRON ET LES PROGRES DE LA PHYSIOLOGIE
DE LA CROISSANCE ET D*J DEVELOPPEMENT

La physiologie de la croissance et du developpement est
encore dans ses premiers balbutiements. Par elle, nous
savons deja P existence d'un certain nombre de mecanismes
regulateurs de la croissance et du developpement, tels que la
vernalisation et le photoperiodisme: autrement dit nous
savons que certaines plantes sont dotees d'un systeme
physico-chimique par lequel elles se trouvent empechees
indefiniment de fleurir tant qu'elle n'ont pas subi une
periode appropriee de temperature froide: c'est la vernalisa-
tion. D'autres sont dotees d'un autre mecanisme physico-
chimique par lequel elles se trouvent indefiniment empe-
chees de fleurir, ou au contraire immediatement poussees a
fleurir, selon que la duree quotidienne d'eclairfement qu'elles
ref oivent est augmentee ou reduite de quelques minutes en
plus ou en moins; ce sont les mecanismes du photo-perio-
disme. Chez d'autres ce sont les alternances quotidiennes de
quelques degres de temperature qui constituent une condi-
tion absolue de survie, tandis qu'une temperature constante
entraine soit la mort, soit la chute rapide des boutons floraux
ou des fruits; et ce sont la des mecanismes qui relevent du
thermoperiodisme a rythme quotidien.

165

PIERRE CHOUARD

Pour etudier ces mecanismes regulateurs, il a ete institue
un appareillage complique auquel le nom de "phytotron" a
ete donne, par analogic avec le cyclotron bien connu des
physiciens et de tous les lecteurs de la grande presse: de me-
me que le cyclotron permet, en accelerant des particules
atomiques, d'analyser Pintimite de la mecanique de Tatome,
de meme le phytotron, en accelerant ou en ralentissant
certains des processus de la vie de la plante, permet d'analyser
les mecanismes intimes qui controlent sa croissance et son
developpement De meme que le cyclotron est un appareil
couteux mais qui permet des decouvertes hautement renta-
bles dans le domaine atomique, de meme le phytotron est
un appareil couteux qui a deja permis des decouvertes im-
portantes dans les applications et qui en procurera certaine-
ment beaucoup d'autres dans 1'avenir.

Ce dispositif n'est en realite autre chose qu'un en-
semble complexe de serres et de locaux completement
conditionnes, ou Ton est entierement maitre de tous les
facteurs physiques et chimiques de Tambiance, soit pour les
maintenir constants, soit pour les faire varier a tous moments
et a volonte. Dans de telles enceintes, des plantes ou meme
des animaux de toutes' sortes, peuvent etre eleves de faf on
prolongee, Tintimite des mecanismes qui se manifestent peut
etre analysee par les techniques modernes de Femploi des
isotopes, de la chromatographie, ou autres. II n'existe a
Theure actuelle qu*un seul phytotron complet et important,
celui que le Dr. F. WENT a realise, apres une qulnzaine d'an-
nees d'etudes, au California Institute of Technology, a
Pasadena. Un grand equipement analogue existe a Moscou.
D'autres sont en projet a Madison, a Canberra, etc.

Un appareil plus reduit existe a TUniversite de Liege chez
le professeur BOUILLENNE. Un autre, le premier en Europe du
type complet, est actuellement en cours de construction a
Gif-sur-Yvette, sous ma direction et a rinitiative du Centre
National Franf ais de la Recherche Scientifique.

Par les etudes qui se developpent, et se developperont avec

166

NOUVELLES TECHNIQUES EN AGRONOMIE

de tels dispositifs, non settlement les mecanisrnes regulateurs
que je citais plus haut ont deja ete decouverts et analyses, non
seulement les proprietes des diverses especes et varietes de
plantes, vis-a-vis de ces mecanisrnes, ont ete determinees
experimentalement, et les aptitudes culturales de ces plantes
definies tres rapidement, de telle sorte que Fexperience
agronomique se trouve considerablement abregee. Mais
encore, nous pouvons esperer acquerir une mattrise plus ou
moins complete de la precocite du developpement, de son
orientation, du maintien des fleurs ou des fruits sur les
plantes, de leur maturation, de la rapidite de germination,
etc..., autrement dit acquerir la maitrise des facteurs les plus
importants pour la conduite des operations culturales.
Certes, ce n'est pas pour demain que nous possederons la
totalite de ces connaissances ; mais, piece par piece, elles
tombent deja entre nos mains; le progres dans cette voie
peut etre augure de la maniere la plus favorable.

RECHERCHES SUR LA PHOTOSYNTHESE ET
CONSIDERATIONS SUR LA PORTEE DES EMPLOIS DE
L'ENERGIE SOLAIRE

Enfin je ne puis manquer de mettre ici en place les importan-
tes perspectives que nous donne Fetude de la photosynthese,
le procede naturel par lequel les plantes vertes sont capables
de retenir Tenergie lumineuse venue du soleil, sous forme de
lumiere et de la transformer pour aboutir a la synthese des
matieres organiques, sucres, proteines, etc... a partir des ele-
ments mineraux, le gaz carbonique de Fatmosphere et les
aliments mineraux dissous dans les liquides du sol. A elle
seule, Petude de la photosynthese meriterait tout un expose,
et Ton peut trouver dans les publications recentes tous les
eclaircissements necessaires sur ce point.

Ce qu'il importe de souligner, c'est que Fenergie ref ue de
la lumiere solaire presente des particularites que Fon neglige

167

PIERRE CHOUARD

souvent de considerer; d'une part, c'est une energie extra-
ordinairement dispersee, nous pourrions dire "a bas poten-
tiel," c'est-a-dire tout le contraire des sources d'energie for-
tement concentree, a haut potentiel, qui sont d'ordinaire
utilisees dans 1'industrie. La lumiere regue du soleil a la
surface delaterre represente, en effet, approximativement, 1,4
petite calorie par cm 2 et par minute, autrement dit c'est a
peu pres 1'equivalent d'une puissance d'un kilowatt par m 2 .
Ce chiffre est deja appreciable, mais il parait bien petit au
regard des centaines de mille de kilowatts qui sont couram-
ment produits par les grandes chutes captees pour 1'energie
hydro-electrique ou par les grandes centrales thermiques.
Mais par contre 1'energie radiante emise par le soleil est regue
sur toute la surface de la terre; et sur des surfaces aussi
iminenses, elle represente un total prodigieux, a cote duquel
les autres sources d'energie sont insignifiantes. C'est ainsi
que si Ton exprime en calories 1'energie reg ue du soleil sur
Fensemble de la surface de la France, on pent calculer qu'elle
represente environ 500 a i.ooo fois 1'equivalent energetique du
total du charbon, du petrole, et des sources hydro-electri-
ques qui sont actuellement utilisees en France.

La plus grande partie de cette energie ref ue du soleil est
dissipee sous forme de chaleur; une fraction infime est
retenue par le tapis vert des plantes sauvages et cultivees;
en Europe on pent estimer a environ i pour i.ooo lamoyenne
generale de ce qui est ainsi retenu par ? action photosynthe-
tique des plantes. Cette fraction est cependant elle-meme
d'une grandeur considerable puisqu'elle est, en energie,
equivalente, pour la France, aux 70 millions de tonnes de
charbon qui y sont consommees par an.

Depuis un siecle et demi que le processus de la photosyn-
these a ete decouvert, son analyse detaillee progresse pas a
pas; mais c'est seulement au cours des quinze dernieres
annees que les decouvertes dans ce domaine ont soudain subi
une grande acceleration; grace a la combinaison de Tanalyse
chromatographique et de Temploi des elements marques, il a

168

NOUVELLES TECHNIQUES EN AGRONOMIE

ete possible de determiner les premiers produits de la photo-
synthese et d'analyser de mieux en mieux le mecanisme in-
time de cet extraordinaire enchainement de reactions, les
conditions de realisation de la photosynthese, quelles sent les
modifications subies par les pigments, le role capital de la
teneur en gaz carbonique, de la temperature, de Thydra-
tation, de Tetat du cytoplasme et des elements mineraux qui
sont presents dans la cellule vivante. Les journaux ont
annonce recemment les derniers progres accomplis en
Amerique dans Pisolement de la photosynthese hors du
complexe de la cellule vegetale: 1'anglais ROBIN HILL, avait
deja reussi, en 1937, a faire fonctionner une partie de la photo-
synthese c'est-a-dire la photolyse de 1'eau, sa decomposition
en oxygene et hydrogene utilisables pour d'autres reactions,
par des grains isoles de la matiere verte des plantes, les
chloroplastes. L'americain ARNON a reussi a pousser plus loin
Pactivite des chloroplastes isoles qui se sont montre capables
de reduire le gaz carbonique et de faire ainsi la synthese de
1'amidon et des sucres. Cela ne signifie pas encore que nous
soyons capables de realiser a volonte la photosynthese
"comme dans un bocal," mais nous pouvons de mieux en
mieux en etudier le mecanisme, et deja nous savons les
grandes lignes de ce qull faut faire pour exalter Factivite
photosynthetique des cellules des plantes.

Si le rendement moyen reste encore si bas (de Tordre de i
pour i.ooo pour la moyenne d'un an, et sur Tensemble d'un
territoire aussi varie que la France), deja Tamelioration des
procedes culturaux permet d'atteindre des rendements de
Tordre de i a 2% pendant la periode la plus favorable de cultu-
re, et pour les meilleures sortes de plantes cultivees. Mais
dans une ambiance plus favorablement elaboree pour se
rapprocher de Foptimum du rendement de la photoynthese,
et notamment par un enrichissement de 1 'atmosphere en
gaz carbonique, et par une repartition plus judicieuse de
1'intensite lumineuse totale generalement trop grande, il est
possible d'atteindre des rendements de 1'ordre de 5 a 10% on

169

PIERRE CHOUARD

meme davantage, De tels resultats ne sont actuellement
obtenus que dans des conditions de laboratoire, non transpo-
sables dans la pratique d'une maniere rentable en ce moment.
Mais on sait trop combien il est rapidement possible de
passer d'une decouverte de laboratoire a une utilisation
technique, lorque Fenjeu en vaut la peine, pour estimer avec
beaucoup de vraisemblance que I'utilisation de Tenergie
solaire avec un haut rendement, par la photosynthese,
s'etendra a la pratique agricole ou industrielle dans un delai
relativement court de quelques generations, quelques
dizaines d'annees peut-etre.

PERSPECTIVES DE LA CHEMIURGIE:
CULTURES DE MICROORGANISMES; CULTURES D'ALGUES

Nous rejoignons ici des perspectives d'un autre ordre, celles
que Fon reunit souvent sous le nom de chemiurgie, c'est-a-
dire 1'approvisionnement des industries en matieres premie-
res plus ou moins elaborees grace a une culture de plantes
appropriees.

On peut citer tous les degres de realisation actuelle ou
d'anticipation plus ou moins romanesque dans les concep-
tions de la chemiurgie: par exemple c'est une utilisation
actuelle, deja possible dans la pratique, que celle de la culture
du ricin pour fournir la matiere premiere a Pindustrie des
plastiques et des textiles artificiels. C'est une perspective
moins immediate mais cependant facile a realiser et qui a ete
deja mise en oeuvre dans certains pays, que celle de la culture
de micro-organismes, tels que les levures pour transformer
rapidement des mixtures a bon marche (formees de sucre et
de composes mineraux de Tazote) en matieres alimentaires
pour Phomme ou les animaux, en proteines d'une haute
valeur nutritive. II est probable que les excedents de bettera-
ves sucrieres auraient pu, si Ton avait fait Tetude technologi-
que en temps voulu, etre utilisees sous cette forme par une

170

NO.UVELLES TECHNIQUES EN AGRONOMIE

facile reconversion de certaines distilleries, et contribuer ainsi
a reduire les besoins en importation de graines fourrageres
pour ralimentation du betail. L'utilisation des eaux resi-
duaires des papeteries ail sulfite pour la preparation de la
penicilline est a signaler de meme.

Une autre perspective de la chemiurgie est celle qui
re joint les perspectives de developpement des recherches sur
la photosynthese, la culture des algues et, notamment,
celles des algues uni-cellulaires, les chlorelles et autres
analogues. Ces algues microscopiques sontformees depetites
cellules isolees dotees de chlorophylle, et capables de se
multiplier rapidement dans des milieux de culture syntheti-
ques (faciles a fabriquer avec quelques sels mineraux dissous
dans Peau). Par insufflation d'air enrichi en gaz carbonique,
on eleve la teneur du liquide en gaz carbonique dissous, et
Pagitation des chlorelles amene chacune d'entre elles a se
presenter a la surface du liquide, directement exposee a
la lumiere du soleil intense, pendant un temps suffisamment
court, pour profiter pleinement de cette lumiere, puis
ensuite a continuer les reactions de la photosynthese a la
demi-obscurite, a Pabri dans les profondeurs. Une telle
culture peut etre menee d'une maniere quasi-industrielle,
presque continue; elle a ete effectivement realisee, non seule-
ment aux dimensions du laboratoire, mais a Pechelle de
quelques dizaines de m 2 notamment aux Etats-Unis, au
Japon, en Allemagne, et recemment en France.

La matiere ainsi produite est celle de la substance meme
des cellules des Chlorelles: elle se compose d'une quantite
importante de proteines et de quantites plus petites de sucres
et de matieres grasses ainsi que de vitamines et autres princi-
pes utiles.

La fraction alimentaire est petite; on peut penser que la
matiere des Chlorelles, convenablement separee du ^liquide
de culture par centrifugation, puis dessechee et traitee pour
perdre ses proprietes hygroscopiques, pourrait constituer

171

PIERRE CHOUARD

une ressource importante pour P alimentation du be tail;
certains m ernes y ont pense pour Palimentation humaine.

Grace aux perfectionnements que la culture des Chlorelles
a deja atteints, le rendement de la photosynthese y est eleve
et des productions de 1'ordre de 12 gr. de matiere seche par
jour et par m 2 ont deja ete obtenus sur la moyenne d'une
annee complete. On a meme obtenu, pour des durees plus
courtes, des productions 4 a 6 fois superieures. De tels ren-
dements en matiere seche sont 5 a 10 fois plus grands que
ceux de la plupart des meilleures cultures agricoles. Dans ces
essais en demi-grand, des prix de revient ont deja pu etre
calcules : ils varient, selon les estimations, de 55 a 140 fr. le kg.
de matiere seche, c'est-a-dire qu'ils ne sont deja plus tres loin
d'une possibilite pratique de rentabilite.

Comme de telles cultures n'exigent par rapport a la pro-
duction finale, qu'une quantite relativement petite d'eau,
on voit aussitot les perspectives que Ton peut imager pour
F utilisation des regions fortement ensoleillees et pauvres en
eau, telles que les confins du Sahara.

Mais les algues en culture serviront sans doute a bien d'au-
tres jfins que les usages alimentaires : si Ton songe a la diversite
des especes de ce groupe de plantes, jusqu'ici totalement
ignorees de I'agriculture, on peut penser a la diversite des
substances qui pourront en etre tirees, dont certaines pour-
ront peut-etre servir de matieres premieres pour Tindustrie.

VALEUR DES NOUVELLES TECHNIQUES DE L'AGRONOMIE

II me reste a porter un jugement de valeur sur les perspec-
tives que nous ouvrent les developpements probables des
techniques de Fagronomie. Trois points principaux doivent
etre soulignes :

-i) Le progres technique en Agronomic est en plein essor, et>

172

NOUVELLES TECHNIQUES EN AGRONOMIE

par lui, la revolution agricole du monde est a peine
commencee;

2) Ses caracteristiques essentielles et originales proviennent
de ce qu'il met en jeu 1'utilisation de 1'immense energie
solaire, et par des moyens biologiques;

3) II se developpe a la fois en vue de pourvoir a la nourriture
des hommes en nombre croissant et en vue de satisfaire de
plus en plus les besoins industriels, et ces deux buts sont de
plus en plus associes. Examinons brievement ces trois
points.

i. Les techniques en a^ronomie out devant elks line enorme
marge de progres possibles

Pour etre plus lente que la revolution industrielle, la revolu-
tion agricole n'est pas moins reelle ni profonde: jusqu'a la
Renaissance inclusivement, PAgriculture etait plus un mode
de vie qu'une technique ; elle perpetuait par la tradition, un
long acquit empirique et suffisait tout juste aux besoins d'un
monde en croissance demographique lente. Depuis 150 ans,
F Agriculture sefonde sur des techniques en pleine evolution
et sa propre revolution a ete la condition primaire du change-
ment rapide qui bouleverse la face de la terre: la population
du monde vient de tripler et pourtant, grace aux progres des
techniques agricoles, les famines aigues de jadis ont prati-
quement disparu (sauf en cas de guerre). II demeure la famine
endemique des pays dont Tagriculture est insuffisamment
developpee.

La capacite d'evolution de FAgriculture est pourtant loin
d'etre parvenue a son terme; quand on note que le rende-
ment moyen des plantes, ces "machines vegetales," est
d'utiliser en moyenne i% de Tenergie solaire, et que nous
savons qu'elles peuvent, au laboratoire, fournir des rende-
ments de 5 a 10% sinon davantage, quand on rapproche cette
capacite potentielle de progres avec la valeur actuelle (au

173

PIERRE CHOUARD

rendement de i a 2 pour mille) de la production agricole
qui est pourtant de Pordre du tiers de la production
industrielle dans les pays evolues, on eprouve le senti-
ment profond que la puissance des techniques agronomiques
est largement comparable, sinon superieure, a celles des
techniques industrielles. Quand on considere les bases
scientifiques des prochaines techniques agronomiques (telles
que P analyse chromatographique et Pemploi des elements
appliques a la Physiologic vegetale, les notions nouvelles
d'horinones et de mecanismes regulateurs de la croissance
et du developpement, la physiochimie des macromolecules
appliquee au support des proprietes hereditaires), on peut
raisonnablement penser que les decouvertes scientifiques
changeront aussi profondement P agriculture du siecle qui
vient qu'elles Pont modifiee deja durant le siecle qui
s'acheve.

A court terme, par tranches de quelques mois, ces progres
semblent des utopies et la science ne semble fournir qu'un
amas confus de nouveaux details. Mais Fexperience du passe
recent nous apprend qu'a long terme, de nouveaux progres,
toujours plus eclatants, ne cessent de sortir de la multitude
des petites decouvertes, de sorte que, au-dela des soucis
fastidieux de leur tache quotidienne, savants et techniciens
attaches a FAgronomie peuvent avoir foi dans Pinteret et la
portee immense de leurs travaux.

2. Vaflronomie tient sa puissance et sa valeur de ^utilisation de Venergie
solaire par des machines vivantes

L'ampleur des perspectives d'avenir est encore accrue
maintenant, lorsque nous considerons mieux la situation de
1'agriculture par rapport aux problemes generaux de la
matiere et de Penergie.

En ce moment, le monde, dote de la civilisation technique,
vit, d'une part pour Papprovisionnement en vivres, sur les

174

NOUVELLES TECHNIQUES EN AGRONOMIE

ressources de P agriculture, renouvelables chaque annee, et
d'autre part, pour ses besoins en energie et matieres industriel-
les, sur les ressources des mines de houille, de petrole et des
mines metalliques et autres (inclus les minerals atomiques).
Ces ressources minieres sont fatalement destinees a Pepuise-
ment. Get epuisement n'est evidemment pas pour demain:
mais dans certains pays cornme PEurope, il surviendra,
notamment pour le charbon et le petrole, dans le delai d'un
nombre relativement petit de generations. Seule Penergie
solaire est indefiniment renouvelable, pour des temps aussi
considerables que 1'ordre du milliard d'annees, et si Phuma-
nite doit subsister assez longtemps, seule Penergie solaire (qui
est d'ailleurs une forme de Penergie atomique) permettra a
Phumanite une survie prolongee.

On conf oit done Pimportance presente et surtout future
des etudes qui s'attachent a la captation et a Putilisation de
Penergie solaire. Les unes sont fondees sur des precedes
physiques tels que la concentration de la chaleur pour le
fonctionnement des fours solaires. Les autres concernent
Putilisation notable de Penergie lumineuse en courant elec-
trique; deja, de la sorte, des productions de Pordre de 40 a 100
watts au metre carre ont ete envisagees. On peut done prevoir
pour Pavenir que la production de Penergie d'origine miniere
sera relayee, pour une part, par la production d'energie
thermique et electrique a partir des centrales atomiques
concentrees en installations puissantes sur de petites surfaces
et, d'autre part grace a la production d'energie principale-
ment electrique obtenue a partir du rayonnement solaire,
par des installations reparties sur de grandes surfaces. Ces
dernieres installations pourraient meme eventuellement
remplacer toutes les autres sources d'energie, si elles venaient
a manquer.

Mais la production des matieres organiques, soit pour
Palimentation, soit comme matieres premieres pour Pindus-
trie, telles qu'elements textiles et matieres plastiques, ne
pourra etre assuree dans Pavenir que par des syntheses tirees

175

PIERRE CHOUARD

de Fenergie solaire par un processus analogue a celui qu'em-
ploient les plantes sinon par les plantes elles-memes. Cest la
que s'attache Finteret fondamental des recherches sur la
photo-synthese et sur la stimulation des vegetaux par tous
les moyens capables d'utiliser leurs proprietes physiologiques.
De plus rutilisation de Fenergie solaire par voie photo-elec-
trique ou par la photo-synthese, offre Favantage de n'accu-
muler aucun produit toxique de caractere permanent con-
trairement au risque qui est presente par certaines des
utilisations de Fenergie atomique.

La Physique, la Chimie, et Findustrie pure ont done devant
elles une large part des possibilites de capter Fenergie radiante
du soleil pour livrer des formes plus utilisables d'energie,
electrique par exemple, Mais la Biologie et FAgriculture
detiennent le quasi-monopole de la production indefinie de
matiere a partir de Fenergie solaire. Les machines vivantes
qui assument cette transformation se reproduisent d'elles-
memes par des processus genetiques, avec les proprietes
ameliorees que nous parvenons a leur conferer. Ce sont la
des traits originaux et irremplacables de FAgronomie. Efface
un moment par le spectacle eblouissant de la revolution
industrielle, le prestige de FAgriculture reparait, avec la
disparition maintenant certaine, quoiqu'encore lointaine,
des ressources minieres de matieres premieres et avec la prise
de conscience des richesses reelles -qui sont celles que nous
fournit Fenergie solaire.

Dans cette perspective, la face future du monde nous
apparait bientot comme changee. Si les mines glacees de fer et
de petrole du Canada sont maintenant en vedette, ce sont les
deserts ensoleilles comme le Sahara vers lesquels se tournent
nos regards pour demain et il nous faut songer serieusement
a une future Industrie et une future agriculture des deserts.
Ainsi, pour le vieux monde, la notion d'Eurafrique est en
train de reprendre un sens puissant; elle constitue, de ce
cote de la terre, la grande unite economique d'un futur qui
n'est plus tres lointain.

176

NOUVELLES TECHNIQUES EN AGRONOMIE

3. Les huts du progres technique en Agronomie

Nourrir lemonde etfournir les matieres premieres a V Industrie. L J agricul-
ture etant seule capable defournir aux hommes la satisfaction
de leur besoin primaire, les vivres, il est clair que le but initial
et capital de 1' Agronomic est d'abord de "nourrir ceux qui ont
faim." Sur ce point essentiel, la croissance recente et rapide
de la population du monde jette le trouble et provoque de
legitimes inquietudes.

Cependant, ce que nous venons de voir de la puissance et de
la capacite du progres des techniques agronomiques leve le
doute, du moins pour le moment: si nous nous efforcions
d'accroitre la production des vivres sans preoccupation
economique, avec la meme energie que celle que Ton
deploie pour les productions d'armes en temps de guerre,
nous serions capables de procurer a la population du monde
entier la quantite de vivres necessaires pour apaiser sa faim.
II est vraisemblable que s'il en etait ainsi, les dangers memes
que la surpopulation fait encourir au monde s'estomperaient
peu a peu, car avec le relevement des conditions economiques
et de la situation sociale, les zones de croissance demographi-
que desordonnee pourraient recevoir Teducation et limi-
teraient d'elles-memes leur croissance aun taux raisonnable,
comme il est constamment arrive dans les pays de civilisation
technique avancee.

Mais en regard de ces possibilites theoriques, nous pouvons
etre profondement def us par la lenteur des progres actuels
de Fagriculture et par le fait que la ou les progres ont penetre,
ils sont aussitot accompagnes d'un contingentement de la
production, comme la lef on de la canne a sucre nous en a
donne Fexemple. On pourrait ainsi considerer, au contraire,
avec pessimisme les possibilites de progres techniques que la
science offre a Tagriculture. Je crois qu'il ne faut pas en rendre
responsable ni les savants, ni les agriculteurs, mais dans une
large part le systeme economique dans lequel nous sommes
installes et qui, precisement, ne tient pas compte suffisam-

177

PIERRE CHOUARD

ment de la puissance des moyens techniques qui sont main-
tenant a notre disposition.

En effet, a cote du progres de la science, il faut envisager
1'importance des moyens a prendre pour la penetration du
progres technique dans P agriculture; il s'agit la d'une autre
forme d'investissement, ce que Ton pourrait appeler un
investissement dans les cerveaux, qui consiste a fair connaitre
les nouveautes deja techniquement acquises et a promouvoir
la volonte de les appliquer sainement

Sans meme envisager les progres lointains que nous
pouvons concevoir par anticipation, il est frappant de remar-
quer combien est faible la proportion des agriculteurs,
pourtant eclaires, qui ont mis en oeuvre les procedes deja
bien au point d'amelioration de la ponte des volailles, de la
production du lait, de la haute fertilite des luzernieres, des
amenagements pastoraux, etc... Cette lenteur dans la pene-
tration du progres technique provient d'abord de rinsuffi-
sance en nombre des agents de cette penetration. Mais
fussent-ils plus nombreux, mieux prepares, cela ne suffirait
pas encore: chaque fois, en effet, que les agriculteurs des pays
6volues appliquent le progres technique, produisent mieux
et plus abondamment, ils risquent aussitot de fournir des
excedents de production qui alourdissent les cours et le
resultat final est qu'ils gagnent moins.

Pour parer a cet obstacle, tout le monde est d'accord pour
favoriser les exportations. Cette intention est louable, mais
les exportations, dans le regime commercial et economique
actuel, s'etendent a peu pres exclusivement aux pays solva-
bles, c'est-a-dire aux pays deja riches et techniquement
evolues et chez lesquels precisement la surproduction est
egalement menajante. Par la voie des exportations classiques,
la difficulte peut etre un peu reculee, elle n'est pas resolue.

II me semble qu'il faudrait aller plus loin et cela dans deux
voies distinctes: la premiere consisterait a consacrer des
efforts beaucoup plus grands a la recherche des debouches
industriels pour les matieres d'origine agricole. C'est pour-

178

NOUVELLES TECHNIQUES EN AGRONOMIE

quoi F exemple du ricin que j 'ai cite plus haut me parait si hau t e-
ment demonstratif. Toutes les fois ou les recherches scientifi-
ques, dans le domaine que Ton appelle un peu pompeusement
celui de la "chemiurgie," ajouteront une plante de plus a
celles qui produisent des matieres premieres utilisables pour
Findustrie et transformables en biens de consommation
autres qu'alimentaires (que Fon appelle souvent des biens
secondaires ou tertiaires), la consommation de tels biens peut
croitre dans d'immenses proportions en meme temps que se
developpe Fexpansion economique. On n'est plus lirnite dans
Fecoulement de tels biens par le plafonnement rapide qui
resulte de la satiete des vivres. Dans toute la mesure ou de
tels debouches s'ajouteront a ceux de Fexportation, Fagricul-
teur pourra envisager avec plus d'interet les pregres techni-
ques qu'on lui propose, car il saura qu'en cas de surproduc-
tion, il lui est possible de jouer sur un clavier etendu de re-
conversions culturales dont les debouches industriels tou-
jours croissants se trouveront assures.

Mais sur un autre plan, il faut aussi considerer combien il
serait absurde d'avoir a conseiller a Fhumanite le malthusia-
nisme des naissances, quand les pays riches pratiquent deja la
restriction de la production agricole, ouvertement par les
contingentements et pratiquement par les prix. Or, le fait est
la: dans sa majorite, Fhumanite a faim, elle grandit et il est
utopique de penser qu'elle limitera immediatement sa
croissance demographique. A moins de la decimer volontai-
rement, ce qui est impensable, il faut tout faire pour la nour-
rir. II faut qu'elle vive d'abord, pour s'eduquer ensuite, au
dela des applications rudimentaires de Fhygiene, pour
atteindre le niveau de connaissance ou, d'elle-meme, elle
temperera sa croissance desordonnee. Si nous ne faisons rien
pour nourrir ceux qui ont faim, leur masse ravagera les pays
riches et tous periront, nous comme eux.

Pour un probleme aussi vaste, la science nous ouvre des
techniques nouvelles. Mais elle ne suffit pas seule; car seule
elle serait utopique. En meme temps que la science, la

179

PIERRE CHOUARD

penetration du progres technique doit etre developpee. En
meme temps que les vivres, et meme pour les produire plus
liberalement, F agriculture devra produire de plus en plus de
matieres premieres pour Pindustrie. En meme temps que le
progres technique, le systeme economique doit etre amende:
nous ne pourrons pas subsister longtemps si Pabondance
continue a tuer le riche sans etre d'aucun secours pour le
pauvre. La est la monstruosite dont nous pouvons perk,
alors que nous avons techniquement tous les remedes pour
survivre.

CONCLUSION

L 'agriculture future continuera a contribuer an developpement des vertus
fondamentales de la personne humaine

Laissez-moi terminer par une derniere remarque: Pagricul-
ture, transformee par la Recherche scientifique appliquee a
ses progres techniques restera encore Fagriculture, car son
trait caracteristique est d'etre fondee sur la transformation
biologique de 1'energie solaire a bas potentiel, dispersee sur
d'immenses surfaces. Dans Favenir, quelles que soient les
transformations, c'est la une donnee permanente de la natu-
re en vertu de laquelle la revolution agricole est plus une
evolution continue qu'une explosion brutale. II s'ensuit que
les hommes qui seront appliques a la marche des machines a
energie solaire, que ce soient des piles photo-electriques ou,
mieux, des cultures d j algues, ou des cultures agricoles ame-
liorees, auront sous leur dependance une assez vaste surface
de machines electriques ou de machines vivantes a controler.
Ces dernieres, surtout, exigent a chaque instant un controle
intelligent et personnel.

Loin d'etre rassembles comme des automates dans une
usine etroite, les agriculteurs de demain, comme et mieux que
ceux d'aujourd'hui, auront sans cesse a developper leurs

180

NOUVELLES TECHNIQUES EN AGRONOMIE

qualites personnelles d'observation, d'independance, d'initla-
tive et de responsabilite. La science et la technique appliquees
a P agriculture ne nous conduisent pas a une ere de robots,
mais elles contribueront au developpement des vertus fon-
damentales de la personne humaine.

SUMMARY

Probable trends in the development of new techniques in agriculture

Viewing areas of scientific studies which seem to be most
fruitful for future agricultural techniques, the author
indicates a number of new lines of research which merit
attention of studious technicians for adaptation and use in
the moment when they can be of practical value.

He cites various ways to achieve a higher drought resistance
e.g., by seed preparation, subirrigation of sand culture of deserts,
desalination of brackish or seawater. (A remark of the Editor
cites in this connection for their global significance the
successful experiments of direct application of highly brackish
water and even seawater up to oceanic concentration on
coastal and inland sands and gravel areas. These experiments,
carried out first in Israel, since 1949, proved to be likewise
successful in Spain and in Sweden. Thus they already cover
a climatic profile from the hot desert climate of Eilat, over
the mediterranean coastal plain, in Israel, and the warm
temperate climate of Spain, to the cool and humid climate
of Eastern Sweden).

Other important results in raising the agricultural poten-
tial of our globe can be expected to be achieved by:

- Leaf -manuring ;

- Genetical improvement of physiological resistance to pests;

- Increase of productivity by heterosis;

- Promoted mutations by radiations of mutagenic substances;

- New systems of production of virus free crops;

181

PIERRE CHOUARD

- Chemiotherapy against pests;

- Refined uses of growth hormones;

- Many uses of Phytotwns for pure and applied knowledge of
growth and development, and for shortening of agronomic experiments
on quality and adaptation of new crops;

- Improvement of knowledge of photosynthetic processes ;

- Chemiurgy, the prospects and potential of which are very
wide indeed for the production of new plant raw ma-
terials for industry. Several examples are given (Ricinus,
Algae, etc.).

We are reminded that the technical revolution in agri-
culture, begun and carried out during the last one and a half
centuries, is now in full development and still has the
potential for much more progress. The importance, and
the originality, of agricultural techniques which renew
themselves permanently through living biological machines
driven by the inexhaustible energy source, the sun, is also
indicated. At this time, when the mineral resources of the
globe which have brought such prosperity to industry are
about to be exhausted (not immediately but in the foresee-
able future - only a few generations away), the utilization
of solar energy will then take on all its importance and will
be able to insure an extended high standard of life in the
future.

Agriculture, provided thus with all her potentialities, is
technically at least, able to meet for a long time to come
the rising needs of men. The difficulties now are psycho-
logical and economic rather than technical. It is a slow
process to make the millions of growers aware of this techni-
cal progress and this is one of our most urgent tasks.

The expansion of the economy of underdeveloped coun-
tries is of great urgency, it exceeds, however, the object
of this essay. But a trend of world importance would be
extending the production of plant-raw-materials for in-
dustrial use. This development would free agriculture of
the worry of excess production (which throttles the use

182

NOUVELLES TECHNIQUES EN AGRONOMIE

of technical discoveries), and could thus contribute, indi-
rectly, to a larger and more economic production, also,
of food itself.

The meaning of the technical progress of agriculture can,
therefore, be expressed roughly as follows:

1) The potential ability to progress in agriculture is enormous
in respect to industry.

2) The peculiar characteristics of agriculture are its use of
solar energy by living machines (plants), exploiting the natural
plant physiological process of photosynthesis.

3) The aim of agriculture is at first the production of raw
material fox food as well as for industry, thus permitting the
increase of human population and welfare.

Conditions of the agricultural way of life should always be
in accordance with the development of fundamental characteristics
of human beings.

In summing up, the essay reminds us that no matter
how revolutionary future agricultural techniques may and
can be, they must always conform to the fundamental
development of human qualities and oppose man's degra-
dation into a robot. In fact, founded on the use of solar
energy, vast but dispersed, and on the play of living ma-
chines which demand a permanent control, agriculture of
tomorrow, much more than that of today, will be able to
contribute to the development of the spirit of man's initi-
ative and freedom.

183

Science in the Service of Man in
Africa South of the Sahara

by
JOHN PHILLIPS

THE CONSEQUENCES OF FAILING
TO PLAN ECOLOGICALLY

Even as science may be applied to the service of man, its not
being so employed in a sound, integrated and carefully
planned manner retards progress and indeed does much
harm to the welfare and happiness of all concerned.

The ecological approach - that is the seeing of the communi-
ty of life and its stage, the habitat, in proper relation and
perspective - is capable of so much good in the service of the
indigenous and other peoples in Africa South of the Sahara,
that a failure to think along ecological lines is in the nature of
a very serious disservice.

To convey what is likely to happen in the event of man's
failure to plan and prosecute the agricultural and related
development of Africa South of the Sahara according to
certain ecological principles is the object of this essay.

This is no attempt to paint merely a Job's picture of what
would happen should development continue to be casual,
but rather to convey some impression of what might be
averted were the holistic approach to be adopted more widely
and with wider and deeper knowledge of ecological detail.
Some examples illustrating the risks incurred in not thinking
ecologically are summarized.

185

JOHN PHILLIPS
NATURAL VEGETATION

Due to absence of an understanding of the biotic nature,
habitat characteristics and ecological development of natural
vegetation this is often seriously impoverished by agricultural
and related activity.

Failure to relate the bioclimatic possibilities to the demand
made by nomadic, transitional and settled African pastor-
alists and by Europeans permanently occupying land ulti-
mately spells the deterioration of natural pasturage and
browse, livestock and the soil itself. Open grassland is reduced
in the number and volume of the more valuable fodder
species at the expense of others less palatable to or rejected by
livestock. Again, contiguous with a more xerophytic vege-
tation such as the Karoo in South Africa, grassland is invaded
by useless species from the neighbouring subdesert. Again,
subdesert Karoo is converted from palatable browse to a
wilderness of relatively useless species in which sheep and
goats find little sustenance. Wooded savanna - be this sub-
desert or arid, subarid or subhumid - through a combination
of heavy stocking and withholding of fire, rapidly develops
into thickets of woody species, the grass diminishing and often
altering in species and pastoral quality.

Today, when water for man and beast can be supplied
where this never previously existed, there is even greater
danger of the disturbing of the ecological balance, and the
consequent accelerated ruination of the vegetation. Ex-
amples occur in Southern and East Africa and if the preva-
lent well intentioned but unplanned provision of water to
dry subregions is intensified, there will be ere long examples
in arid and subdesert Somalia and in the drier parts of West
Africa.

Even mangrove communities are liable to maltreatment,
with related alteration in the effects of tidal water on the
coastline. Fixed littoral sand dunes steadily are being sub-
jected to excessive pressure from livestock and in places are

186

SCIENCE IN THE SERVICE OF MAN IN AFRICA

being deprived of their woody cover for the sake of fuel: the
outcome is the advance inland of the sand. Where overgrazed
by sheep and goats fixed inland dunes once again become
mobile.

Through the influences of uncontrolled shifting culti-
vation and fire, forest steadily yields to grass and wooded
savanna, with accompanying impoverishment in the pro-
ductive capacity of the soil and, if the area be extensive, of
water supplies for the country at lower levels.

It is common practice to use fire in the driving of game,
the stimulation of the growth of young grass and browse
shrubs, and the conversion of forest, scrub, thicket, woodland
and other vegetation to open land for cultivation. Equally
general is the tendency of many pastoralists, agriculturists
and botanists to decry this practice. Ecologically there is
much to commend discriminative burning, based on a
knowledge of the ecology of the area. Indeed failure to burn
grazing and browse at suitable seasons and intervals, in
relation to previous or intended utilization of the area by
livestock, spells deterioration of the nutritive value and
palatability of the vegetation.

Much of the continent already shows the effects of casual
or feckless treatment of the natural vegetation - the African
and European often being equally destructive.

CROPS AND CULTIVATION

Marginal and thus often subeconomic production of crops is
a widespread feature, springing from a lack of realization of
the local moisture and temperature conditions. European
settlers as well as African tribesmen, for instance, tend to
grow maize in areas at the limits of adequate distribution
and amount of rain - examples exist from Southern to North-
eastern and West Africa in the non-humid regions. Cotton,

187

JOHN PHILLIPS

tobacco, sunflower, groundnuts, sorghum and other crops
are often tried beyond their economic range.

In recent years there has been wishful thinking of de-
veloping oil palm in parts of West Africa marginal in both
the annual total and the monthly distribution of rainfall.
Irrigated banana plantations have been established under
subarid to arid conditions in Somalia, and run at high cost
in proportion to yield and in comparison with rain-fed
plantations elsewhere in Africa. Production of sunflower has
failed in Tanganyika where attempted under subarid con-
ditions and on a scale rendering satisfactory pollination
impossible. Large-scale production of groundnuts in subarid
Tanganyika and parts of subhumid Ghana has failed; in the
first instance, because of drought and severe soil com-
paction; and in the second, inter alia because of high humidity
and a rainfall prolonged into the harvesting period.

Shifting cultivation induces loss of fertility where the return
use of a given area is too rapid. Unless applied with
understanding and care modern mechanized clearing of
vegetation and soil preparation do much damage physically,
through loss in fertility and by the disturbance of micro-or-
ganisms.

Serious inversion of the soil and subsoil follows the deep
ploughing of certain types. In some very heavy clays of mont-
morillonitic nature a failure to leave the soil rough, that is
not worked into a fine tilth, before the onset of the rains,
creates a veritable quagmire of slushy-like consistency.
Conversely, where normal soil conservation contour banks
are provided, lighter soils such as sandy loams accumulate
water which converts them almost to quick-sand. These
soils become useless for crops such as tobacco, maize, cassava,,
yams and others sensitive to prolonged wetness.

An appropriate cycle supported by improved hus-
bandry, as well as the use of mixed cultures of cereals,
gourds, rootcrops and legumes not always rigorously
weeded, have been insufficiently appreciated for too long by

188

SCIENCE IN THE SERVICE OF MAN IN AFRICA

too many European agricultural officers and farmers.
Failure on the part of so many Europeans to understand the
ecological common sense of some of the traditional culti-
vation methods, spells loss of opportunity for raising the
productivity of many parts of Africa.

DEVELOPMENT AND CONSERVATION OF WATER

Outside of the humid regions water is one of the commodities
most prized in Africa. Its development spells so much good
to man and beast that it will appear strange not to praise all
efforts to provide water more abundantly.

Water poses deeply seated questions in the planning and
the management of pastoral areas and the irrigation of
certain soils. As noted under natural vegetation, the casual or
ill-planned distribution of watering points in country by
nature poorly supplied accelerates, in woodland and open
woodland, either degradation of the soil or the intensi-
fication of thicket. The application of water to soils with
alkaline reaction normally induces "brack" or "black alkali"
so as to retard plant growth. In siting dams and setting out of
irrigation schemes below them error in assessment of the
reactions of the soils to irrigation is all too common. A
further error is not to take sufficiently into account the
heavy losses - up to half their content - from dams of
shallower depth by evaporation. Ecological forethought
could readily estimate the loss due to this cause and make
provision accordingly.

The otherwise excellent practice of establishing soil and
water-conserving hydraulic structures on arable land of
certain soil types results in excessive accumulation of water,
detrimental to most subsistence and cash crops other than
rice and other hygrophilous species.

Efforts to utilize drainage lines and flood plains, where
vegetation normally conserves groundwater at no great

189

JOHN PHILLIPS

depth, give excellent return, provided flooding is preventable.
But experience especially in Southern Africa and elsewhere
reveals the devastating losses in soil following this misuse of
bottom lands.

If inadequate attention be paid to the ecological phenome-
na associated with the local geomorphology, the surface
wash and erosion, the loss of soil from the uppermost
horizon, the change in depth of the water table, the habitat
factors both soil and microclimatic, the succession and
development of vegetation and the animals associated
therewith, the failure of an irrigated project cannot be
averted.

As atomic and solar radiation power are developed it is
likely that more and more water will be made available from
the oceans for irrigation and other purposes.

TSETSE AND TRYPANOSOMIASIS

A wealth of knowledge, scientific and practical, is available
for the control of one of the greatest scourges to man and
beast in tropical Africa, and one of the most powerful brakes
on the planned development of wooded savanna country,
from the subhumid to the arid regions, the "fly." No single
method is in itself either wholly practicable or all-sufficient,
but a combination of techniques properly planned and
applied could work wonders over large areas. Up to the
present the failure to implement concerted attacks on the
"fly", followed by phased settlement and the provision of
sufficient suitably distributed watering points, animal health
and husbandry services, livestock culling, castration and
general control is notorious. Disappointment and frustration
hence are inevitable. Ecological awareness is fundamental to
the successful combat of the "guardian" of Africa's potential
pasturage soils, the "fly".

190

SCIENCE IN THE SERVICE OF MAN IN AFRICA
LIVESTOCK

But slight study has been paid to the interrelations of live-
stock responses - physiological, ecological and in terms of
behaviour. Breed, strain, pigmentation, resistance to drought
and heat and to pests and disease, and the capacity of the
animals to forage in severe physical and biotic conditions
must be examined for the successful selection of cattle for a
wide range of bioclimatic conditions. Casual introduction
of exotic cattle, sheep and poultry into the humid and the
dry tropics is creating many problems in health, efficiency
of function, growth and conformation.

Though more successful over a greater amplitude of
humidity, sunshine, and radiation than other exotic animals,
pigs 1 do present their own special problems. Protection
from excessive radiation and, in "fly" areas, from Tsetse, and
an assured balanced yet economic diet, are among the
conditions all too rare.

Humidity and temperature control is essential to satis-
factory incubation of chickens. If livestock is to be farmed
successfully in the humid forest region it will prove neces-
sary to select suitable strains of high economic promise in
sheep, goats and poultry. Although cattle are more difficult
to adjust to climatic and nutritional conditions in the forest,
success cannot be expected until there is a well concerted
approach.

CONSERVATION AND CONTROL OF GAME

Game - especially antelope, buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion
and smaller but abundant carnivores - although much less
widespread than a quarter of a century ago, is still abundant to
frequent in parts of East Africa and elsewhere.

1. The naturalized "razor-back" pig is probably the offspring of Portuguese "long-
snouts" introduced in the i5th century.

191

JOHN PHILLIPS

In the interest of cultivators and the health of livestock,
the control of game is an accepted tenet of policy. How best
this can be implemented, so as to prevent the spread of game
and therewith associated pests and disease injurious to
livestock, is a conundrum for the administrator and the
veterinarian. The relationship of game, tsetse and trypanoso-
miasis in man and beast is among the most significant of the
problems confronting vast areas in Africa. Attempts at a
solution - not appreciating the ecological network of re-
lations - so far have failed and will continue so to do. Control
must be based upon a knowledge of the ecological relations
with the vegetation, and their capacity for utilizing the
sparse and far scattered water supplies in the dry season. 2

Conservation of game for aesthetic and scientific purposes
is now a practice supported by many governments. Unfortu-
nately in most instances there is still no effort to approach
preservation along ecological lines. These would involve
selective shooting of some super-abundant species and the
encouragement of the rarer kinds. Hence undue proportions
of some species - zebra, wildebeest (gnu), impala, and hearte-
beest (kongoni) being examples - appear comparatively soon.
If, because of competition or any other reason there be a
scarcity of graze, browse and water in the reserves, the
impulse is to move beyond their borders and thus into country
cultivated or used for livestock.

LAND USE AND TENURE

The widespread change in economic and social patterns is

2. Representatives of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature
(LU.C.N.), the Food and Agricultural Organisation (F.A.O.) and the Scientific
Council for Africa South of the Sahara (C.S.A.) are to meet in 1961 to discuss further
the possibilities of management of game and other wild animals.

Economic production of game products together with practical control of
natural pasturage and browse thus migth be found feasible. To "farm" game migth
be a better land use than to "farm" domesticated livestock in areas that are marginal
ecologically.

192

SCIENCE IN THE SERVICE OF MAN IN AFRICA

causing much thought to be focussed on the traditional
patterns of tenure. A consideration of the inherent issues
stresses the necessity for careful investigation before deciding
on legal and other changes. Unless granted in some appropri-
ate form and with suitable conditions and controls, individual
ownership can cause as many problems in land use, wastage
of soil and economic depression as it purports to solve.
Legal, administrative, land use and economic aspects all
must be examined in their bearing one on the other. A failure
to think and plan holistically is liable to perpetuate many of
the existing evils in communal ownership and to perpetrate
yet others. The more knowledge of local conditions, availa-
ble from ecological-economic land use survey and from a
study of the changing social pattern of the people, is weighed
by the jurists and administrators, the less likely are serious
errors of judgment. If ever subjects, fundamental to the
prevention of soil and vegetation deterioration and to the
assurance of human well-being, demand a co-ordinated
solution they are the use and tenure of arable land, the
responsibility for the usage and maintenance of pastoral areas
and the conservation of an adequate proportion of forest,
for the production of timber and the regulation of water.

ROADS AND RAILWAYS

Road and railway alignment and the associated drainage, to
be efficient, demand an ecological approach. Where road and
rail have been established without adequate reference to
master climatic factors, topography, soil types and vege-
tation, there follows, on the land in their proximity, serious
sheet and donga erosion. Furthermore, too often are lines
of communication established in country ecologically
incapable of yielding crops or livestock justifying this ex-
penditure on evacuating comparatively limited production.
Vegetation usually indicates the physical and occasionally -

193

JOHN PHILLIPS

as in highly arid, calcareous and gypseous country - the
chemical characteristics of soils. To fail to draw upon the
experience of the ecologists, skilled in the interpretation of
aerial photographs for soil and vegetation survey, when
planning the course of roads and railways, is to neglect a
remarkably effective means of avoiding error.

HUMAN ECOLOGY

Ecologically there is a relation between indigenous human
life and the environment in Africa. Were this otherwise the
number, the physical and mental capacity and the actual
output by Africans would be far less impressive.

There are, however, further adjustments within the
grasp of the peoples living intimately with Nature outside of
the larger settlements. This is especially true of health,
sanitation, housing, nutrition and water supply for primary
needs and for livestock and supplementary irrigation in
drought periods during the rains. But this also applies to the
care of the soil, crop husbandry, and the health and manage-
ment of livestook through the striking of a balance between
the aims of the stockman, the multifarious pests and diseases
and the existence of a great game fauna.

The habitat factors and their variation are severe: high
humidity to extreme aridity, torrential rain to lengthy
drought, monotonous heat to acute cold, intense and
prolonged sunshine to many weeks with little or no direct
sunlight. Inured as they may be to either monotony or to
wide oscillations of climate, Africans leading a simple ex-
istence in the wildernesses are, none-the-less, influenced by
the interplay of climatic factors. To the more privileged
Africans and to members of Overseas races these conditions
are even more severe when encountered away from modern
conveniences. For Europeans the impress of radiation and
humidity, for example, is more serious than for Africans.

194

SCIENCE IN THE SERVICE OF MAN IN AFRICA

Moreover, the presently unexplained, because not yet
measurable, tension in the atmosphere toward the end of the
dry season and during drought periods in the rains makes
the European in the African tropics far less efficient in mental
reaction and physical response than in temperate and sub-
tropical environments. Whether or not this will be explicable
later, on the grounds of specific features of atmospheric
ionization, remains to be proved.

Apart from a solution along ecological lines of the problems
in health, nutrition and other basic matters already noted,
there is also wanted a more realistic approach to clothing,
physical excercise and mental stimulus in the several social
groupings in their natural milieu.

A failure to plan and labour ecologically for an ameliora-
tion of the rigours of the habitat will postpone indefinitely
the striking of an equilibrium between man and his environ-
ment. Till that day will be withheld a measure of additional
happiness for the African people.

It should be remembered that Africans and the people of
Overseas origin - especially those of European ancestry - do
not easily understand each other. Tradition, moral attitudes
and so forth are markedly different - hence it is unwise for
either racial groups to be ultra-critical of the other.

An ecological assessment of environment, background,
sociology, religion and group ethics would ease the present
ready tendency for group criticism. Africans and others
have to learn to understand each other far better if they are
to live and labour together for the best development of the
continent.

SUBSISTENCE AND ECONOMY

Unless the practice of production is based on ecologically
sound systems and methods, a struggling existence or

195

JOHN PHILLIPS

permanent poverty is inevitable, instead of a slow but none-
the-less real amelioration.

In many parts Africa is very poor; in others she is blessed in
mediocre degree only; in yet others she is moderately fertile.
She will be poorer throughout unless her people are more
successful in relating her natural potentialities to appropriate
practices and in realizing the relentless association of cause
and effect, no matter how often the forgiveness of Nature
tends to hide the mistakes of man. In the educating of his
African brother to plan ecologically, the Overseas guide,
philosopher and friend is heir to a truly weighty responsi-
bility.

CONCLUSION

Applied to the physical, biotic, racial and economic problems
of this ancient continent, the ecological viewpoint and
approach could serve as an operative force both realistic
and idealistic. It should enable man - black and white - to
see life and living as a whole. A South African of several gener-
ations, who happily endeavoured to serve the Sovereign State
Ghana for eight years, pays personal tribute to the holistic
creative force of the ecological approach to human under-
standing. 3

3. An effort to apply tlie ecological approach to the sounder development of
agriculture in Africa South of the Sahara has been attempted in book form: "Agri-
culture and Ecology in Africa." (J. F. V. PHILLIPS, 1959, Faber and Faber, London).

196

La science et I'homme
an seuil du desert

par
THEODORE MONOD

Au sens populaire du mot, le "desert" est un pays inhabite:
a ce titre, bien des forets primaires, bien des montagnes,
d'immenses surfaces polaires, comme tous les oceans, sont
aussi des deserts.

Nous n'envisagerons ici le mot qu'en son sens restreint
de region ou le developpement de la biosphere trouve dans
la secheresse un facteur toujours limitant, et, parfois, lethal.

Ces immensites desolees, et assoiffees: un Namib, un Ataca-
ma, un Takla-Makan, un Simpson Desert, une Tanezrouft,
comme elles sont un lieu propice, et predestine, a une medi-
tation sur la Science et Pavenir de Fhomme.

Non certes qu'il s'agisse necessairement de terres "vierges" :
il n'est sans doute pas dans tout le Sahara un metre carre qui
n'ait ete foule par I'homme - celui du biface, celui de la
ceramique, celui de la lance ou celui du fusil - et par des
animaux: le boeuf, le cheval, la chevre ou le chameau. Mais
ces espaces demesures - il m'a fallu parcourir au Sahara
occidental, entre deux points d'eau et en ligne droite, pres de
900 km en 22 jours - appartiennent encore a des aspects singu-
lierement marginaux de Toecoumene: Thomme, meme
nomade, y reste rare, le paysage demeure a peu pres intouche,
en dehors des tlots, punctiformes, de vie sedentaire et des
pej orations du surpaturage, la technique, reine ailleurs,
s'arrete encore, hesitante, au seuil du vrai desert, et s'interroge.

197

THEODORE MONOD

La vie traditionelle continue de siecle au siecle, et depuis
des millenaires sans doute, le miracle du nomadisme deserti-
que, atteignant avec 1'elevage camelin des "grands nomades"
un equilibre ecologique et une adaptation au milieu qui en
fait une reussite humaine a coup sur aussi remarquable et, on
peut le penser, aussi "respectable", que celle des Eskimos les
plus septentrionaux.

Que ce style de vie ait a cote de ses lumieres ses ombres, qui
le nierait? Mais qui, aussi, oserait oublier, s'il etait tente par la
vaine stupidite d'un "palmares", les turpitudes des civilisa-
tions orgueilleuses qui se sont arroge le monopole du C
majuscule?

Mais ces dernieres, qui ont pour elles la force materielle,
font tache d'huile (ou de petrole ,..): les voici aux portes du
desert, pretes a mener Passaut de leur machinerie contre le
scandale des taches blanches de la carte economique. Les
appetits s'eveillent: auri sacra fames, comme d'habitude, meme
s'il s'agit, en fait, de fer, de cuivre ou de ce produits noirs" ...
mirages de rentabilite et de puissance, espoirs aussi, bien sur,
de substantiels dividendes ... Le desert renferme-t-il quelque
richesse desirable? Pourquoi les forts et les habiles hesite-
raient-ils a le a sucer", fut-ce au benefice de lointains con-
sommateurs, et de quelques non moins lointains actionnai-
res?

Bientot la geopolitique et la strategic s'en melent et voici
les deserts precipites, de gre ou de force, dans le cercle
infernal des querelles des "civilises". Meritaient-ils semblable
promotion? Et que devient, dans ce fievreux branlebas des
mecaniques, Thomme local, 1'homme desertique, celui qui
est ici chez lui, et le plus souvent depuis fort longtemps?
Quel avenir lui reserve-t-on? Quel part recevra-t-il, et sous
quelle forme, du benefice des investissements industriels?
Se pourrait-il qu'on Toublie? Et que Fon s'apprete a boule-
verser sans lui, et comme a son insu, le cadre de sa vie tra-
ditionelle?

Contrepartie necessaire et juste des profits que les puissan-

198

IA SCIENCE ET I/HOMME AU SEUIL DU DESERT

ces materielles s'appretent a prelever sur les deserts, des
devoirs, de toute evidence, s'imposent, que certaines entre-
prises, d'ailleurs, ont la sagesse deja de reconnaitre. Si la
technique doit permettre, dans le domaine miniere, Fexploi-
tation de richesses souterraines souvent sans interet direct
pour le nomade, elle ne sera pas moms capable de procurer a
ce dernier le seul mineral qui lui soit imniediatement profi-
table, 1'eau. Et, par consequent, d'ameliorer ses conditions
d'existence.

En meme temps que le recours, desormais possible, a
des nappes profondes inaccessibles a la technique tradition-
nelle, une politique resolue de conservation des ressources
naturelles s'efforcerait de rechercher un equilibre raisonne,
fonde sur F observation et Fexperimentation biologiques,
entre le pouvoir regenerateur de la plante et les exigences du
troupeau. 1

On sait en effet le role de Phomme dans Pentretien et
P aggravation des conditions desertiques par les contraintes
qu'il exerce, avec ses animaux, sur la vegetation naturelle.
Mais il n'est pas douteux que dans certaines regions du
Sahara, comme sont en train de le prouver les experiences de
mise en defends de parcelles protegees dans PAdrar mauri-
tanien, le type normal, climatique d'une couverture vege-
tale soustraite aux actions anthropiques, se montrera beau-
coup plus dense qu'on eut pu Fimaginer. II en sera de meme,
a fortiori, des semi-deserts marginaux, a vegetation steppique,
dans des zones ou deja se posera Feternel probleme de la
coexistence nomades/sedentaires, partout complexe et plus
encore en Afrique sahelienne ou a F opposition des genres de
vie se superpose celle des races et ou Involution socio-

1. On a parfois qualifie, pour les ridiculiser, ceux qu'inquietent les menaces que font
peser sur les etres vivants au Sahara: flore, faune, humanites, de "conservateurs du
desert": comme si ce dernier n'etait pas de taille a se defendre tout seul et comme si
nos technocrates etaient deja capables de modifier les climats ... L'homme moderne
pent certes beaucoup, et ses capacites de destruction s'amplifient magnifiquement:
il aurait peut-etre tort de se considerer prematurement comme omnipotent, car il
s j en faut de beaucoup, comme Tocean, les seismes, les volcans, les deserts ou les
poles le lui repetent pourtant assez clairement.

199

THEODORE MONOD

economique et politique actuelle tend a modifier des struc-
tures traditionelles de type feodal, avec une aristocratie de
pasteurs blancs nomades maintenant en etat de servage ou
de demi-servage des agriculteurs sedentaires de race noire.

On se gardera done d'imaginer que le probleme de la mise
en valeur des deserts ou semi-deserts soit seulement une
affaire de technique et qu'il puisse jamais suffire d'ingenieurs
ou de machine pour le resoudre. Cela peut etre vrai locale-
ment, dans des deserts inhabites, s'il en est, mais dans la plupart
des cas, il faudra decouvrir le moyen d'assurer aux humanites
desertiques une part legitime des profits des exploitations in-
dustrielles et, dans certains semi-deserts, agricoles, envisagees.

Non certes qu'il s'agisse de contraindre le berger touareg
ou bedouin a se transformer obligatoirement en salarie ou en
client, et a aventurer sa liberte aux perils de la cite ou de
1'usine. Mais si la science accepte de prendre au serieux, par
dela les calculs du profit ou de la puissance, son pouvoir de
liberation et le soulagement qu'elle peut apporter a la secu-
laire peine des 'hommes, elle trouvera au desert ample occa-
sion d'exercer cette haute mission.

Mettre genereusement au service de 1'homme, ffrt-il le
plus humble, le plus "attarde," le plus attache au style de
vie le plus different de notre comportement occidental, les
ressources de la technique moderne, voila le devoir d'une
science digne de ce nom, capable de se faire enfin Pefficace
auxiliaire du labeur des etres, de regir les choses pour affran-
chir des personnes, et, en soulageant travaux et soucis de
Yhomo oeconomicus, de favoriser le developpement d'un homo
cogitans, d'un homo aestheticus, d'un homo orans.

Au seuil du desert, la science s'interroge. Elle s'apprete a
livrer bataille et a vaincre une nature hostile. Mais quel sera
Tenjeu de la lutte? Le profit, la puissance, le prestige, 1'or-
gueil, une economic destructrice, la Raubwirischafi, comme
d'habitude, ou, desormais, le fraternel service des hommes,
dans le respect de ces differences qui constituent, dans la
symphonie planetaire, leur irremplaf able richesse?

200

LA SCIENCE ET L HOMME AU SEUIL DU DESERT
SUMMARY

Science and the Man in the Heart of the Desert

The author stresses the responsibility of science and of
technical power in the deserts. These come increasingly in
the foreground for various reasons (mining or oil interests,
geopolitics, a.s.o.): but what of the inhabitants? What benefit
- if any - will they derive from the industrial exploitation of
their country? If man, with his tremendous material abilities
is really what he claims, a sapiens Primate, what will be his
aim: profit, power, prestige, pride or, henceforth, the
brotherly service of men, respectful of those differences
which constitute in fact, in the planetary symphony, irre-
placeable riches?

201

Human Needs and the Need for
Ultimate Orientation

by
H. F. INFIELD

What we witness today is a change in orientation from one
looking towards origins to one turning towards aim and
purpose. This is probably the most significant characteristic
of the "crisis of our times." This is the great change, of which
every thinking person today is aware, and to which the
different leaders of thought give different names. There is no
reason to assume, as many of these leaders do, that this
change is necessarily for the worse or that there are simply
no ways and means of controlling and steering it in a desira-
ble direction. It is true that, impressed with the advance of
our technology, we may be inclined to overrate our control
over our natural environment and to believe that there is
nothing which, given the necessary means and time, we
cannot accomplish. It is also true that it needs only a sub-
stantial earthquake, a hurricane, a flood or a dust storm, to
make us aware again of our essential helplessness in the face
of natural powers. But the change of which we are speaking
is not a geological or atmospheric but a social one; and in
this respect our position and possibilities are quite different.

Interestingly enough, it is only now that we become aware
of our capacity to shape our social environment. It is a
curious feature of mankind's development that it took it all
this time to realize this fact. The explanation, probably, is that
being fully involved in the process that we call society, we

203

H. F. INFIELD

find it extremely difficult to attain the necessary attitude of
detachment and objectivity. Possibly also, because of the
genetic orientation, the tribe, the state was viewed as part of a
plan preordained by the Creator. Now, however, with our
predominant attitude becoming more and more ontological
and operational, we begin to realize that as much as our
natural environment is given, just as much our social
environment is man-made. We can at best modify nature,
and only to a relatively very limited degree at that; but the
social environment, if we really want to, we actually can
shape wholly to our own devices.

This opens possibilities - wholesome as well as noxious - of
which we only now become aware. Social engineering is a
growing discipline - but it can be beneficial only if it remains
conscious of its limitations. In this sense, it can play a useful
role only when and so long it is guided by and remains
oriented towards the needs - and all the needs - of man.

In a paper on "Recent Developments in Personality
Studies" (American Sociological Review, October 1948)
already a number of years ago H. GOLDHAMMER observed that
the "re-emergence of a strong emphasis on what are vari-
ously called drives, impulses or needs," is largely responsible
for the fact that "intentionality or purposiveness has won
back its place in the analysis of human conduct," that
behaviour is again viewed as "goal-directed" (p. 555). Concern
with these factors, however, is not new. Thus, for instance,
the rediscovery of universal drives - or "invariants" - as
ANATAL RAPPAPORT puts it in his Operational Philosophy (N.Y.
1954, Harpers) - such as the need for survival, for belonging
or for "self-extension," for order, and for security (p. 94ff) >
can be shown to be actually only a newer version of the old
four "fundamental wishes" - the desire for new experience,
for security, response and recognition - (of THOMAS and ZNA-
NIECKIS The Polish Peasant), which had dominated the discussion
for so long. The shortcoming of all such classifications is that
they reify what is only a modus agendi. This procedure goes

204

HUMAN NEEDS AND THE NEED FOR ULTIMATE ORIENTATION

back to the old philosophical distinction between noumena and
phenomena. It is present in KANT'S distinction between pure and
practical reason, between the Ding-an-sich and experience.
It has reappeared, in more recent times, in the so-called
"instinct theory" of McDouGAix, where 'Instinct 53 is the
a priori substratum of behaviour. This question of needs is
important because any genuinely "goal-directed " chartering
of the next step in human development depends on it. We
shall try, therefore, to sum up here in some detail our own
thinking on the subject.

A FUNCTIONAL THEORY OF NEEDS

To approach the matter in the light of modern scientific
method, it seems that needs cannot be viewed as "substances"
but rather - to use REICHENBACH'S term - as illata or "inferred
things 5 ' such as "internal states' 5 that can be inferred from
certain "reactions of the body." 1 These reactions themselves
can be understood fully only in the context of certain
functional relations. In connection with an attempt to arrive
at a sociological definition of culture this context was de-
scribed as follows: "Culture is an acquired aggregate of
meanings attached to and implemented in material and non-
material objects which decisively influence the manner in
which human beings tend to interact in order to satisfy their
needs." 2 And it was added that "like any true functional
interrelation, the one presented in our definition can be
analysed by starting from any one of its terms." If we start
with meanings (the old material and non-material "values"
of the anthropologist) we can show how they, by way of the
mode of social interaction which they determine, affect the
nature of the needs. Similarly, if we start with the mode of
social interaction, we can show how it serves, so to speak, as a

1. HANS REICHENBACH: "The Rise of Scientific Philosophy." Univ. of California

Press. 1951- p- 263 . , .

2. See this writer's: "The. Concept of Jewish Culture and the State ot Israel, m
Amer. Sociol. Rev., August 1951-

205

H. F. INFIELD

relay system between meanings and needs, and vice versa,
which are both affected by it. And taking the needs first we
can show how they actuate the mode of social interaction
which in turn affects the "selection, acceptance and culti-
vation of specific meanings attached to material and non
material objects." As in any truly functional relation, prima-
cy can be assigned to any given term only by arbitrary
postulation. When man's mind reaches that state of lucidity
which enables him to conceive of these terms and to reflect
on them, they are already "in function." As is the case with
regard to dialectics - which offer only a limited and simplified
application of the functional view - it does not make sense to
argue in this context who was first, the egg or the chicken;
both are given when we begin to reflect on the fact that they
exist. The difficulty consists rather in being able to keep in
mind simultaneously the different terms of a multiple
functional relation, or, in other words, the difficulty is one
of being able to think functionally. Any particular term may
become of special interest, given a specific issue. If what
happens to interest us is the meaning of meaning - the
"decision-criteria" of modern communication and organi-
zation theory - we would concentrate on the implications of
this term; and so with the mode of social interaction, or with
needs. Different disciplines, philosophy, sociology, and
social psychology, specialize in such considerations. But they
all fall short of offering real understanding of any of these
terms because, or at least in so far as, they fail to view each
of the terms in its functional context, which is its relation to
the other terms. Thus it might be said that philosophy falls
short because and in so far as it neglects the sociological and
socio-psychological aspects of meaning, while sociology and
socio-psychology do so because and in so far as they lack
philosophical orientation.

In starting with the needs we do so not because we assign
to them any primacy, but because of all three terms this is the
one that is of special interest to the issues of our present

206

HUMAN NEEDS AND THE NEED FOR ULTIMATE ORIENTATION

discussion. In dealing with them, we should keep in mind
that we do so in the light of the functional view. For it is this
view, we believe, that can help us to find a viable solution to
one of the most vexing issues of the theory of needs, which is
classification. Attempts at the classification of needs, in the
modern sense, can be traced back as far as the end of the
eighteenth century; they continue to be made to this very
day. A useful survey of the more noteworthy of such
"systems of basic motives," made by BERNARD NOTCUTT,
covers a period from 1788 to 1947 and reproduces lists con-
structed by authors such as THOMAS REID, the first who,
using the term "active power," treated motivation in a way
"similar to that used by modern authors"; of WILLIAM JAMES
and W. McDouGALL; of F. H. ALLPORT, H. A. MURRAY, and
A. H. MASLOW, to name only the better-known ones. There is
neither the place nor the need to go here into a detailed
discussion of these lists. As of special interest to us we may
mention perhaps the list of MASLOW who, finding it "impossi-
ble as well as useless to make a list of fundamental physiolo-
gical needs," insists that no need exists independent of other
needs and that the relation between them is a hierarchical
one. This in the sense that certain needs have to be satisfied
first before others can assert themselves. In his view this
hierarchy shows the following order: "i) physiological needs
2) safety needs; 3) love needs (for affection and belongingness)
4) esteem needs; 5) need for self-actualization."

Examining the different lists, NOTCUTT concludes that there
is "a large measure of agreement" between several of them,
"and only minor points of disagreement." However, what he
finds missing is a "clear-cut criterion," on the strength of
which it would be possible to decide which of the lists is the
correct one. All that can be said, he suggests, is that they all
can be more or less convenient, depending on the use to
which they are put. 3

3. All the above quotations are from: BERNARD NOTCUTT, The Psychology of
Personality. Philos. Library, New York, 1953. ch. VI. pp. 88-115.

207

H. F. INFIELD

In our own view, a survey of this kind raises several inter-
esting points. Firstly, it appears that all the lists presented,
although they may prove to be convenient in one respect or
the other, lack an adequate principle of division. A mere
inventory of needs, however, can never be exhaustive,
simply because the nature of needs is essentially dynamic
and their range infinite. The issue resembles that of the
closed systems in philosophy. Any attempt at finality is
doomed to failure in the face of the continuous - sponta-
neous or, as in our society, deliberately induced - emergence
of new needs.

Another point worth stressing is the fact that none of the
lists contains any reference to the spiritual or religious need.
The justification for this omission, it would seem, can be
traced to McDouGALL who, like E. L. THORNDIKE - to quote
another writer on the subject - "rejected the religious
instinct" because, he argued, "religious emotion is no single
and specific expression of one instinct. It is too complex and
diversified to be the product of a single motive but develops
in various ways from multiple causes/ 5 4 We may suspect,
however, that the real reason was not so much fear of over-
simplification as the materialistic bias of the times which
kept shy of anything that smacked of idealism and trans-
cendence. "Need" still for many means chiefly or even
exclusively material needs.

Finally, a word or two might be said about MASLOW'S hierar-
chical order. His basic principle - which, and because it
accords with the dynamic nature of needs - undoubtedly is
sound. Needs, it is true, vary in their strength, but not in a
way that would justify their ordering into higher and lower.
Such ordering would presuppose that the strength of each
need is constant, which contradicts the basic dynamic
principle. The nature of needs being dynamic, implies rather
that the strength of each need varies in itself, and will be

4. See: PAUL E. JOHNSON: Psychology of Religion, N.Y.-Nashville. 1959. Abingdon
Press, p. 59.

208

HUMAN NEEDS AND THE NEED FOR ULTIMATE ORIENTATION

greater or smaller, depending on circumstances. In this sense,
a need ranked as higher by MASLOW may become potent
before any of the lower needs have been satisfied. As we shall
see later on, there exists a functional interrelation between
needs, obstacles, and the "aggregate of meanings" called
culture. Where a specific need meets with an obstruction
that proves to be insuperable, it will be either abandoned, or
the energy that activated it will be deflected into another
field or context.

It might be convenient to distinguish between the different
"fields 53 or contexts of human needs in the traditional terms
of material, emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual.
This distinction, however, by no means intends to represent
a classification of needs. When subsequently we use ex-
pressions like "material" or "intellectual needs 53 , it should be
remembered, therefore, that we do so in this conventional
sense which refers rather to the different fields or contexts as
here indicated.

An actual classification of needs, in order to be consistent,
will have to be based on criteria that are in accord with their
nature. Since we found that this nature is dynamic, the
criteria of classification themselves will have to be dynamic.
A criterion of this kind, we believe, can be found in what
sociology would call the mode of social interaction. Two
such basic modes can be distinguished: one that implies
doing things chiefly by and for oneself; and the other that
implies doing things with and for others, and sharing the
results equitably. To avoid those somewhat loose and
unprecise terms, competition and cooperation, we may call
the first the "disjunctive," and the second the "conjunctive 3 '
mode of social interaction. It is this distinction which offers
us the necessary principle of division. It enables us to divide
all the needs, the manifest and the potential, into two
mutually exclusive classes. All needs, we can say, are either
disjunctive or conjunctive, dependent on what kind of social
interaction they require for the sake of their satisfaction.

209

H. F. INFIELD

As can be seen, this classification is dynamic and "open".
Although it helps to order needs systematically, it does so in
a way that takes into account their potentially infinite range.
Its effectiveness asserted itself in the construction of a Test of
Needs, or the "Cooperative Potential Test", as it came to be
known. 5 This self-rating test was designed so as to yield a
quantitative estimate of the relative potency of the two kind
of needs, the conjunctive and the disjunctive, felt by a given
individual. There was actually only one, but two-pronged,
question asked by the test: to what degree are your needs of
the one or the other kind. However, in order to counter any
attempt at "beating" the test, the needs to be rated by the
individual were divided into the five conventional contexts
mentioned above, and arranged according to an underlying
key, by means of which the answers could be ranked from
extremely and fairly conjunctive to fairly and extremely
disjunctive. In this manner the test asked five times the same
question, concealed by the arrangement of the needs, and
produced a five-fold self-rating with respect to the cooper-
ative potential.

THE DYNAMICS OF NEEDS

The classification of needs just described is based, we said, on
their dynamic nature. It might be well, therefore, to consider
this nature somewhat more closely. We may begin with the
observation that there are certain dynamic aspects of needs
which are inherent partly in their own nature and partly in
the nature of the factors inhibiting their satisfaction.

As inherent in the nature of needs can be considered
chiefly what we might call their conspicuity or manifestness,
and their valence or intensity.

The manifestness of needs can be graphically represented

5. Cf. this author's The Sociological Study of Cooperation. An Outline.
Loughborough, 1956. p. 39 , and p. 67

210

HUMAN NEEDS AND THE NEED FOR ULTIMATE ORIENTATION

as a continuum ranging from below zero to infinity. Below
zero we can place "unfelt" needs, or needs that are only
potential in the sense that one is not aware of them at a
given time. They can be activated by a change of circum-
stances, or by deliberate manipulation, as through advertising
campaigns. The range of such activation appears to be a
continuum to which no limit can be set. This refers particu-
larly to material needs. Many of those we consider as acute
today were "unfelt" not so long ago and are still so in most
of the "undeveloped" areas of the world. The other needs in
principle are probably no less malleable and can be just as
infinitely activated given the right approach. It is the extreme
malleability and fecundity of probably all needs that militates
against any attempt at their conclusive inventorization.

Valence, or intensity, is an aspect that has sensible refe-
rence only to "felt" needs. It is an index, or a rate, of the
reciprocal relation between such needs and the factors
inhibiting their satisfaction, or obstacles. This relation is not
uniform. Strong needs that meet with strong obstacles may
be either intensified or frustrated, dependent on the relative,
objective, or subjectively experienced insuperability of the
given obstacle. The manner of coping with such obstacles
will depend largely on the individual temperament. It may
lead either to a stimulation of inventiveness, or resignation.
Paradise is a nostalgic conception of a human condition in
which there are no obstacles to the satisfaction of all needs.
There is reason to assume that, contrary to common belief,
such a truly Utopian condition would produce not bliss but
rather apathy and stultification.

The malleability of needs, finally, may be seen as related to
the persistence of achieved satisfactions. These can be more or
less lasting or more or less temporary or passing. More or
less lasting satisfactions prevail only where the total human
condition is subject to small and hardly perceivable changes,
as in relatively stationary societies. Where technological and
social conditions change as rapidly as in modern society,

211

H. R INFIELD

new needs, especially of the material kind, constantly arise
and have to be activated, chiefly because of the commanding
requirements of an "expanding economy." As a consequence,
all satisfactions become transitory. They serve as mere
stepping stones to new needs. This, in spite of an unpre-
cedented abundance of achieved satisfactions, cannot but
result in a pervading sense of frustration or dissatisfaction.

The intensity and malleability of needs as just described
makes it possible to formulate a general rule of human
behaviour based on the dynamic aspect of what we called
"factors inhibiting their satisfaction." We may say that
between all needs and their satisfaction human beings will
find interposed some obstacles. The resulting effect will vary
depending on three factors: the relative intensity of the
given need; the size of the obstacle; and the means available
for overcoming it.

The important fact to keep in mind is the functional
interconnection between these three factors. They are
correlated in the sense that the manifestness and range of
each factor is determined by, and in turn determines, the
manifestness and range of the other two factors. Thus the
nature and intensity of a given need cannot be viewed
correctly without taking into consideration the nature and
intensity of the obstacle which it will have to overcome on its
way to satisfaction. In addition, there will also be the question
of the ways and means available and needed in order to
overcome it. In the simplest case, a material need will be up
against obstacles that are material and will aim at material
satisfaction. If the obstacle is too great, the result may be
either resignation and frustration, or deflection. Resignation
and frustration means abandoning the need, temporarily
or permanently, and thus admitting defeat. Deflection
may lead to stimulation of other types of needs. For
instance, deflection from a material need may lead to
activation of intellectual needs. This may express itself in
inventiveness that may be applied to the overcoming of the

212

HUMAN NEEDS AND THE NEED FOR ULTIMATE ORIENTATION

material obstacle; or to substitution of intellectual satis-
factions for the material ones. Intellectual frustration may
activate material, emotional or spiritual needs, etc. The
question is whether and to what degree such deflection is
possible between the five types of needs. The stronger a need,
the larger the obstacle with which it can cope. The more
desirable a satisfaction, the more intensive will be the need,
and so on. But even the most intensive need may be stymied
if the obstacle to its satisfaction proves insurmountable with
the available means.

As observed before, frustration in one context can prompt
a shift to another context. Perhaps a theory could be formed
based on the assumption that each person is endowed with a
certain vital energy which enables him to secure the satis-
factions he considers as desirable. Such desirability will be
largely determined by two factors: the meanings dominant
in a given culture, and what for want of a better term we may
call temperament.

As to the meanings, they will influence, and will be influ-
enced by, the development of means to their realization and
thus tend to put at the disposal of the individual certain
techniques effective in achieving the satisfaction. Where, as
in our culture, material satisfactions are deemed to be the
most desirable, the technology developed makes their
achievement appear so easy as to virtually obliterate awareness
of the existence of any obstacles. Still there are even in our
society people whose temperament makes them pursue
other than material satisfactions. This, for instance, is, at
least temporarily, the case in adolescence, when emotional
needs become dominant; or in people who devote them-
selves to intellectual pursuits (scientists) or to the search of
spiritual values. The prevalence of such needs will tend to
reduce the intensity of the other needs. People in pursuit of
emotional needs, e.g. love, may lose desire for food; and
people who experience conversion may lose interest in all
other human needs but the spiritual ones. In our culture

213

H. F. INFIELD

such needs are taken to be marginal; in other cultures they
may, at least theoretically, be dominant. Even physical
survival may then - as in the case of cultures in which
religious or for that matter political values predominate -
be subordinated to the satisfaction of such needs. There is,
though, this difference. Spiritual or emotional needs in
extreme cases may make saints or martyrs, heroes or victims;
material needs only profiteers or paupers.

Though no priority can be assigned to any need in its
functional relation with obstacles and satisfactions, a ranking
appears to be possible among the different kinds of needs.
Such ranking, as mentioned before, will be determined by
the "aggregate of acquired meanings," or by a given culture.
Thus, in our predominantly materialistic culture, we are
inclined to accept as pertinent the consideration that though
man does not live by bread alone, he certainly cannot live
without it. This implies a primacy of the material needs.
Without their satisfaction no other satisfactions appear
possible. This, however, is by no means as self-evident as it
appears to be. Thus, for instance, even on the level of plant
existence, satisfaction of the bare physical needs seems to be
not always sufficient. Some people find that "loving care"
makes plants grow that would otherwise wither. This would
seem to imply that even plants have emotional needs, the
satisfaction of which may make the difference between death
and survival. This may be the reason for the effectiveness of
the Chinese intensive agriculture - in which wheat is planted
instead of sown- each seed, so to speak, being given individual
attention. We know of the stories of dogs who starve to
death on the graves of their masters. They cannot survive the
deprivation of the specific emotional satisfaction derived
from their master's affection. Man, too, could not survive if
he were incapable of pursuing any but purely material needs.
Their very pursuit would be impossible without attention
to his intellectual, emotional, spiritual and above all social
needs. In this sense, the priority assigned to any need will not

214

HUMAN NEEDS AND THE NEED FOR ULTIMATE ORIENTATION

depend upon its intrinsic potency, but rather on the scale of
values implicitly or explicitly accepted by a given culture in
general, and by any given sub-culture - be it that of business,
science or art - in particular.

THE EXTENSION AND REFINEMENT OF NEEDS AND
THEIR SATISFACTION

This brief outline of the dynamic nature of needs is still
evidently only an outline and in obvious need of further
refinement, if it is to serve as the basis for our program of
action.

Since the kind of action we have in mind is one that
proceeds from and remains oriented toward man's needs,
their fullest possible understanding is indispensable for such
an undertaking. There are quite a few aspects that a complete
theory of needs would yet have to elucidate. One is the
problem of their relation to what we call "instincts" and the
other, to what we call "interests." Both seem to share a
certain paradoxical tendency for being elusive. The bane of
all high minded leaders and teachers of mankind is its
capacity for disregarding its own real needs and best interests
and of pursuing, instead, those that cause all the trouble of
which human history offers such a disastrous record. This
tendency appears to be so pronounced as to make it possible
to speak, as FREUD does, of an instinct for self-destruction, or
Todeswunsch.

This would bring up the problem of whether it may not be
just as important to know what needs not to pursue. The
decalogue seems to be conceived in this spirit. Of the ten
commandments only two, the third and fourth, refer to
what man ought to do, the rest are rather interdictions. Is
this an ingenious indication of a pessimistic, or shall we say
realistic, view of human nature?

A related problem would be what we call inhibitions. Some

215

H. F. INFIELD

of these are "internalized "taboos of our culture; but there
are also those that are self-created. These are the ones that
arise from shyness, "inferiority complex," a sense of inferi-
ority that has no objective justification, and all the other
"complexes" with which man in our civilization tends to
torture himself and to block his chance for the satisfaction
especially of some of his basic emotional needs but, as a
consequence, also of his material and social needs.

An interesting undertaking would be to try also to visu-
alize the refinement of means available for overcoming
obstacles to the satisfaction especially of the emotional,
intellectual and spiritual needs. The greater urgency of the
material and, to a much lesser degree, of the social needs, has
forced mankind to concentrate all its energies on the con-
quest of the natural obstacles to their satisfaction. This has
spurred an advance in technology, which, since the design
and refinement of the experimental method, has led, at
least in one country, the U.S.A., to a state where the "venom
of want," which still poisons the lives of most of the human
race, has become virtually obsolete and has been replaced by
the "perils of plenty." It is possible that a similar advance in
the techniques that serve to cope with the obstacles that
inhibit the satisfaction of social needs will follow the appli-
cation of the experimental method to social innovation, such
as suggested by the experimental cooperative communities. 6

As to the other needs, however, we seem to be satisfied to
abide by the standards accepted by our ancestors at the very
onset of human civilization. This lag becomes startling when
compared with the diversity and complexity of our material
satisfactions. Love, friendship, enjoyment of beauty in art
and nature, and our other emotional satisfactions are all
essentially not different in kind from those known in An-
tiquity. Virtually no progress has since been made in Western
Civilization, and in the Orient the stagnation is of much

6. See this writer's: A Prototype of Sociological Experiment-The Modern Cooper-
ative Community. In: Int. Arch, of Sociology of Cooperation, Vol. I, No. 1. 1957.

216

HUMAN NEEDS AND THE NEED FOR ULTIMATE ORIENTATION

longer duration. The same can be said about spiritual satis-
factions. Essentially they are the same as established by the
founders and first followers of the Great Religions, of which
the most recent one, Islam, dates back to the ;th Century. It
is true, that certain variations have been introduced, for
example in Protestantism, in respect to some of dogmas of
the Catholic Church.

But the basic form of faith in JESUS, as the Son of God and
Saviour of humanity still is essentially the same. The situation
is very similar, if not identical, in all other Great Religions,
the only difference being the loss of adherents, as in Parsism,
or their growth in numbers, as in the Christian faith.

In contrast, it would seem as if we had made considerable
progress in our intellectual proficiency. The estimate here
will depend on the standards by which we judge intellectual
progress. There can be no doubt that what we know today,
and the way we know it, is a far cry from what was known,
for example, to the ancient Greeks. T his knowledge, however,
refers chiefly to knowledge derived from the observation of a
very limited area of our universe, the physical environment.
There seems to be only very little advance in our thinking
about all the other contexts of human existence, the social,
emotional, spiritual, and yes, the intellectual itself. Despite
all the efforts of the giants of philosophy in the last two
thousand years, our epistemology and logic have made hardly
any progress. We know of course, or we think we do, more
about psychology; and symbolic logic constitutes an inter-
esting attempt to break with Aristotelian logic; which,
however, still provides the rules that dominate most of our
present-day thinking.

We seem to be ready today to question this state of affairs.
We begin to feel, prompted probably by the unprecedented
extension and refinement of our material satisfactions, that
the satisfactions of our other needs are similarly extendable
and refinable. One interesting symptom of this feeling is the
popularity of the so-called science fiction. I have in mind not

217

H. F. INFIELD

so much the attempts to imagine and depict mechanical
inventions of the future, but the attempts to anticipate
probable future ways of thinking, of feeling, of living to-
gether, and in general to conceive new cosmogenies. In a less
fictitious vein, signs of such exploration of new and more
subtle ways of satisfying our emotional, intellectual and
spiritual needs, and of opening the way to their refinement,
can be found at the margin of the disciplines that deal with
the context of these needs. The distrust of the, essentially
conservative, majority of people for such attempts expresses
itself in a generally derogatory attitude. The poets who
experiment with new and more subtle possibilities of the
aesthetic, as the Neo-Romanticists at the end of the last
century, will be called "decadent 55 ; any spiritistic medium
who is caught cheating, will gloatingly be taken as proof
that the whole business of extrasensory perception is a hoax;
any scheme, literary or activistic, to explore the feasibility of
a better society, will be dismissed as futile or "utopian 55 ;
"mystic 35 becomes an invective levelled against even the
most serious search for more rarefied spiritual satisfaction.

Viewed more dispassionately, such reaching out on the
part of a relatively few into areas of human experience as yet
beyond the reach of the many, is probably nothing else than a
sign that those few are already sensitive to needs as yet unfelt
by the others. Once these needs become accepted as legiti-
mate, and once the techniques for their satisfaction approxi-
mate the effectiveness of those available today for the satis-
faction of material needs, man may well become transformed
into a kind of human being as far ahead of man as we know
him today as he himself is of the cave dweller.

These considerations should not be taken as flights of
fancy, as vain daydreams of glory. Rather, they follow
naturally from a theory of needs that is functional and not
genetic, that instead of concerning itself with the origins of
the drives responsible for human development, about which
we can only guess, tries to comprehend them in a way that

218

HUMAN NEEDS AND THE NEED FOR ULTIMATE ORIENTATION

can be confirmed by direct observation and that at the same
time helps us to trace their extension into the immediate
future. It is on the basis of a theory of this kind that the
operations can be suggested which, when carried out, will
produce certain effects that, if nothing else, will help man in
what probably is his most ambitious task as man, the reali-
zation of all his potentialities. The formulation of the ways
and means leading to such realization may well be the
fulfillment of what WELLS had in mind when he spoke of
the Bible of Civilization and what might well come to be
called the Bible of the Future.

MAN'S POTENTIALITIES, AND WAYS AND MEANS
TO THEIR REALIZATION

It may sound presumptuous, if not preposterous, to contem-
plate such an undertaking; but the task is actually less
awesome than appears to be. The new "dispensation" can be
new only if it differs in kind from the old ones. It will be new
in the sense that it does not claim to have its source in divine
revelation, but in the social experimentation prompted by
the search for the satisfaction of certain human needs. The
commandments of the new "Bible" can derive their strength
not from an alleged and inscrutable divine authority, but
from a validation in terms of human performance. In other
words, the commandments of the new Bible have to be
operational. It is not enough - and it has never been enough -
to decree "thou shalt not steal" or "thou shalt not kill" and
to expect people to obey because God is supposed to have
said so. In order to enforce such obedience, we seem to de-
pend today rather on two means: police and prisons. Both,
as our increasing rate of crime and delinquency shows, prove
to be quite ineffective. The commandment of the future will
not be a decree, but a design of ways and means that will
create conditions in which unwanted behaviour will have
only an irreducible minimum chance of occurring.

219

H. F. INFIELD

That such conditions are practicable is shown by the
experience of cooperative communities, those of the past,
such as the Hutterites, as well as those of the present, such
as the Kibbutzim. In those groups stealing, for example,
hardly ever occurs. And this not because of an abundance of
material goods. Frugal as are the conditions under which these
groups exist, the fact that they hold "all things in common"
deprives of any sense the very idea of stealing. Since every
one de jure and de facto owns and is entitled to use according
to his needs everything that belongs to the group, theft
would mean stealing from oneself. Such infractions as may
happen can be due only to momentary attacks of greed or to
psychopathological impulse.

In a similar way, the question is one of designing ways and
means for the fullest realization of man's potentialities. Since
we start from the present state of affairs, seen from the
vantage point of a country with the most advanced material
standards man has ever known, we may disconsider the issue
of material needs. The American economy of today proves
that we already possess the know-how necessary not merely
for their satisfaction but even over-saturation. As to emotion-
al and intellectual needs, our awareness of their possible
range is so spotty that even the most complete inventory of
available knowledge on the subject could at best be more
suggestive than enlightening. It should be attempted, by all
means, even though it may yield not much more than first
leads. A real advance, however, will depend on opportunities
to explore actively the unfathomed ranges of our emotion-
ality and thought, and to exercise, systematically and in-
tensively, any uncovered faculties. Research and training of
this novel kind obviously will require an institution for
"advanced studies." These studies will be "advanced" in more
than one sense. They will aim at advancing the range of our
emotional and intellectual needs and satisfactions; and they
will be oriented by the, for the time being, tentative as-
sumption of an unlimited perfectibility of man's faculties..

220

HUMAN NEEDS AND THE NEED FOR ULTIMATE ORIENTATION

An experiment of this kind cannot fail to be useful either
way: in positively enhancing man's development to the very
limits of his possibilities; and negatively, by determining in an
objective, verifiable manner the real limits beyond which
man cannot go, at least for the time being. It should throw
light also on the interesting problem of the actual relation
between man's potentialities and their realization. In this
respect man, generally speaking, may act in four different
ways. He may:

1) Want to do what he can do ;

2) Not want to do what he cannot do;

3) Not want to do what he can do;

4) Want to do what he cannot do.

The first and the second case offer no problem; the be-
haviour they imply is simply reasonable. More of a problem
is the third case. The reason for such behaviour may be lack
of awareness, emotional inhibition, simple laziness, etc. In
the relation to an "ever-expanding" economy, these mental
blocks are of crucial importance and are intensively explored
by so-called c 'motivational research." Some of the findings
indicate that more generally oriented research in this area
would produce valuable insight into factors determining
choice and decision making. Most intriguing is our fourth
and last case. It would be simple, if we knew with any degree
of finality, what we can or cannot do. In one field, that of
technological development, the experience of our lifetime
tends to make us perhaps over-sanguine in this respect. The
things we knew in childhood as fairy tale stuff have become
today articles of daily use: the horseless carriage, the magic
glass mirroring events taking place in the far distance, the
flying carpet, and so on. There is much in the mental climate
of today that makes us inclined to believe that if only we can
imagine a thing we can also make it. The only things it would
seem, we cannot do are those that we just did not yet happen
to think of. This is what SANTAYANA calls, "The indomitable

221

H. F. INFIELD

freedom of life to be more, to be new, to be what it has not
entered into the heart of man as yet to conceive ..." 7

However, this virtually unlimited optimism with regard to
the possibilities of material development - somewhat
dampened just now by the adverse aspects of the release of
atomic energy - turns to diffidence when it comes to man's
other faculties. Our folk- as well as religious-lore is replete
with the dire forebodings about the pitfalls sown in the path
of any uncommon intellect. From the stories of Adam and
Eve, who lost Paradise for us all because they would not keep
away from the Tree of Knowledge, and the men of Babel,
who were smitten with confusion when they raised their
sights too high, to the wet nurse apprehension about the
child who cannot be "long of this world" because it is too
bright, the American glorification of the low brow and the
equation of "controversial" with "subversive," there is one
persistent long line of anti-intellectual bias. No wonder that
the results are what they must be: intellectual timidity, if
not outright stultification. Thus timid thought and timid
emotions create a mental climate in which the real faculties
of man remain unexplored and, because not exercised,
shrink far below their actual and potential range.

On the other hand, it might be said, in view of the damage
done to mankind by "supermen" such as Alexander "the
Great," Nero, Napoleon and their more recent emulators,
the Hitlers, Mussolinis and Stalins, apprehension about all
God-like ambition of man might not be quite unjustified.
All that these monstrous criminals - who escaped the law
only because, and so long as they made it - in fact did ac-
complish was disaster for themselves and for all those whom,
willingly or unwillingly, they were able to drag down along
with themselves. Intellect, it seems if carried away by the
obsession with power, is capable of destruction of truly

7. GEORGE SANTA YANA: Three Philosophical Poets. Anchor Books, New York 1953.
(First published 1910) p. 181 ff.

222

HUMAN NEEDS AND THE NEED FOR ULTIMATE ORIENTATION

megatonic proportions. It looks even on the cobalt bomb as
just another handy tool of its ambitions.

The issue seems to boil down to a basic dilemma: if man
accepts the so-called dictates of God and is meek and humble
before him, he forsakes his chance of a full realization of his
potentialities; if, on the other hand, he disregards the
dictates of God and overreaches himself, he invites disaster
for himself and others with him. However, like all such
"either or" dichotomies this, too, is misleading. For the
question is not necessarily one of either obeying or disobeying
the dictates of God, nor is it one of being either meek and
retarded or ambitious and malignant. Presupposing, as most
of us do, that we need some vision, some signification of a
supreme idea, of an ultimate meaning, of a Value of Values,
in order to derive from life its fullest and noblest satisfactions,
the question is one rather of whether the commandment to
realize our potentialities to the utmost is not the truest ex-
pression of such vision. 8

Put in this way, the question we will want to answer will
call for two things; an open-minded, matter-of-fact, precise
determination of the actual range of our potentialities and
faculties, and an imaginary point of spiritual reference set
high enough to serve as the apex of all our aspirations or,
in other words, a concept of God that would satisfy our own
present-day need for such a spiritual perspective.

The first will require a prolonged and painstaking experi-
mental investigation concerning the nature, the range and
the limitations of our intellectual and emotional capacities
as well as the testing of techniques conducive to their fullest
exercise.

This kind of research requires a setting in which explo-
ration can be closely combined with implementation. It
requires a group of people highly intelligent, highly sensitive,
highly inquisitive and highly articulate, who are capable of

8. This, of course, presupposes that our potentialities are healthy. But if not, whose
responsibility is it"?

223

H. F. INFIELD

initiating the necessary experimentation and who, at the
same time, are willing to serve as its substance. What is needed
in short, is an experimental group akin to the cooperative
community but distinct in its concentration on emotional,
intellectual and spiritual rather than material and social
needs.

THE NEED FOR ULTIMATE ORIENTATION

What interests us here is the fact that fruitful, and indispen-
sable, as we believe that such experimentation might be,
there is no overlooking the fact that it |s beset with grave
dangers. To push to the very limits of possible experience is a
natural tendency in a man of free spirit. He will yield to this
tendency even if in the process he has to brave customs and
mores, which frown upon such daring, and orthodox
religion, which condemns it as sin. To us, such daring
appears as the very essence of material progress. That beyond
a certain point it may turn into a serious threat to such
progress is the lesson forced upon us by the advance of
atomic physics. Succeeding in smashing the atom which,
not so long ago, was looked upon as the last indivisible
particle of matter, the physicist was stunned by the cata-
strophic consequences of his success. The bottled-up energy,
which had seemed to be only begging for release, once freed,
not unlike one of the evil jinn, has turned into a monster
that stuns its "liberator" with the threat of total annihilation.
In their first shock the atomic scientists, or at least the more
sensitive among them, would have been glad to put nuclear
energy back where it came from. Since this proved to be
impossible, they formed the well known Emergency Com-
mittee of Atomic Scientists. Grown out of concern over the
results of their doing, it set itself the task of mitigating its
consequences. Among the palliatives proposed, most con-
summate probably is that recommended by ALBERT EINSTEIN

224

HUMAN NEEDS AND THE NEED FOR ULTIMATE ORIENTATION

himself. What we need, he feels, is nothing less than a com-
plete overhauling not only of our ways of thinking but of
our ways of living together. "The Atomic Bomb, 53 he ob-
serves, a has altered profoundly the nature of the world as
we know it, and the human race consequently finds itself in
a new habitat to which it must adapt its thinking/ 5 9 And as
to the corresponding form of the social existence he remarks,
more laconically: "Today we must abandon competition
and secure cooperation/ 5 All this, if we are not mistaken, is
indicative of the unfortunately belated realization that
experimentation if not guided by some ethical principle may
overreach itself and thus defeat its own purpose. Instead of
extending man's mastery over his environment it may
create, as this experience shows, a real threat to his very
survival.

Thus, if we do not want to end up with an emergency
similar to that in which the atomic scientists find themselves
today, we would do well, it would seem, to equip ourselves
with some guiding and controlling principle before we
embark on the project of exploring to the limit our potenti-
alities. The most effective of orientations that saves man from
overreaching himself- which is the ''original sin 55 - is what
KIERKEGAARD calls "the absolute relation to the absolute, 55
with all that it implies in terms of "good faith 3 ' and com-
mitment to a Summum Bonum.

This concept immediately brings us face to face with a
dilemma, which the issue of religion presents to the sensitive
person of today. Realizing the urgency of the need for an
"absolute" commitment to some form of the "absolute/ 5 he
finds all the traditional forms of such commitment unac-
ceptable to his present day experience and sensitivity. The
taste for myths has changed today and, as SANTAYANA says,
"those of us who still dream do so today in a different key/ 5
The religions as we know them have, for us, become myths

g. ALBERT EINSTEIN: Only Then Shall We Find Courage. E.C.A.S. pamphlet,
undated.

225

H. F. INFIELD

that are obsolete. Does this mean that we have to abandon
the idea of religion? For those who see the question as
dichotomic, or two-valued, as a question either of religion
as we know it or no religion at all, the answer will be simple.
They will call, as so many whose thinking on this subject is
obsolete or reactionary, for return to "old-time" religion.
Others, sensing the sham of such return, will resign them-
selves to agnosticism. Those, however, who feel the need for
and the indispensability of a transcendent, even if imaginary,
point of ultimate reference, will see this dichotomy as a
false one. For them, who feel just as strongly about the
spiritual as about all other needs, the question will not be
one of either "old-time" religion or none at all, but rather one
of whether it is possible today to conceive of a religion, which
would satisfy their spiritual needs; and if so, what should be
the nature of such a religion. This way of putting the question
seems to be the way of all those who, like SANTA YANA, recog-
nize the need for a "new religion." Such recognition, how-
ever, is too general and abstract to represent more than a
necessary first step. It leaves open all possibilities, even the
possibility that this "new religion," for all we know, may be
of a kind so different as to require a different name. This is
suggested by the manner in which SANTAYANA, perhaps the
most discerning contemporary thinker on this subject,
formulates the issue. What we need, he says, is "to establish a
new religion and a new art, based on moral liberty and on
moral courage." 10 The passage that follows in the text from
which this quotation was taken shows that the kind of
religion SANTAYANA anticipates is not so much a new religion
as a new art. It is the poet rather than the prophet to whom
he looks for that "double insight" into art and religion which,
he feels, is needed in order to "reconstitute the shattered
picture of the world." And he hails him "from afar" as the
"ultissimo poeta," "the highest possible poet."
The "supreme poet" who "is in limbo still" may or may

10. SANTAYANA, op.cit.
226

HUMAN NEEDS AND THE NEED FOR ULTIMATE ORIENTATION

not put in his appearance one of these days. Instead of
passively waiting for this to happen, it might be more appro-
priate for an experimental group of the kind envisaged above
to attack the task independently.

SANTAYANA describes the qualifications of the "genius"
capable of performing it as follows: "he should live in the
continual presence of all experience, and respect it; he should
at the same time understand nature, the ground of that
experience; and he should also have a delicate sense for the
ideal echoes of his own passions, and for all the colours of his
possible happiness." n These, no doubt, are qualities that are
exceptional in an individual; and even if potentially present,
only a very rare combination of personal development and
external circumstance can bring them to fruition. In order to
cultivate them purposely and consistently it needs, it would
seem, not one individual alone, but a group of individuals
united by the interest in such cultivation. As the history of
the Kvutza shows, such a group, though its minds may be
hardly above average, can, by putting them together, develop
powers of divination equal to, if not surpassing, those of a
creative genius.

In approaching the task of determining the actual scope of
man's spiritual potentialities, and taking themselves as the
substance of such experimentation, a set of interconnected
assumptions will suggest itself to the participants of the
group. The primary of these has already been mentioned. It
is the assumption that the satisfaction of spiritual needs is just
as vital to man as is that of the other needs, and that this
claim in certain respects, especially in respect to personal
integrity, antecedes, and lends meaning to, that of all other
needs. In this sense, dissatisfaction with traditional religion
would signify that it is religion as we know it that is obsolete
and not the need for it. If this is so, the exploration of spiritual
potentialities becomes oriented to a proximate aim, which is
the search for a more satisfactory religion. The acceptance of

ii. SANTAYANA, op.cit.

22J

H. F. INFIELD

these assumptions will naturally lead to the consideration
that there can be no true and universally valid religion, but
that each reflects certain ways and means of coping with the
exigencies of living, characteristic of given periods of
mankind's existence. Each culture and each epoch, we might
say, produces and accepts its specific concept of religion
and of God. The question, then, that our exploration will
want to answer is : what concept of religion and what image
of God corresponds to our own epoch and to our own
culture?

There is reason to believe that such an exploration of the
nature and scope of our intellectual, emotional and spiritual
potentialities can produce invaluable insights and open new
and unsuspected vistas of human possibilities. In order to do
so, it will have to be open-minded, relatively free of bias and
preconceived notions, and as uncontaminated as possible by
wishful anticipation of the results. It will have to be objective
and rigorous, not in the sense of the tautological truth- value
of a science so pure that it becomes irrelevant to human
actuality, but in the sense of critical control, validation and
interpretation of every step in the conduct of the experiment.
That, and in what way such criteria are applicable to experi-
ments of this kind, in which the people concerned serve at
the same time as their initiators and their substance, has been
demonstrated by the experimental groups known as modern
cooperative communities. These communities are part of
the Cooperative Movement, of which they form the most
advanced stage, characterized by a practice of cooperation
thatis comprehensive or communitarian. Like the Movement
itself, these groups owe their origin to spirited people who
refused to resign themselves to frustration which competi-
tive economy imposed on them. When other action failed,
they resorted to cooperation. In the process they discovered
ways and means of securing material satisfactions otherwise
unattainable to them. Being comprehensive in scope, these
groups seek to apply the cooperative principles to other than

228

HUMAN NEEDS AND THE NEED FOR ULTIMATE ORIENTATION

purely material aspects of social existence. In doing so, their
cooperative ingenuity is mapping out a pattern of social
innovation comparable to the method of physical science
experiment, but modified so as to accord with the nature of
social phenomena. This ingenious application of the experi-
mental method to other than purely physical matters is a
momentous pioneering feat. It constitutes not only the most
significant contribution made by the modern cooperative
communities to the advance of social science, but it sets a
precedent and a model for the exploration of all the other
human potentialities referred to above.

229

Practical Notes on Politics
and Poesy

by
LYLE K. BUSH

"Have you ever seen an inchworm crawl lip a leaf, cling to
the very end, revolve in the air ... reaching for something? "

The immediate response to this chance retinal pre-
sentment is merely visual; but the cognitive mind goes to
work on it. First, it becomes a dissatisfied worm, wriggling for a
fresh satisfaction. The spectacle then becomes slightly
amusing, ludicrous, evocative of whimsicality; initiates
botanical or zoological conjecture, enlists momentarily the
gambler's fascination with fortune. Will he get it? Launched
from an ocular pad, this larva of a geometrid moth has
become a projectile of the mind, passing through a sequence
of firings, each of them releasing a meaning until the final
stage resolves into the release of a spirit of reckless imaginative
daring. This new condition of orbitual suspension achieved,
the measuring worm commands an amazingly expanded
view. What has happened to the inch of the inchworm?

The thought makes no pretense of originality. In the worm
as a constant and in the mind's expanding view as a variable,
it is hoped that one will catch the echo of WHITEHEAD'S "Ex-
actness is not enough," and OPPENHEIMER'S world of "changing
views". Scientist, poet, philosopher, and artist have revealed
their awareness of the inchworm analogy, but many others
have not, and like the fleet companions of the desert wind
have hidden their heads in the Saharan sands. What is the

231

LYLE K. BUSH

germinal source of the malady which has rendered mankind
myopic to the wealth before him? What accounts for the
distortion in his view?

It was the painter-poet ALBERT PINKHAM RYDER who thrust
the inchworm into our vision as a homely symbol of the
wriggling and the reach of a creature that is, and always has
been, and ever will be ourselves. He can be discerned in the
dull-witted troglodyte directing his gutteral murmurs from
squatted position at the mouth of a bone-strewn cavern
toward the magnificent but discomfiting mystery of a borealic
splendor. And one of his more cogitative descendants must
have become even more baffled by the mystery of Time's
disintegrative influence on human handiwork as he sat atop
one pyramid and viewed the crumbling masonry about him.
A more sensitized but still perceptibly vermian Crusader
must certainly have sipped a fresh elixir of mystery in a land
where milady was veiled so tantalizingly in the traditional
obscurity of the East. And generation after generation of
inchworms have revolved at the ends of generations of leaves
and reached ... why? There are inchworms and inchworms.
Life is acquisition, but of what? The ill-nurtured RYDER
ignored uncashed checks because of a great hunger ... a
hunger of the active imagination. His was the reach of
wonder, as MALRAUX was to describe it: "The sacrifice to a
cause beyond comprension that restores richness to man. 55

And as the prodigal inchworm of today has devoured
sufficiently of his resources to begin wriggling at the tip of his
leaf... reaching ... there occurs a freshly mystifying anomaly.
The fruits of a magnificent automation are about to pull the
stars together and to reveal secrets of the universe, but the
precious store of invigorating wonder that characterized our
ancestors has diminished perceptibly as automation has
brought dreamless sedation to our bed, packaged nutrition
to our board, and has piped pleasurable indulgence to every
centre of our recreative desire. A diversion of the benefits of
this automation toward indulgence in a gluttonous con-

232

PRACTICAL NOTES ON POLITICS AND POESY

sumption seems to have left us in a sun-soaked apathy,
stranded on the shoals of meaningless boredom by the
receding tide of time. A few create the die, a few others pour
the mould, and the rest of us consume the product without
necessity for curiosity or reach of imagination. There is much
pith and little wood in NIETZSCHE'S words that "He who
knows a Why of living surmounts almost every How."

Traditionally, the humanist has accepted responsibility for
viewing the ebb and flow of major currents in the broader
areas of human activity. The instability of his position in the
cloud echelons has raised the question of his competence.
The physical scientist has adjusted his microscope to each
topographic detail in its turn, until the revelation of universe
within universe appears to have resolved what was once a
divorcement between schismatic spheres of enlightenment
into fleeting glimpses of a truth whose validity can be attested
only through envisionment of the specific, and the general
embraced by a reality of constantly changing views ... a
world that is existential in terms of change. Such a world was
suggested by WILLIAM JAMES, "unfolded by thought ... always
more than any of its unfoldings." It was a prophetic awareness
of its unfolding that prompted EINSTEIN'S plea for "a new
kind of thinking in order that we may survive." And it is the
unfolding itself that is the world of OPPENHEIMER with its
"open mind" and "changing views."

The role of the inchworm in its reach for fresh securities
within changed realities was played quaintly by ALBERT
PINKHAM RYDER, the painter, in a curiosity-driven quest for
the unfolding world of JAMES, the wishful survival of EIN-
STEIN, and the changed views of OPPENHEIMER. The artist's
reach was an intuitive one, but RYDER had this explanation
for it: "I went into the fields determined to serve nature as
faithfully as I had served. In my desire to be accurate, I
became lost in a mass of detail ... The scene presented itself
one day ... framed in an opening between two trees ... As I
worked, I saw that it was good and clear and strong. I saw

233

LYLE K, BUSH

nature spring to life on my dead canvas/ 3 RYDER began with
an exactness which WHITEHEAD has suggested is not enough.
The painter attained a view that his friend MARSDEN HARTLEY
has described as a "music of some faraway world which was
his laughter." Like BEAUDELAIRE, he presumed to have
attained a view which enabled him to "see only the Infinite
through every window."

Brief for this intuitively generalized and transitory reality
has been held rarely with firm conviction in the occidental
world, but the oriental ancients have clung to it tenaciously
for nearly thirty centuries, not without observable material
losses but with discernible spiritual gains. The Indian Vedas
initiate the concept of "being" and of "not being." The world
of drista, the seen, and of adrista, the unseen, are united by a
mystically golden shaft, Vishvakarma, the Creative Principle.
RABINDRANATH TAGORE attunes the concept with the nine-
teenth-century kinetics, with the convertibility of mass into
energy, and with the resolution of a previously conceived
static existence into one of dynamic metamorphosis. Indian
ontology has always subscribed to a Universal Consciousness
as the essence ... the stuff ... which precedes, modifies, and
qualifies the impression of environment on the ego, even as
PLATO may have received nurture from it. TAGORE poetizes
the conception in the Gitanjali with "The same stream of
consciousness that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures."

And now we have drifted precariously across the no-man's-
land that lies between the objectively existent fact and the
subjective response to it. Yet when THUCIDIDES cited man as
the "measure of all things," the Greek acknowledged human
attitude as a qualitative, as well as a quantitative factor in the
measurement of fact. This would explain, and we hope
would justify an apparently presumptuous exploration of
matters that are more psychological than they are philo-
sophical or scientific. It is quite admittedly a resort to OPPEN-
HEIMER'S view from highland dubiously secure altitudes in

234

PRACTICAL NOTES ON POLITICS AND POESY

order to discern the directions and their possible effects upon
all people.

In the delicate exploratory surgeries of the mind in the
quest of "wills-to-" something, the most highly revered and
widely known is that of SIGMUND FREUD. His discoveries have
been reminiscently Cyrenaic, but are doubtless far more
intricate than most of his interpreters have viewed them.
And the will-to-pleasure is mirrored unmistakably in each
facet of a darkly mutable splendor. Recent historical events
and ADLER have supplemented it with a will-to-power. But
ADLER'S will-to-power can acquire an approximate coinci-
dence with FREUD'S will-to-pleasure. As one man's pleasure
can be another's pain, and as another's power can become
pleasure or pain to himself or to others, we must retreat
mildly discomfitted into CONFUCIUS'S semantic complaint
known as "The Rectification of the Names." We can accept
two wills to somewhat indeterminate ends. Power and
pleasure are certainly major desirables. They can be worth all
the strategic planning and tactical maneuvery necessary to
obtaining fulfillment and they should be preserved as jewels
of the Crown, but as the terminology is employed within the
profession, they are subject to a conditioning that can
greatly enhance or completely nullify the embodied values.

The work of Dr. VICTOR E. FRANKL of the Medical Faculty
at the University of Vienna is most pertinent to pleasure and
power as integrative variables. Dr. FRANKL describes in his
recent work, The Psychology of Meaning, his opportunity to
observe the phenomena of Weltschmerz at work during four
years of imprisonment at Auschwitz. He noticed that the
typical question voiced by his unfortunate associates was,
"Will we survive? If not, life has no meaning." He gave the
question much thought and became convinced of its incon-
sistency. He rephrased the question until it expressed to him
not a life of meaning dependent upon survival, but a survival
warranted only by meaningful living. "Has life meaning? If
not, why survived "

235

LYLE K. BUSH

The utterly disarming logic of this different approach as
the result of a changing view is first grasped with a chuckle.
It is then followed by the cleanly cutting edge that severs
civilized man from the beast in the field. Pleasure and power,
as values to humanity, are conditioned by meaning. One
reflects anew on the since-fatuous, but really surcharged and
now psychologically practical Goethean view that "The
highest happiness of man as a thinking being is to have
probed what is knowable and to revere what is unknowable."
The thing, for instance, called "love" is that thing on the
terms and in the existence of, and in the perpetually re-
freshing change of its "view." It probes what is knowable and
reaches reverently into the unknowable. Love without
curiosity is monotony; love in the spirit of inquiry is reve-
lation. Love is a habit and a nothing, or it is a state of wonder.
There is a will-to-understanding which sublimates our
exercise of power and which renders our pleasure trans-
cendent.

ARCHIBALD MACLEISH has expressed the view that a dis-
tinguishable time in history is created not by the event ... the
battle ... but by the response to the event ... the heroic or
craven reaction to it of the generation which experiences the
event. When this thought is lifted from the context of his
Commencement address at Smith College in June of 1956, it
appears at first to suspend the world of the actual in a most
precariously pendulous fashion. Facts are dethroned by
human attitudes. Philosophies of history become involved,
and series of consecutive, interdependent events become
warped in the weft of revisions of attitudes in distances of
time. Battles are fought under the motivations of wills-to~
power. The meaning of that power is the by-product of
changes in view. Had the meaning of an Anschluss been clear
to all who were involved in 1938, understanding would have
changed the course of history. And a comparable will-to-
meaning today could be expected to dispel some of the
prevailing delusion that the United States, to use MAC-

236

PRACTICAL NOTES ON POLITICS AND POESY

LEISH'S phrasing, "can deal with the enormous forces now
at play in the world merely by resisting one of their more
disturbed manifestations."

With this and each passing hour there must be ac-
knowledged the existence of an impending impasse from the
lack of a will-to-meaningful understanding that can, as the
poet SEAN O'CASEY suggests, "frighten hope from the human
heart, 35 or on the other hand it can inspire the conviction
that the world really "has grandeur and life has hope," and
that it is man's heroic spirit that will save him. For O'CASEY
the poet, "The Harp of the Air Still Sings." This soaring
minstrelsy carries the indomitable faith of the distinguished
physicist PERCY BRIDGMAN in the "feeling in our bones that we
know what we are doing," and that we can be expected to
carry it through. "It is the nature of knowledge," declares
Dr. BRIDGMAN reassuringly, "to be subject to uncertainty."

Of this uncertainty, one can be certain. But of the
knowledge with which to meet the uncertainties to which
a lack of knowledge can render LIS subject, one is still un-
certain. Bard and scientist have both composed passages of
melodic sweetness, but the composition is subject to the
interpretation of the performer. The performing artist of the
moment is the statesman in the government of peoples. His
performance may be accompanied by tenor saxophone,
slide-trombone, or drum. And what of the statesman ... the
politician ... the purity of his tone, the adequacy of his
techniques, the accuracy of his tempo, the meaningfulness
of his artistry? An extended but searching view of our
political world, of "politics," SLiggests the strong possibility
that within this bland culture of ours, the poet, the composer,
the artist, and yes, the scientist have lived too long and are
still living, alone.

One should pause sufficiently at this point to note that
SEAN O'CASEY as poet, and PERCY BRIDGMAN as scientist would
seem to have been cited rather arbitrarily as presenting a
strongly optimistic view. A pessimistic one would of course

237

LYLE K. BUSH

involve the negation of hope, and would serve no purpose
whatever. Such a view would be a denial of FRANKL'S will-to-
meaning as a preface to survival. But when an optimism is the
result of critical discrimination, it becomes an active, and
therefore a meaningful idealism. The optimism of the poet
has been, traditionally at least, contingent upon the intui-
tive response of the internal life to an external environment.
We accept this optimism as an active idealism in terms of its
subjective validity. The optimism of the scientists has been,
again traditionally at least, contingent upon the facts which
are rendered, as effectively as possible, independent of
internal life and viewed in the light of externally apparent
validities. We accept this optimism in the terms of its ob-
jective validity.

The search for a comparable political optimist and idealist
with whom to complete a triumvirate in estimates with that
of scientist and poet is not to be made without considerable
effort today. We are confident, however, that there are those
who are searching for an optimism out of which there can
emerge an actively workable idealism. There is courageous
statement, and wishful thinking as well in the conclusion of
Mr. ADLAI STEVENSON, speaking in the February 7, 1959 issue of
the Saturday Review of Literature. To quote Mr. STEVENSON: "All
politics is made up of many things - economic pressures,
personal ambitions, the desire to exercise power, the over-
riding issues of national need and aspiration. But if it is
nothing more, it is without roots. It is built on shifting sands
of emotion and interest. When challenged, it can give no
account of itself. When threatened, it is in danger of col-
lapse."

A courageously stated truth can be a hard but a heartening
thing, and we would expect it to come from Mr. STEVENSON.
But his conclusion is followed in the February 21, 1959 issue of
the same publication by an equally disillusioning one. In this
instance, Dr. ROBERT M. HUTCHINS speaks of a political
configuration which has been established on principles

238

PRACTICAL NOTES ON POLITICS AND POESY

including the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi-
ness through the instrumentation of government of, by,
and for the people, but which has lent itself to restatement
in later decades and has resulted in a "pressure group state,
which cares for the welfare of those who are well enough
organized to put on the pressure.'*

Dr. HUTCHINS is one whose activities we have associated
primarily with the academic world, but whose view lends
further support to an indictment of matters political from
the externality of his position if not from detachment. Mr.
STEVENSON cites a phrase of the late A. POWELL DA VIES as of
critical pertinence to a situation that could be expected to
inspire heroism only at the cost of disheartening disillusion-
ment. 'The world," once declared Mr. DAVIES, "is now too
dangerous for anything but the truth, too small for anything
but brotherhood. 55

If this were to become recognized as a "truth of truth," it
would become far easier to realize the value of a discovery
that humanity is humanly and naturally addicted to wills to
pleasure and to power to the point of an unimaginative
resort to immediate expediences and that panaceas are not to
be found by fixing upon them as constants and by approving
them in many of our institutions of higher learning. If there
is a discipline involved, it is not to be applied so much in
terms of curbs or pressures or legislative mandates; it is a
"discipline" more suitably administered through exercise of
the mind in the attainment of levels in resourcefulness and
imagination which can lead to basic and toward "ultimate 55
meanings in the sense of the Aristotelian concept that the
major importances to mankind are to be discovered in the
discriminations between what is enduringly good or bad for
man. It is prefaced with new promise in FRANKL'S mll-to-
meaning. Like OPPENHEIMER'S changing view, it is to become a
search toward apparent constants that are among, and subject
to the ultimate influence of variables.

To face the "variable-constant 55 whether or not it may be

239

LYLE K. BUSH

fraught with danger is to become permeated with imagina-
tively creative fire. Not to face it imaginatively is to deterio-
rate inevitably from flaccidity into morbidity. When con-
fronted with a choice of alternatives between destruction
without comprehension and preservation through imagi-
native insight, one choice involves a denial of meaningful
creativity, but the other is to direct the imagination toward,
for instance, an almost untouched Gargantuan wealth of
natural resources hidden beneath the oceans. It may well be
that such a diversion of human interest and resourcefulness
as a tremendous under-sea release of natural resources would
involve is the only remaining alternative to the slash of major
areas of population, with but faint hope for a maimed
residuum. Such a diversion of human energy into creative
productivity could be expected to initiate an era of invigo-
rative purposefulness such as history has not previously
shown. And in the rush of wonder that would attend it,
differences of race, color, party, ideology, or ethos could also
be expected to wane. Cocks know not why they fight, but it is
hoped that man has attained and can maintain a condition of
reaching toward the envisionment of human perfectibility
that nurtures his existence with the meaning of each changing
view.

The rhythmic flight of the imagination is not the landed
estate of a poetic gentry. Nor is poetic exercise, strangely
believed by many, merely a fanciful form of catharsis. The
approach and the attitude of poetry, one can humorously,
seriously, but always genially insist, is valuable in all human
activity. Suppose one were to select Mr. STEVENSON'S cou-
rageous allusion to a political operation so appallingly
impoverished of meaning as to invite challenge to render
account of itself. This is, both in whimsical and serious
substance, a plea for the stuff of poesy in the sphere of
politics. The rhythms and the imageries of poetry, without
the necessity for formal versification, comprise the stuff of
which great men are made. The poetic consciousness traffics

240

PRACTICAL NOTES ON POLITICS AND POESY

in imagery in order to. see facts and ideas clearly in terms of
their meanings. The poet's incomparable gift of character
portrayal dispels the umbrage of causal human under-
standing. To poetize is to intensify and to sensitize human
emotion. It is an antidote to boredom. A high majority of the
sins of the world are committed in boredom. Poetry often
vies with the sciences in the prophecy of truths that would
otherwise escape us ... Its procedure is rhythmic, like the
flow of rivers and the laving of waves upon the shore and the
gently measured metamorphosis of ideas in the minds of
people. Above all, it is imbued with effortless emotive power.
It is sublimely nuclear, cordially intercontinental, and sus-
pends itself in caressive orbitry through infinitudes of space
and eons of time. And it has a way of becoming so incisively
and disarmingly truthful that scientists can live it through-
out their daily lives in the crystalline world of galaxy,
snowflake, and atom. Scientist and poet respond to and
attune themselves with these universal laws of form. Man, in
the honesty of his innateness, wants to. We should become
entranced, along with the rest of the world, to see a member of
the Congress imbued with an unmistakable will-to-the-
discovery-of~the-meaning-within-a-sense~of-wonder. In the
face of this highly unusual thing, the ideologies of the
peoples of the earth might take at least one step toward a
global ethos.

It is in the spirit of an enforcedly restrained desperation
that one reflects upon five milleniums of richly cumulative
devotion to the arts and sciences, and still admits that one
must carry DIOGENES' flashlight to discover the night-
chilled spirits of those who retain the key to an ever-en-
lightening human happiness. Quite clearly today that key is
not in the hands of those politicians who now can and do
openly paternalize helpless populations of spoiled boredom.
And clearly the key must be transferred to the hands of those
who have reached into wonder, have created for all because
they cared for all and were able to do so because they first

241

LYLE K. BUSH

cared enough to wonder. These creative ones now stand
benumbed at the spectacle of growing panic that stampedes
countless unmeaningful selves toward the brink of an already
dangerously comforting emptiness.

There was once a tired Swiss painter named KLEE. In the
China that once was, he would have been called both painter
and poet for they were considered the same, even as there
was a scientia in the West. He explored wills to pleasure,
ignored wills to power, and in the disillusionment that can
occur in an apparently rotting world, he ascertained his will-
to-meaning: "What artist would not like to dwell where the
central organism of all temporal and spacial change - call it
what you will, the brain and heart of creation - is ordering
all the functions? "

In spirit, PAUL KLEE was artist, philosopher, and scientist.
His was the spirit of AQUINAS' Theologia: "Delicate and not
exclusive, he will yet be of our day; his heart, for all its
contemplation, will yet know the works of men." And it
was the spirit of LEONARDO: "The love of anything is the fruit
of our knowledge of it, and grows as our knowledge becomes
more certain." This LEONARDO DA VINCI was GEORGE SARTON'S
hero, and in defining LEONARDO'S indomitable will-to-
meaning, SARTON imparted a spirit in his phrase that was also
SARTON'S own: "His outstanding merit is to have shown by
his own example that the pursuit of beauty and the pursuit
of truth are not incompatible. He is the patron of those men,
few in number, who love art and science with equal fervor.
One might add that without love there can be no real
knowledge." And finally, KXEE'S question conveys between its
lines the infinitely ponderable conclusion of the one man
who could phrase it more simply and more satisfyingly than
has any other. This was ALBERT EINSTEIN, who dissolved the
question and answer into one with a startlingly anachronous
humility: "The greatest thing in the world is a sense of
wonder."

CHESTERTON'S fastidiously disdainful witticism that "The

242

PRACTICAL NOTES ON POLITICS AND POESY

world will never starve for want of wonders, but only for
want of wonder," leaves the scientist and poet unscathed.
But with deadly aim it finds and pierces the targets of pre-
vailing ennui on the part of peoples and the political activi-
ties that this ennui condones. It is an ennui for want of will-
to-meaning ... the thing that prompts a sense of wonder.

Somewhere along the way humanity appears to have lost
what inspired the Greek euphoria-, or the "stream of conscious-
ness" of TAGORE a that runs through the world and dances in
rhythmic measures;" or the "Why" of NIETZSCHE. We try
without that why to find the practically expedient how. We
proceed to manipulate without identifying with the Platonic
Good.

The meaningful life is but a search, of course; a directive,
with symbolic markers along the way. Our quandary is not
new, but simply more cosmic to us in its malignity. WALT
WHITMAN met this quandary in his New Themes Entered Upon,
"After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics,
conviviality ... Nature remains."

There was a poet-Emperor of China who crept to the end
of his leaf of bamboo and reached with a sense of wonder as
he composed the lines,

"The whispering pines are living harps,
And fairy hands were there ..."

This was CH'IEN LUNG'S meaningful if not entirely conclusive
answer to the question that HAEKEL addressed to his universe:
"Are you friendly?" And this reach for meaningful attune-
ment with his world may have helped him appreciably in
ruling his body politic with statesmanlike distinction. His
was the spirit of the scientist and the poet But of course
there were then still in a reverent state of conservation the
natural resources that are necessary even for the antics of an
inchworm.

243

The Goal

Science and Engineering
and the Future of Man

by
W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

INTRODUCTION

Through the Ages past Man has toiled upward from savagery
and barbarism along an ascending road, until he now
stands poised at the summit of The Great Divide - where he
can either turn toward the Right, and enter a World of
Justice and of Peace - or he can continue straight ahead, and
downward, along the old way of Imperialism, of Injustice
and of War - a course which leads inescapably to the de-
struction of civilization and probably to the destruction of all
Humanity as well. Man is free to make his own clear choice -
whether he mil consciously, and intelligently, seek the road
to peaceful progress, or whether he will stupidly continue on
into World War III.

In this situation the scientist and the engineer bear particu-
lar responsibilities for giving such aid as they can toward the
definition, and solution, of the world's current problems.
For Science is concerned with the discovery of "that Truth
which sets Men free" and Engineering is concerned with
discovering how to make proper and effective use of Natural
Law; of natural forces; and of the world's material and
tangible resources - in order that "the World which is" may
be transformed into "the World which should be."

Science and Engineering tell us that the Creator who

247

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

established the ordered and changing Universe also gave
Man the opportunity, the ability, and the responsibility, for
choosing his own destiny and for building his own future.
To this end the Creator not only established Natural Law, for
the guidance and control of the processes of the Universe,
but also established Moral Law, for the guidance of human
choice; of human action, and of human participation in the
work of Creation, in so far as this involves the development
of Life upon the Planet Earth. "Justice", "Opportunity",
"Responsibility", and "human choice" are the key words
which relate to the Future of Man. For Man is capable of
choosing whether he will be active, or inactive; whether he
will be progressive, or retrogressive; whether he will seek
Good, or Evil; whether he will seek to exploit and oppress
his weaker fellows, or whether he will strive to work with
them in building a peaceful world - and in creating a genuine
world-wide "Brotherhood of Man."

History has given convincing scientific proof that human
progress has depended upon the acceptance of proper
spiritual motivations; upon a wise choice of human ob-
jectives; and upon well-planned and effective practical
action. It has been obviously true that no individual has been
forced to be diligent, rather than slothful; that no individual
has been forced to be wise, rather than foolish; and that no
individual has been forced to heed the guidance of the Spirit
within, rather than worldly wisdom, and the counsel of
selfishness. Every human being has been free to choose
whether to do that which is right and sensible, or to do that
which is wrong and foolish. Moreover, experience has shown
that Man is not justified in expecting that "God" will do for
him those things which he could, and should, have done
for himself. These things are axiomatic. That is to say that
they are self-evident truths - to those who are willing to
accept the Truth.

The sum total of History has demonstrated three things :
First, that every human individual is potentially capable of

248

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

making unique and important contributions to the

progress of Mankind. (This despite the fact that many

persons fail to realize their potentialities);
Second, that the basic needs of men can be best served by the

cooperative effort of all ;
Third, that in the building of an orderly and peaceful world

"Force is objectionable" for "it destroys that which it

seeks to preserve."

In developing his story of "Science and Engineering - And
the Future of Man" the writer will take up, successively, the
following seven topics :

1) The role which has been played by basic human aspi-
rations and motivations in the production of many,
successive, civilizations - within a frame-of-reference
which has been established by Cosmic Trend coupled
with the Limiting Dimensions of Space and Time.

2) The controlling influences that natural-resource con-
ditions and geographic factors have exerted upon particu-
lar civilizations - with a discussion of the ways in which
environmental conditions have determined the forms,
durability and energylevels of particular civilizations.

3) The prime causes responsible for the psychological and
political crises now afflicting our modern civilization.

4) A diagnosis of the nature of this current world-malady.

5) The kinds of action that must be had - if the prescriptions
called for under (4) are to be effectively implemented and
successfully applied.

6) Summary.

7) Conclusion.

HUMAN MOTIVATIONS AND THE ORIGIN OF
"CIVILIZATION"

Certain basic emotional and mental motivations and spiritual
aspirations have given rise to civilizations, at many times and

249

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

in many parts of the world. Human affection, within the
family, and group-loyalty, within the general community,
have provided the invisible but real foundations upon which
all civilizations have been built. Also mental curiosity, and
reason, have again and again provided imaginative and intelli-
gent leadership, capable of evoking enthusiastic and coordina-
ted action on the part of major population groups. Likewise
natural (and largely sub-conscious) spiritual aspirations have
been of ultimate importance in determining the choice of the
group-policies which have resulted in the building of civili-
zations. For Man does aspire to be a worthy and a self-
respecting individual. He does aspire to be a worthy, and
respected, member of his community and nation. And he
does aspire to be a worthy servant of that Creator who has
established Life-on-Earth, within an orderly and infinite
Universe. Civilizations have, then, arisen as natural, practical,
expressions of particular impulses which continuously arise
within the hearts and minds and souls of human individuals
and of human groups. Consequently, in order to understand
why and how "The Future of Man" should be developed, in
proper and satisfying fashion, we need to consider carefully
Man's nature, and his basic aspirations.

The Nature - and Aspirations of Man

Man's true nature manifests itself only within the Silence -
for in Silence the souls of all men become as one in the
presence of the Creator. For whether savage or saint; whether
humble shepherd or Imperial Ruler, it has been Man's
nature - since the Beginning - to gaze with reverence and
awe upon the wonders of Creation.

Mountain solitudes; the vast expanse of the ocean; the
overwhelming fury of the storm; the beauty of spring
flowers - in desert, in meadow, and in grove; and the silence
and majesty of starlit nights in the desert - all have spoken

250

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

to his soul of the Power and Glory of God the Creator.
Man has also instinctively sought to know, and to conform
to, the will and purpose of the Creator. Priests, Prophets, Wise
Men and Saints have prayed to receive revelations direct
from God. Philosophers have sought understanding and
wisdom, through orderly and logical consideration of all
information relating to Natural and Moral Law. And scien-
tists have sought to learn, indirectly, about the nature and
purposes of the Creator through their discovery (and
verification) of the Natural Laws which have been established
by the Creator, for the guidance and control of all parts of
the Moving Universe - whether these parts be animate or
inanimate, whether material or mental or spiritual.

The Shaping of History by Cosmic Trend, and by the Dimensions of
Cosmic Space and Time. It is a basic Natural Law that all things
and all situations change and progress, and that this change,
and this progress, go forward systematically by means of
cyclic and rhythmic or recurrent movements, according to
the Creator's established Cosmic Trend (or the Direction of
Movement of the Universe). Day follows night. The lunar
phases and the seasons follow each other in due course.
Living Creation grows and reproduces and passes on - to
make room for dn-coming generations. Scientists thus have
learned much about how the progressions of Life, and of the
Universe, go forward - but as to why, they can only echo the
answer given by the Prophets "It is the Will and Plan of God,
the Creator."

The existence of this Cosmic Trend or of the "Causative
Directional Dimension", both in Earth History and in
Human History, becomes clearly apparent if one considers
the sequence of events on Earth, as these have taken place in
Space and Time.

The Cosmic and Human Significance of Space and Time. Space and
Time are matters which are of little interest and concern to

251

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

Stone Age savages but are ones which have become more and
more important to human beings as their ability to observe,
and to reason, has increased. Consequently Man has, from
time to time, developed better and better hypotheses as to
how Cosmic processes are related to human history, although
all who have developed and set forth such hypotheses have
been handicapped in two ways. First, because finite human
minds are not able to grasp the fullness of Infinite Truth, and
second, because of the inability of one person to communica-
te to others, exactly and accurately, his thoughts and the
Revelations he has received - because the same words have
different meanings for different people. Hence, as all scientists
know, the results of a developing inquiry can advantageously
be recompiled and reanalyzed from time to time, but always
with the corollary proviso that preliminary understandings
are not to be accepted as proven and final until they have
been adequately checked, tested and confirmed.

Unfortunately all past seekers after Truth have not ap-
preciated that preliminary findings should be regarded as
tentative only, until they have been fully corroborated -
with the result that many theologians have not even yet
comprehended two facts: i) That the Dimensions of Cosmic
Trend and Space and Time have always applied, and still
apply, both in the Realm of the Spirit, and in the material
world. And 2) that the Story of Creation, as set forth in the
First Chapter of Genesis, was qualitatively correct, but was
quantitatively inaccurate with respect to its statements
regarding the Space and Time Dimensions involved. In
consequence, because of these dimensional inaccuracies,
various theological confusions and erroneous interpretations
and doctrines have arisen, and have continued to beset and
be-devil multitudes of people, for many centuries. Regarding
this matter it has been said: "Men concerned with Religion,
Philosophy and Science long ago developed the Story of
Creation, as it is recorded in the First Chapter of Genesis - a
story which, considering the remoteness of its period, was

252

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OP MAN

amazingly accurate qualitatively, but one which was dis-
torted - because the Space and Time dimensions included in
the story were not correctly comprehended - as has since
been demonstrated."

The Space-Dimension in the Story of Creation. The Space-Dimension
is highly important in the Story of Creation. But at the time
when Genesis was being recorded the Planet Earth was
believed to be the central feature of all Creation and it - and
Man - were regarded as objects of the Creator's principal
interest and solicitude. Whereas we now know that the
Earth is only one small planet within one solar system, that
our Sun is a relatively small star among many millions of stars
and that some of the galaxies and nebulae, visible through
modern telescopes, are many billions of billions of miles
distant. Therefore, whereas it still remains true that Man had,
and has, a special significance in the realm of Creation - it is
nevertheless also true that Man, and our planet, obviously
do not occupy nearly such prominent places in the Creator's
Universal Plan and scheme of things as was postulated by the
authors of Genesis.

The Time-Dimension of the Story of Creation. Because the authors
of Genesis had no effective means for measuring the length
of past spans of time they spoke, in their statement, of the 4 'Six
Days" of Creation, if the translations are correct. Or they may
actually have used a more general expression which was
equivalent to "six periods of time" - these being later trans-
lated, freely, as "six days." However that may have been,
modern scientific studies have transformed the terms of the
Time-dimension in the Story of Creation just as drastically
as they have the Space-dimension. For now, with modern
studies of intra-atomic structure, and of the rates at which
radio-active decay proceeds in minerals, it is possible to de-
termine with approximate accuracy the time which has
elapsed since the world was formed; since Life appeared on

253

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

Earth; and since the different plants and animals began to
develop. Such studies now indicate that the Earth is about
4,000,000,000 years old and that the first recognizable traces
of Life-on-Earth date from about 2 billion years ago, whereas
Primitive Man appeared on Earth only about i million years
ago. Nor is this the only important modification of the Time-
element in the Biblical story which needs to be made, in the
light of wellverified scientific information now in hand. For
the Process of Creation did not cease to operate at some given
time in the past, just after Man was created. Instead, change
and progressive Creation have not only gone on throughout
the 4 billion years of Earth History, as is proven by the
geologic record, but they are still in operation and reason-
ably will continue on until such time as the Creator's
purpose has been finally and completely fulfilled, and
"Perfection" has been finally attained. As to the continuing
operation of the Creative process we can assure ourselves, by
our own observations, since new episodes of Creation take
place in Nature during every Spring season, while each new-
born infant is likewise a miracle of new Creation. For within
each tiny body there resides a new Soul and a new Life,
created and placed there by God Himself.

The combined influence of the Space, Time and Universal-
Trend dimensions upon the course of events in Geologic and
Human History can be most easily comprehended if we
construct for ourselves a Pictorial History which shows in
proper Space - and - Time perspective the times of arrival
upon the Earth of the different forms of Life - Plants, fishes,
"creeping things," "beasts of the field," and "fowls of the
air" and, lastly Man. For such a pictorial History, when
viewed from a distance, would confirm the belief that the
general sequence of Creative events was reported with sub-
stantial accuracy in the First Chapter of Genesis. But when
examined more closely this Pictorial History would also
show a cyclic or rhythmic recurrence of events within the
broader terms of thfe total story. For as each new Life-group

254

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

appeared its members, in turn, went through an essentially
similar developmental process. For at the outset the members
of each such group progressed in numbers; in physical size;
and in the complexity of their bodily structures, until they
reached a stage where one of three things happened : Some
members of the group might cease to progress further -
whereupon they would begin to lapse into greater and greater
obscurity and unimportance; Or some members of the
group might become dominant in worldly affairs - by
developing monstrous size and terrifying appearances - after
which they would, almost immediately, become extinct; Or
some members of the group would progress onward and
upward, quietly step by step, until they had passed around
one loop of the Spiral Path of Life, and had given rise to a new
Life-form, which occupied a next-higher position upon
God's scale of living creatures. That Living Creation has
moved forward and upward along a spiral path is obvious if
both the distant and the close-range views of the Pictorial
History are considered. For the several new Life-forms
created - fishes, reptiles, mammals and Man - have appeared
at successively higher and higher positions upon this spiral
Path-of-Life.

This pattern of creative progress, so clearly illustrated by
the histories of the lower forms of Life, is perhaps even more
evident in the total History of Man. For as the Earth-record
shows the first primitive Man-brute, though he possessed a
"sense of right and wrong" (that is to say a sub-conscious
awareness of the direction in which the Universal Trend of
events is supposed to flow) - he was nevertheless still chiefly
a brute withal. Then families of Stone Age savages appeared.
Then came dans and tribes of New Stone Age cannibals. Then
rudely-organized primitive Communities of Bronze- Age barbari-
ans came into being. Then pastoral and agricultural civili-
zations developed and with them came the Great Prophets -
and civilizations concerned with Beauty, with Truth and
with Natural and Moral Law - civilizations which were

255

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

( g ajnBuj aas

6uidoiaA3<]

3= *fl

O
I

256

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

advised by one more of those Messengers of the Creator - the
Prophets - as to Man's responsibilities with respect both to
God and to all of his fellow human-beings. (The admonitions
which have been thus received are, as of this moment, more
than ever important, because it is only by a conformance
with the instructions thus provided that we can be able to
create - and enter - that World of Tomorrow which we so
desire).

In order to convey somewhat more specifically how the
Universal Trend-direction (or direction in which the whole
Universe is moving) and Space and Time relate to the de-
velopment of Life and of Man upon the Planet Earth, the
writer has constructed a diagram (Figure i) which seeks to
give a graphic description of these relationships - a descrip-
tion which is subject to at least one drastic criticism, in that
the duration of the human portion of the story has been
exaggerated by about 4,000 times - in order that it could be
easily observable.

THE CONTROLS WHICH HAVE BEEN EXERTED BY

ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES UPON THE FORMS,

HISTORIES AND ENERGY LEVELS OF OLDER CIVILIZATIONS

Natural-Resource and Geographic Dimensions have exerted,
and will continue to exert, decisive influences upon the
forms, life-histories and energy-levels of particular civili-
zations. It is therefore important for us to consider how and
why these "dimensions" have thus been determinants of the
size, growth-characteristics, energy-levels and life-histories
of four types of civilization, these including, respectively,
ones which have developed in the Pastoral Lands of the Near
and Middle East; in the well-watered lowlands of the Near,
Middle and Far East; in Ancient Greece and in the Occident.

Environmental and "physical-state" characteristics of the Ancient
Pastoral Civilizations. The civilizations which arose long ago in

257

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

the Pastoral Lands of the Near and Middle East were ones
which developed within an environment that had only two
obvious dimensions - those of Earth and Sky - and only one
mental and spiritual dimension - that of Religion. It was
therefore natural that a Psalmist, living in such a region,
should have written that

"The Heavens declare the Glory of God

And the Firmament showeth His handiwork.

Day unto day uttereth speech

And night unto night showeth knowledge.

There is no place nor language

Where their voice is not heard."

Water, and grass were, to be sure, vital matters. And the
grazing lands were dotted with oases and were bordered by
well-watered lowlands. But the Pastoral Peoples were never,
in any sense, hemmed in. For they could move across the
desert, or along its semi-arid borders, at will, as a thinly-
spread, highly-fluid, and highly-energetic patriarchal civili-
zation, which continually lived and moved in The Presence
of a Creator who had made not only Heaven and Earth, but
also Life, and Man.

It was to these peoples that Great Prophets came - those
Messengers of the Creator who brought the revealed Will of
God, as expressed in words which indicated Man's duty both
to his Creator and to his fellow human beings. Likewise these
Pastoral Peoples worshipped the Creator directly, without
the intervention of priests or the employment of symbolic
rituals - other than such as were provided in and by Nature.
The whole of their lives was spent in The Presence, and it
was therefore their firm belief that if they lived according to
the Creator's (Natural) Law then, indeed would "all things
needful" be added unto them.

258

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

Forms and Energy-Levels Characteristics of the "Lands of the Fixed
Horizon."

The civilizations which arose on the fertile alluvial plains
of Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China differed
amazingly from those which originated within the Pastoral
Lands. For the Pastoral regions were essentially limitless in
their extent and their peoples were therefore almost as free
as the winds of Heaven, whereas the dwellers on the arable
lowlands occupied by the ancient agricultural civilizations
were surrounded by all-but-impassable mountain barriers
and deserts. Consequently the agricultural peoples, as their
numbers increased, became ever-more-tightly compressed
within their fixed and immovable limiting barrier-bounda-
ries. And hence these "fixed-horizon" civilizations became
essentially crystalline in their formal structures, attitudes of
mind, political and social systems, and mass energy-levels -
since by assuming frozen, crystalline, structures and forms
the impacts and frictions between the crowded component
human individuals would be held to a minimum, and the
orderly life and economic stability induced would make it
possible for a maximum number of people to subsist in
orderly and peaceful fashion within fixed limits and bounding
horizons which had been established by Nature.

Thus the ancient Agricultural Civilizations rested upon
broad bases, composed of unfree agricultural workers and
slaves, augmented, when necessary, by forced-labor levies.
And from these u mud-sills of Society" the pyramid or
tiered temple or pagoda rose in orderly and symbolic fashion
toward the "fortunate few" near the top of the social structu-
re, and to the "God-Emperor" who sat at the summit - his
position assured not only by the convergent self-interests of
those below him, but also by the cementing influence of
that "Power Behind the Throne" - the ecclesiastical
hierarchy. For this hierarchy not only provided the scholars
and civil servants who could write out (and preserve) the
needed legal documents and property records - and diplo-

259

V. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

matic and business messages - but it was also the duty of this
hierarchical group to advise the people comprising the
lower courses of the pyramid that it was their duty to support
the God-Emperor at the top without question and without
complaint. And it was even more particularly the responsi-
bility of the members of this priestly system to advise those
in bondage, at the base of the social order, that their hopes for
freedom and happiness were ones which could be realized in
the Next World - a world which they would be allowed to
enter only if they were sufficiently meek and uncomplaining
in this one.

Social and political order were thus maintainable (despite
birth-rates which were limited only by natural biological
potential) because there was a constant "draining-off" of
those born in excess of the natural carrying-power of the
land - this surplus population being recurrently eliminated
by flood or famine; by disease or war; or by over- work,
coupled with a gradual downward movement among the
poorer people near the bottom of the social structure - where
unfortunate persons passed successively from poverty to
destitution; from destitution to beggary; and from beggary
to oblivion.

Thus did environmental limitations, imposed by Geo-
graphic and Natural-Resource Dimensions lead to the
typical development and flowering of civilizations which
were at once, massive, orderly, static (and therefore
"peaceful") and relatively devoid of those energies which
are prerequisite both for aggressive expansion and for
effective self-defense - when conquering hordes pour in.

These ancient and long-enduring civilizations also pro-
duced great Prophets and rare and beautiful flowerings of the
mind and spirit - flowerings which were brought to pass by
fortunate individuals living near the summit of the cultural
pyramid - who were therefore in position to enjoy that
quietness which is indispensably necessary for thought,
for meditation and for creative effort. But these great civili-

260

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

zations were essentially tree-like in their slow and continuing
growth, and in their demonstrated lack of interest in the
sufferings, frustrations and deprivations of the vast unfree
masses of people at the base of the total, crystalline social
structures. Hence such civilizations have been almost power-
less either to improve the living-standards of their peoples,
or to resist attacks from abroad, when attacks have come.

The Mineral-Resource Dimension - and, the Rise, and Collapse, of
Athenian Culture. The decisive influence which may be exerted
by mineral natural resources upon the growth and decline
of human cultures has been made evident in most spec-
tacular fashion by the rise, and collapse, of the Athenian (and
Grecian) culture of the so-called "Golden Age. 55 For the
enormously large and rich silver mines at Laurium, near
Athens, provided directly the material foundations upon
which Athenian culture was based, besides being, indirectly,
a principal source of support for cultural developments
throughout all of ancient Greece.

The wonderful capacities of the Greek mind and temper-
ament; the favorable climate of Greece; and the inspiring
Grecian landscape - blending and contrasting mountain
and plain; and shore and sea - all contributed to Grecian
greatness. However the ancient Athenian culture was, in
essence, like the mythical giant Antaeus. For Antaeus was
reputedly able to maintain and increase his strength only as
long as he was in effective contact with the life-giving quali-
ties of his parent, Mother Earth. And so it was with Athenian
culture.

For centuries the huge Athenian mines poured out silver
in millions and millions - with the result that Athens was a
tax-free city - where labor was done by slaves purchased with
silver from the mines at Laurium; where the safety of the
state depended upon mercenaries hired with silver from the
mines - or upon the subsidized armies of the other Grecian
states making up the Pan-Hellenic League. Athens was,

261

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

therefore, a city where men of ability and genius could spend
their time in scientific investigation; in logical, mathe-
matical and philosophical study and discussion; in creative
art; and in athletic sports, including "Olympic Games." It
was, indeed, an ideal and idyllic state of affairs - until the
silver mines became exhausted. Economic and political
collapse, of course, then ensued, practically at once - as it has,
on a lesser scale, at so many times and in so many mining
regions. And the defenseless remnants of the ancient Grecian
culture were largely carried abroad by Greek scholars,
artists, scientists and engineers who had been taken captive
by the Romans. Sic transit gloria mundi!

Perhaps it should be reported at this point that a mining
engineer - who had been in contact with tKe situation at
Laurium after the old lead-silver mines had been redeveloped
for zinc - has stated that in the course of these modern re-
developments more than 2,000 ancient mine-shafts were
found and more than 100 linear miles of underground
workings. More recently another eminent geologist has
estimated that the silver which had been taken from Laurium,
over the centuries, had had a purchasing power equivalent
to that which would have been provided by 36 billions of
(1946) U.S. dollars. No wonder that the Athenians could
afford magnificent public buildings and works of art. And,
having heard that Xerxes, the Persian had become interested
in securing the Laurium mines, it is no wonder that the
Athenians felt that they needed to build that fleet with which
they defeated the Persians at Salamis.

Environmental influences in the Occidental "Lands of the Expanding
Horizon."

The cultural developments, social attitudes, patterns of
thought and "energy-levels" which are characteristic of the
Occident are almost exactly antithetical to those which
persisted for so long within the "Fixed- Horizon" civilizations
of the Orient. For the peoples who moved westward and

262

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

northwestward into Europe - as the glacial ice-cap melted
back - knew no limiting horizon - geographic, intellectual or
spiritual They were fierce, strong and adventurous peoples
who aspired to personal freedom in all phases of human life -
mental, economic, political and spiritual. It was their attitude
from the beginning, that adventure and discovery were the
breath of life; that men discovered what they could - and
held by force, if they could, that which they had discovered.
Consequently the human tides advancing toward the
northwest did not pause long at the North Sea's rim, but
pressed on, - spreading laterally along the Atlantic Coasts,
and westward to Iceland; to Greenland; to the East Coast of
the Americas; and ultimately on to the Pacific. Nor was this
westward progression all.

For the westward, and ultimately global, explorations of
the Occidental peoples were paralelled by similar extensions
and expansions of their interests within intellectual, scientific
and technological fields of endeavor. Scientific and mechani-
cal principles which had long been known among the
Oriental and Mediterranean peoples were either learned
about or were re-discovered, and extended - particularly
after the onset of "The Industrial Revolution" - which was
actually expressive of the World's Third Technologic Revo-
lution - the two earlier ones having been related, respectively,
to the discovery and use of the wheel; and to the discovery of
methods for smelting ores and for making alloys and forged
tools and weapons.

The First Industrial Revolution

The so-called "Industrial Revolution 55 was born of
gunpowder and of the invention of the steam engine. For
when gunpowder - long known, but not highly regarded in
the Orient - became known in Europe, its military-and-
political importance was soon recognized, and guns and

263

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

cannon thereupon became important. Consequently more
iron ore had to be dug and more iron and steel had to be
forged. Charcoal fuel ceased to be readily available for
smelting and forging - so coal began to be of prime im-
portance, both for metallurgical work and for corollary
purposes. And as mines ware dug deeper it became impera-
tive to invent some mechanical contrivance which could
pump water from coal mines and ore pits. And so the steam-
powered pumping engine was invented and with gunpowder
and iron (and steel) available, and with the supra-human
energies and power of the steam-engine at command - the
(First) Industrial Revolution moved on toward its maturity,
with two profoundly important consequences. First, because
it became unprofitable to use slave labor to do work which
could be done more cheaply, or better, by steam-powered
machines, and secondly (in the political realm), because a
few little Western European nations, despite their small size
and minor human populations, were able to establish
world-empires, through their ability to apply irresistible
naval and military pressures to vastly larger populations,
which had long been so organized as to be incapable of
resisting concentrated military - and - political force.

However, the general history, and manifold consequences
of this (First) Industrial Revolution are so widely known
that they require no further exposition here. That this
"Revolution" provided the power-basis upon which the
early-modern worldempires were built, is obvious. That it
was also a necessary pre-requisite to the abolition of slavery
and serfdom, and to the establishment of high standards of
living, is less frequently remembered, and seldom mentioned.
Nor does it seem to be generally realized that the economic-
and-political needs of the growing populations of North-
western Europe, and of America, continued to foster and
accelerate scientific exploration and discovery, coupled with
the development of inventions and procedures which made
possible the effective technological-and-engineering appli-

264

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

cation and employment of known scientific facts and princi-
ples. In this manner were the seeds of new technological
revolutions planted, in the Occident, long before the national
leaders concerned realized that new conditions were de-
veloping which would, again and again, tend to transform
the world's social, economic and political situations or that
repeated crises would result if these impending transfor-
mations were not foreseen, and were not prepared for in
time.

The Coming of the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Technological Revolutions.
Three more Technologic Revolutions have been going on
more or less simultaneously during the past so years - ones
which have been based, respectively, upon developments in
the Chemical and Chemical Engineering, Electrical and
Electronic, and Automotive fields.

The one related to Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
may be regarded as dating from the end of the Franco-
Prussian war, when the union of Ruhr coal and of Lorraine
iron ore, plus the development of the byproduct coke oven,
began to make it possible to transform and transmute a few
basic natural-resource raw materials into all manner of new
products and new ersatz or synthetic materials, thus building
up that industrial - and - military power which was dis-
played with such telling effect during World War I.

The Electrical Transmission and Telecommunications Re-
volution resulted in the invention of the telegraph, telephone,
electric light, radio, radar and television (and related
appliances, techniques and arts) and has, of course, made
world-wide communication essentially instantaneous, be-
sides making long-distance transmission of electric power a
standard modern practice.

The Sixth or Transportation Revolution has resulted from
the development of the internal-combustion motor, where-
by the energies of petroleum have been made effective
through the use of automobiles, airplanes and trucks; also

265

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

of Diesel-powered tractors, earth-movers, locomotives,
farm machinery and ships.

The Onset of the Seventh Technologic Revolution. The Beginning of the
"Limitless Age." The discovery of processes for bringing about
controllable atomic fission, and the prospective harnessing
of the limitless energies that can be had from thermo-
nuclear fusion have confronted Man with the necessity
for deciding whether these discoveries are to cause an early
annihilation of the whole human race - or whether they
are, indeed, to become the heralds of a "Limitless Age." For
we, the peoples of the whole world do now either face,
together, a future world of Hope, and Justice and Peace and
Freedom-from-war, or we face no "Future" at all, beyond
a few months or perhaps a year or so.

Atomic fission, thermo-nuclear fusion and recent de-
velopments in rocketry and in the region of interplanetary
space have, indeed, brought us to the threshold of a "limit-
less" future, depending upon the outcome of the currently-
developing Sociological World Revolution - a revolution
that has been sired by the belief that "All men have been
created free and equal/ 5 and that was quickened when it
became possible to substitute machine-power for the labor
of serfs and slaves.

The Beginnings of the Sociological World-Revolution. The Sociolo-
gical World-Revolution is being born amid economic,
political, social and spiritual crises of the most profound
importance. And if Man is to survive he can do so only if this
new World-Revolution leads to suitable action within the
United Nations Organization, and under the guidance of
three vitally important concepts :
First, that in the Realm of the Spirit "all men have been created

free and equal," since they are all children of the same

Creator.
Second, that Equal Justice for all persons must be the Rock upon

266

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

which a World of Peace and Progress can be founded.
And

Third, that "Government of the People, for the People and by
the People" must provide the method by which equal
justice is to be assured, if, indeed, itis to be had. Under this
kind of government real justice can be established - for
society and government are thereby joined in seeking to
provide a real equality of opportunity for every adult
person and, particularly, for every child.
Also, since all persons will not accept their responsibili-
ties fully, and in equal measure, real Justice will also
require that rewards be made proportionate to per-
formances, and that earnings be received in proportion to
the value and quantity of useful work done (due pro-
vision also being made for persons suffering from illness
or disability).

That the guiding principles just set out can be applied
successfully has already been indicated, by the experience of
, some peoples, and also of some corporations, which have
been wise enough to comprehend that Fair Competition,
properly enforced, is a key to Justice, to Progress and to
Peace. Whereas monopoly, whether economic or industrial
or political, is retrogressive, is evil and has always given rise to
Revolution, to Cold War and to Red War.

THE NATURE AND PRIME CAUSES OF THE
CURRENT WORLD-MALADY

The world is afflicted by a malady having characteristic
symptoms and particular causes. The nature of this complex
disease is such that it goes through prolonged Cold Wai-
incubation periods characterized by mounting economic -
and - political tensions, which, in due course, give rise to
outbreaks of (military) World War. (Relative to which it may
be commented that those who actually trigger the next

267

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

World War outbreak will also be destroyed by it - as will all
other persons.)

Therefore, for the sake of all concerned, let us now con-
sider how a knowledge of scientific principles and conditions;
an understanding of Technology; and an acquaintance with
Engineering Science and Art may provide us with both such
diagnoses, and with such corollary prescriptions, as can guide
us to the cure of that world-malady which currently
threatens the Future of Man.

Causes of the Present World-Crisis

The existing world-crisis has been brought on by acute
maladjustments in all three of the fields which have basic
human importance: the material, the intellectual and the
spiritual.

Maladjustments in the material world. Basic maladjustments exist
in the material world, as is made evident, graphically, by
Figure 2, shown below - since this Figure compares and con-
trasts the standards of living which now prevail in different
world-regions. The mere existence of such inequalities,
within a world closely linked by radio, by television and by
air-post, has naturally excited great dissatisfactions and
certainly calls for strenuous efforts, in all quarters, to find a
remedy.

Maladjustments in the mental realm. It is Man's nature to wish to
make proper, full and effective use of his mind and of his
creative capacities - and with respect to such aspirations many
peoples are as yet desperately frustrated, for they have been
prevented from developing and operating their own govern-
ments; have been, by contrast, prisoners of foreign political
powers and economic imperialisms, and have been mani-
pulated, for profit, by industrial monopolies and cartels,

268

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

Verticaf
scale

ManpowerYears
of work- Potential
per Capita

Population Scale

.13'

This Area Represents 25,000,000 people

Figurei Diagram Indicating Potentials and Populations
of Various National and Regional Areas

some privately-owned and some owned by totalitarian and
despotic governments. Such conditions have become in-
creasingly intolerable, so the important question is "How
can the needed national and international transformations
be accomplished, with justice and fair compensation to all
concerned, and without bloodshed?"

Maladjustments in the spiritual realm. The writer believes that the
members of different civilizations have operated according
to one or the other of three differing religious points of view,

269

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

expressive of contrasting interpretations of how Divine
Revelations, reported to us by the Great Prophets, relate to
the practical affairs of everyday life. (With respect to this
matter is to be noted that no one of the three, religious
points of view, as thus far interpreted, has as yet provided
a generally-satisfactory and workable correlation between
revealed Creative Purpose and the practical direction of daily
human activities.)

For some of the Great Religions have been primarily
quietist and contemplative and many of the peoples who
have held those faiths are in danger of perishing, as of the
present, because under this type of spiritual approach to
Earthly problems the peoples concerned have been left
inadequately supplied with even the absolute minima of
food and other material necessities needed to support
existing populations - whereas the populations are still
growing - and the "surplus" people have now refused to
continue to solve their problem by merely dying quietly.

The adherents of another Great Religion have lived
constantly in the Presence - and the members of this Faith
were not only at one time a Great Political Power but were
also, educationally speaking "The Light of the World" - at
least in so far as the Occident was concerned. But then they
lost the spark of scientific inquiry; their educational systems
became formal and static; and "education," apparently
became regarded as a process of learning by rote Truths
which had been inherited from centuries past - without
effective appreciation of the fact that change goes on
constantly, and that education should prepare the
oncoming generations to use their minds, and their imagi-
nations, to meet new conditions and solve new problems -
but without forgetting that it is Man's duty to serve God.

Crisis likewise prevails among the allegedly "Christian"
Occidental peoples, because they have, in the main, not
regarded Christianity as a Religion - to practice at all times and
live by, but rather as a salve for troubled consciences and as a

270

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

means for escaping punishments (in a Next World) which
have been more than earned by improper and inhuman
conduct in this one.

Past Occidental economic and political actions have
seldom been guided by ethical or religious considerations -
up to about 30 years ago - and normally have been guided by
secular attitudes and by exclusively worldly and ' 'practical"
considerations. Consequently, under these conditions con-
flicts of selfish interest have been frequent and acute in the
international area and a complex of world-crises has been
built up, by long-continued Occidental provocations. (For it
is only recently and, as yet a limited degree, that conscience
and religious motivation have - belatedly - begun to have
significant impact upon Occidental affairs, and have begun
to create a genuine, though as yet embryonic "soul" within
the gigantic mass of secular western materialism.)

If the foregoing opinions are wellfounded, and the writer is
convinced that they are, then how can the World proceed
to aid The United Nations Organization to establish such a
"Unity of Difference" that the collective efforts of the World
can accomplish three things - without War:

1) Enable the needy to earn a decent living?

2) Make freedom obtainable by those who now are either
economically, industrially or politically unfree?

3) Enable the adherents of the World's various Religions
to prove the special merits of their particular Faiths - by
proper demonstrations of their desire - and ability - to be
of aid and comfort to their less-fortunate fellow beings?
For truly it is by their fruits that they shall be judged.

Anatomical Relationships and Physiological Functions of Civilizations -
and Derangements Which Have Been Induced by Foregoing Causes and

Maladjustments

The existing world-crisis has given rise to clearly-evident

271

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

symptoms of disease, symptoms which have arisen as natural
consequences of the several causes of illness just enumerated.
Our effort should be to relate, and analyze, these causes and
symptoms in such a way that we may be led to appropriate
prescriptions and to proper curative measures. But before we
can write suitable prescriptions and devise proper treatments

Level of Faith

SPIRITUAL and ETHICAL RESOURCES

"University" Level or
Level of Ideas

MENTAL RESOURCES

(INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE, CURIOSITY, CREATIVE IMAGINATION)

PUBLIC-WELFARE RESOURCES
GOVERNMENTAL LEVEL (GOVERNMENT. JUSTICE, POLICE PROTECTION, SCHOOLS,

POST OFFICE, DEFENSE, ETC.)

HOME- BUILDING LEVEL

Abundant, low-priced consumer goods depend upon willing
workers operoting Power -machinery provided with obundont fuels,
lubricants and raw materials

PROVEN
RESERVE
STORAGE

LEVEL

CO)

GE INDUSTRIAL &
HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS (SALT. SULPHUR, ELECTRONIC S PRECISION-

CLOTHING a rnnn A
TEXTILE FOOD ft

rmmiirn? ouiUUinu IC.AIIUC, CCDTII I7CDC IU/ITCD enoni ice

MATERIALS MATERIALS MATERIALS FERTILIZERS WATER-SUPPLIES

CHEMICAL- INDUSTRY
TERIALS (SALT. SULH
IE, FATS, OIL, ETC.)

MATERIALS FOR
ELECTRONIC 8 PRE
INSTRUMENT M'F'G.

UNDERGROUND
WATER - SUPPLIES

PRECIOUS METALS

(O)

TIN, ZINC, TUNGSTEN, MANGANESE, CHROMIUM

LEAD, COPPER VANADIUM. NICKEL, MOLYBDENUM, ETC.

IRON (a STEEL) | <

(FJT)
ENERGY

ENERGY- CONSERVERS
8

fCOAL WATER POWER WIND POWER URANIUM & THERMO-I
JOIL NATURAL STEAM OIL SHALE ... _, -. r-n/-v, '
RESOURCES1.GAS SOLAR ENERGY TAR SANDS, ETC. NUCLEAR ENERGY^g | yEFFlCENCY- IMPROVERS

SPECIAL PURPOSE
METALS S MUNITION

LATENT & POTENTIAL
RESOURCES

Fig. 3 World Natural - Resources

272

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

we need to have clearly in mind the nature of the anatomical
structures and the nature of the physiological processes with
which we are called upon to deal. For beyond all reasonable
doubt various types of civilization do have characteristically
differing anatomical and physiological features and processes.

Two figures of speech are believed to be descriptive,
respectively, of the older Oriental and Occidental types of
civilization. Thus the ancient agricultural civilizations of the
East have been essentially tree-like in their morphology and
mode of growth. (See Figure 3). Whereas Western civilization
has been characterized by a mobility, a physiological circu-
latory system, and a stage-by-stage pattern of growth of the
sort which is made visibly evident by the life-processes of
the creature which we know as the Chambered Nautilus.
(See Figures 4 and 5).

Anatomically-speaking the material phases of the life of a
modern civilization proceed at Levels i to 5 of Figure 3 - the
activities taking place at these five levels corresponding to
those which occur in Nature in the root-zone, trunk, bark
and vascular system, reproductive system and bough-and-
leaf zone of a tree. Moreover, just as the life of a tree depends
not only upon the soil, but also upon the atmosphere within
which it grows and upon the life-giving light of the Sun, so
also the life of a civilization is similarly dependent upon
activities in the realm of the mind (Level 6 of Figure 3) and in
the realm of (Spiritual) Enlightenment and Faith at Level 7 of
Figure 3 - thus relating us to Cosmic Purpose and Trend. So
let us consider briefly the essential matters pertaining to the
anatomy and physiology of a simple civilization - as these
are diagrammed in Figure 3.

In detail the story to be gotten from Figure 3 is one of fairly
simple and fairly obvious interrelationships - for the safety of
a civilization depends upon wise and sound operation at the
"governmental level" (Level 5). But such operation at Level 5
depends upon the existence of an intelligent and reasonably
prosperous voting population living on the "Homebuilding

273

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

Level" (Level 4). And in order that there may be satisfactory
standards of living on Level 4 the operations on the "In-
dustrial Production Level" (Level 3) must go forward, with
general satisfaction to all so involved. Also, if farms and
factories are to operate satisfactorily at Level 3, it is necessary
that there be available, at reasonable prices, adequate supplies
of all of the essential fuels and fertilizers and ores and miner-
als, obtainable from the "Proven-Reserve Storage Level"
(Level 2). And to keep the reservoirs of proven-resource
reserves on Level 2 from running dry (which would induce a
collapse of civilization) it is imperative that adequate ex-
ploratory and research-and-development work be arranged
for and be carried on at the "Potential and Undiscovered
Resource Level" (Level i). Which interestingly enough, brings
us back again to Level 5 - because adequate discoveries of new
essential-resource supplies will continue if, and as long as,
the operations of industry, on a basis of fair competition, is
guaranteed by impartial enforcement of Justice under Law -
a condition which prevails where a "Government of the
People, by the People and for the People" makes the laws,
and provides for law enforcement. For under popular self-
government the citizens try to pass just laws - such as assure
each individual and eachgrowp of citizen-workers (or "compa-
ny") of a fair opportunity to use individual imagination,
individual skill and individual energies on a basis of fair
competition, - so that the greatest rewards will go to those
who have earned and deserved most - by rendering greatest
service to society.

In countries where "Fair Competition" is thus encouraged
(and enforced) new and better ways of doing things are
continually being invented within the Realm of Mind, which
is situated at Level 6 of the foregoing diagram. Such invention
can take place because it is true that "to the .Free Mind all
things are possible" - and it is true that "Pioneer Research is
the key which can unlock those greatest energy-resources
of all the God-given powers of the human individual;

274

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

and the assembled and integrated powers and capacities of an
ideal modern civilization, a civilization which operates
under spiritual guidance (from Level 7) and therefore organ-
izes and directs its activities according to what is right and
reasonable - and according to "Justice under Law."

Changing our figure of speech now let us consider, first,
how the internal circulation proceeds, at any one time,
within the body of a Nautilus-like Western industrial (i.e.,
non-agricultural) type of civilization (see Fig. 5-A), and

/Educational Expenditures
//Public works, Highways, etc.

Tax Money Collected by j/
(National, State a Local)-*,
Government L \

.*&

Venture Capital -

Money for

Capital

Expenditure

on New ^

Factories

and

Equipment

Raw Materials
Sent to Factories

Raw -
Material
/Agricult.eh
^Mineral )

Exploration,

Develop-
ment

Production
Activities

"""" """""w^ Military Costs a ..-i,,,
| Debt Service ' *

-^s

**% Tax

*\S***

*| Goc

Vl-s

Money paid out
jovernment for
ds ond Services

ey paid by
sumers for goods
and services

^ r*

NATIONAL GENERATING STATION

Generated Energy =
combined purchasing power
available from the General
Public, Industry and
Government

11 CONSUMPTION AND USE

Use
of M'f'd
Goods

Utility
Service
by
Public
at
Large

Manufacturing
Material or Transformation
Activities converting Raw
Materials into Usable
Products

/A|.. Consumer Goods
^f ond Utility Services

CONVERSION

Figure A Functional Relationships and Flows of Goods and Capital Characteristic
of an Autarchic or Wholly - Independent (National or Regional) Economy

second, how the continuing growth of the creature re-
currently forces an almost complete reconstruction of its
bodily mass within a new and larger living-chamber, coupled
with an almost complete re-development of the creature's

275

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

circulatory system - these changes being forced partly by the
mere increase of bodily mass, and even more particularly
because changes in the animal's metabolism call for (steadily
increasing) supplies of a constant growing variety of vital
nutrient substances (see Level 2 of Figure 3) - and this in a
world in which vital natural-resources are of very unequal
and irregular geographic occurrence.

Within a wholly self-contained, and therefore independent
or "autarchic" political-and-economic circulatory system,
such as is shown in Figure 4, human need or "consumer
demand" can generate an adequate equivalent supply,
providing:

1) That the economy can operate under conditions which
assure the creature's capacity for self-defense;

2) That the animal's new living-space is of large enough
geographic size to include adequate sources of all es-
sential nutrients - both old and new - which are currently
indispensable to the creature's continued growth. And
also providing that this living space is large enough to
include all necessary capacities for the manufacturing,
distribution and marketing of consumer goods, and for
the generation of adequate "venture" and constructional
capital and of adequate tax revenues. And

3) That the animal can develop under conditions such that
its bodily growth (i.e., population increase) will proceed
in reasonable balance with the rates of increase of available
supplies of energy; and of raw materials; of manufacturing
capacity, and of available scientific, technologic and engi-
neering capacities.

However, because healthy life does induce healthy growth,
an industrialized civilization, like a Nautilus, does gradually
outgrow its former living-chamber, and so, in time it must
again re-develop itself within new and yet larger living-
spaces. To meet this kind of need - for a recurrent re-de-
velopment of its body and of an (unimpeded") circulatory
system -the Nautilus continuously builds its (political) shell

276

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

FIGURE 5-A

DIAGRAM SHOWING GROWTH STAGES

IN DEVELOPMENT OF A NAUTILOID CIVILIZATION

forward - in order to be prepared to house its growing bulk
(See Figure 5-A). Then, in order to maintain the structural
strength of its shell, it inserts new cross-septa from time to
time, whereupon it must, each time, move almost the whole
of its body out of its former living chamber and into the new
and larger one just created. Human cultures and social
organizations have grown in like manner and have
undergone recurrent political re-developments and inte-
grations, as per the Stages shown in the Table opposite
Figure 5-B. In terms of the Stages listed in this Table Western
industrial civilization has outgrown both Stage 7, the 'sover-
eign-state" Stage and also the (composite) ''national 3 ' Stage
(Stage 8) and should, ere this, have proceeded to the ninth
Stage - that of Regional Economic Union - moving all the
while toward the Tenth, and ultimate Stage, wherein the
present United Nations Organization can (and will) become
an effective World-Economic Union, created through a
voluntary (Constitutional) union of Regional Constitutional
Federations.

Man's cultural and social development has followed a
forward-and-upward trend, as is shown by both Figures i and
5-B. Growth taking place (according to this trend) has
naturally called for a corresponding and continuous en-

277

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

Figure 5-B Diagramatic Representation of Growth Stages of Nautilus
(of Figure 5-A) Plus Diagram Indicating Relation of
Economic and Political Development to Rise in Man's
Social and Cultural Status.

Direction of Man's (Rising) Social and
Cultural Development

Direction of
Political Growth

Direction of Economic Development

278

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

Stage

Characteristic
(Most Advanced)
Organizational
Form of Human
Society

Characteristic
Type of Culture

Type of Political

Structure

Type (or Title)
of Leader

Characteristic
Pattern of Economic

Activity

Human individual

Brute

None

Human Family

Semi-Brute

Embryonic

Head-of-Family

Hunting and

Scavenging

Clan

Old Stone Age

Patriarchal

Hunting, Herding,

Handicraft Work

& Barter

Tribe

New Stone Age

Tribal

Chief

Hunting, Herding,

Handicraft Work

& Barter

City-State

Barbarism

Local Despotism

Tyrant

Farming, Mining,

Primitive Handi-

craft Mfg. Ship

and Caravan

Trade

Lordly Domain

Embryonic Civili-

Feudal

Lord, Earl, Duke

Agriculture, Mining

(County)

zation

etc.

Guild Mfg.

Organized Trade

Princely (Sover-

Local Civilization

Absolute Monarchy

Prince

Agriculture, Special-

reign) State

ized Mfg. Organ-

ized Hemispheric

Trade

Nation

Regional

Constitutional

President, Prime

Power Mfg., -f (Im-

Monarchy, or

Minister, Pre-

perial) Colonial

! of Province

mier, etc.

Exploitation and

of Soviets

impoverishment

of States

of Raw Materials

Outdated

and Market Areas

Regional-

Constitutional

President

Rise of Constructive

Grouping of

World-

Regional

(Elected)

and Creative

Peoples

Civilization

Federation of Self-

(= Welfare) Capi-

Governing

talism, Strong

Nations

Unions, Machine-

Power Mass-Pro-

duction, and High

Standard of Living

World-Grouping

Constitutional

President

World-wide use of

of Peoples

Federation of

(Elected)

methods of Cre-

Self-Governing

ative (= Welfare)

Regional Feder-

Capitalism.

ations

Aboliton of Nation-

al or Regional

Military establish-

ments. Use of

revenues for the

raising and equal-

izing of living

standards.

279

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

largement of the supporting economic or material base,
upon which the growing civilization rests (Figure 5-B). And
this growth, as in the case of the Nautilus, recurrently makes
it necessary for the developing creature to move forward
into a new living-chamber - with the major difference that
the new living-space for the civilization is not produced by
a simple extension and enlargement of the old one, but is
produced by a fusion and welding together of the living-
chambers of a number of formerly separate and independent
creatures, (Such a fusion may take place temporarily and
abortively because of imperialistic pressures or may take place
properly and naturally through voluntary, constitutional,
economic and political federation.

Once the development of a genuine community of legiti-
mate self-interests has induced such an Economic Union as
that of the Benelux countries, then a new, unified bodily
circulation can develop as a replacement for the several,
previously-existing circulatory systems - this unification
being accomplished by a unification of currencies; by an
abolition of intra-union tariffs (with proper indemnification
to those injured by such abolition); by free intra-union
movement of persons; and by the creation of an adequate
and uniform intra-union system for proper legal contract-
enforcement.

Once we understand why such economic-and-political
integrations and transformations become necessary, re-
currently, as a civilization develops, then one main reason
for the existence of current world-tension becomes obvious.
For modern industrial civilizations simply cannot function,
successfully and prosperously, within the "sovereign-state"
or national boundaries of even the most extensive countries
(such as the Soviet Union, China, Brazil and the United
States) for the simple reason that no single nation national area can
now, alone, provide all of the essential natural resource
materials upon which modern life directly depends. Either
(voluntary) union or (involuntary) imperial combination

280

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE. FUTURE OF MAN

has been made inevitable by modern scientific, technologic
and engineering developments - and that the imperial
method is both wrong and self-defeating should, by now,
have become axiomatic. Pending the improvement and
equalization of regional living-standards, voluntary eco-
nomic and political federations can be developed suc-
cessfully on a regional basis only - though as soon as "popu-
lation pressures" on the opposite sides of regional govern-
mental boundaries (see Figure 2) have been equalized, then
these boundaries can be, in effect, wiped out, and an Eco-
nomic World-Union (and economic circulation) will become
possible, as well as necessary.

A DIAGNOSIS OF THE CURRENT WORLD-MALADY

To diagnose the existing world-malady one must really make
three sets of diagnoses, relating, respectively, to the material,
mental and spiritual phases of the total problem. These may
be stated, in turn, as follows :

" -Diagnoses relating to material and natural-resource problems: Three
principal causes of social illness exist in this "area:"

1) Human populations continue to c^tgrow their material
means of support, partly because u^^^inced applications
of Biological and Medical Science provided means
for reducing human death-rates without having dis-
covered and made available proper and equally effective
methods for keeping birthrates at a materially-supportable
level.

2) The standards-of-living in the various world-regions are
very unequal and are, in general, very unsatisfactory - due
partly to the too rapid increase of populations.

3) The scientific, technologic and engineering exploratory
capacities, now available as factors capable of offsetting

281

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

mineral-resource depletion, are almost unknown in many
parts of the world and have nowhere been adequately
developed and employed.

Diagnoses relating to the world's mental and intellectual-resource
problems.

4) Human economies have long since outgrown national
boundaries, despite which the needed, corrollary, politi-
cal growths (by voluntary unions and integration) have
not taken place, except within the Benelux and, in a
preliminary way, in India. Elsewhere either disintegration
rather than integration has taken place - or efforts have
been made to solve the problem by a re-employment of
the old Imperial Great Power-plus-(colony or)-satellite
pattern.

5) There has not yet been a proper development of Regional
Constitution Federations at Stage 9 of Figure 5-B such
as are permissible under The United Nations Charter.
Consequently it has not yet been possible to compell a
substitution of Fair Competition Capitalism for old-style,
exploitationist Monopoly Capitalism (either privately-
owned or State-owned).

6) As the World is now set up economically and politically,
Science and Engineering and Fair-Competition Industry
are not now able, and will not be able, to conduct the
mineral-resource explorations and developments which
must be carried out, if world standards of living are to
be either maintained or improved.

Diagnoses relating to the World's spiritual problems:

7) A disunited World has refused to admit the validity of the
old proverb that "as ye sow so shall ye reap." But a
continuation of this attitude, within a world which has
been made one by technologic invention, can only mean
that a further employment of violent methods will lead
to renewed World War and to oblivion.

s) It is all too little realized that proper loyalty is indispens-

282

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

able to continued human survival. But unless there be
proper loyalty within the family; within the nation; and
within the Brotherhood of Man, then we shall have
proved our disloyalty to the Revelations of the Divine Will,
and we shall be like "the flower of the field" - "for the
wind shall pass over it, and the place thereof shall know
it no more."

9) The world, as yet, despite the existence of the United
Nations, has developed no sure means for controlling
Injustice and Tyranny. People still profess to believe that
Peace can be "won" by war. People still try to settle both
spiritual and political problems by force - despite the
validity of BURKE'S dictum "Force is objectionable. It
destroys that which it seeks to preserve." People still
refuse to admit to themselves that they who practice
injustice will surely reap injustice. People still seem to
believe that Freedom - both spiritual and political - can be
gained by a voluntary acceptance of spiritual slavery - and
of political and economic subjugation instead of being
earned by effort and suffering. For they have not, in
general, as yet accepted in practice that "Truth which
sets Man free."

SPECIFIC ACTIONS NEEDED FOR THE CURING OF
THE WORLD-MALADY

Certain specific actions are needed if the diagnoses of the
world-ills, just made, are to form the basis for proper pre-
scription and for proper treatment. The paragraphs to follow
will therefore suggest how these several diagnoses can (it is
hoped) lead to effective cure, through particular action.

Problem (i). The problem of population increase: The world's
populations, for the most part, have been reproducing
practically up to the limits of their biological potentials.

283

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

Besides which the praiseworthy efforts of Biological and
Medical Science to save human lives have contributed
notably to the production of a situation in which human
numbers are increasing more rapidly than are the available
material resources upon which the support of human life
depends. It therefore seems to be the clear responsibility of
Biological and Medical research workers to learn more about
the natural laws which relate particularly to the biological
factors involved in the process of human reproduction - for
there seems to be no reason to doubt that answers can be
had to the "population problem 55 - which are not only right
and proper but also effective. For proper answers must
either be thus provided - or improper ones will be had,
through the further use of mass-genocide.

Problem (2). The problem of unequal regional standards of living. The
problem of unequal regional standards of living can be solved
- if the problem of <?ver~rapid growth of population can be
properly solved. And to show how and why this can be true
let us again consider Figure 2.

As Figure 2 shows, almost half of the world's people now
live at barest subsistence levels - a condition which grows
ever more critical as populations continue to increase faster
than do supporting material resources. But if one considers
the relationships shown by Figure 2 - in the light of scien-
tific understanding and engineering experience - then a
solution of the problem presents itself. So in order that the
nature of this solution may become clear let us consider
Figure 2 again in the light of four postulates, which run as
follows:

1) That the all-inclusive, rectangular outline of Figure 2
corresponds to the outline of a box-like Ark, and that all
of the World's people are aboard this Ark.

2) That the members of particular nations or groups of
nations have all gathered together in particular parts of
the Ark's hold - with each person being allocated an

284

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

equal amount of floor-space (with the result that such
"national areas" are proportional to the size of national
populations).

3) That the national floor areas, so occupied, have been
walled about by vertical bulkheads, such as subdivide the
hold of an ocean-going ship, and that these bulkheads
have been fitted with watertight doors, such as can be
closed tightly, or can be left partly or wholly open, at
option. And

4) That the populations within the several compartments,
thus established, are, figuratively, living upon the surfaces
of rafts which are floating at different levels, as shown in
Figure 2 - according to the relative per capita productive
capacities (or standards of living) prevailing within the
several compartments.

With reference to the disparities between national living
standards, indicated by Figure 2, various well-intentioned
persons have proposed that the world's ills be cured by
generous action on the part of the more prosperous nations -
so that the needy peoples can be cared for out of the
abundance of the less needy. This should of course be done,
in so far as it is practicable, but a single glance at Figure 2
shows how completely inadequate, volumetrically speaking,
such proposals are. For if all of the bulkhead doors were
opened wide, simultaneously, a consequent sudden read-
justment and equalization of levels would occur - with
catastrophic declines of standards of living taking place in
all high-standard countries, but without more than minor
and ephemeral improvements of living conditions in the
other, larger, areas occupied by the more impoverished
populations. And the word "ephemeral" has been used
advisedly, for under present mores and patterns of thinking
such temporary ameliorations of living conditions as would
occur within the low-standard countries would be almost
immediately cancelled by an almost explosive growth of
populations within those countries. So that within a short

285

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

time the same tragic poverties would again be prevalent -
only they would be suffered by many, many more people.
One basic problem of Man is, then, to devise a way by which
living standards can be raised, differentially, until all have
become substantially equal, whereupon all bulkhead doors
can be opened wide without causing any serious disturbance
of equilibrium in any quarter. From what has just been said,
it is obvious that the problems flowing from present un-
equalities in standards of living cannot be solved or resolved
by mere charity, or by the use of mere arithmetical sub-
traction and addition. But they can be solved by an intelli-
gent and constructive use of the "technologic processes of
multiplication." And this is where Science and Engineering
and Technology can provide the answers needed.

For the rafts supporting the populations within the several
compartments are not held up by water but are supported by
a mobile material of a very different nature - a material
which is essentially like brea^-dough. Furthermore, if we
review, mentally, how the bread-making process proceeds,
we shall see the answer to our problem. For we will recall
that flour and salt are mixed with a liquid (with nothing
more than a mere addition of volumes) and then yeast is
added and is given time to leaven the lump of dough - with
the result that the volume of the dough increases and
increases until the bread is ready to be baked (and eaten).
And so it is in the international process. In order to keep the
raft-borne populations supported, new supplies of "dough"
must be continuously developed beneath the rafts, as the
finished product is drawn off and used. And in the inter-
national dough-making process the "flour" is composed of a
suitable blend of all the many essential-resource materials
which have been listed at Level 2 of Figure 3. Whereas the
liquid to be added consists of "liquid capital" or, in other
words, of the machines, the manufacturing plants and the
agricultural, mining, constructional and transportational
equipment required for modern industrial production. And

286

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

the 'yeast" is made up of scientific knowledge, of technologic
methods and appliances, and of engineering planning,
administration and "knowhow." Moreover this yeast of
civilization, like the yeast familiar to breadmakers, can, if
wisely handled, be shared practically without limit - without
causing decrease in the supplies which remain available to
the donor. So the three practical problems remaining to be
solved, if world standards of living are to be improved and
equalized, relate to the reduction of human birthrates; to the
availability of adequate supplies of suitable natural-resource
"flour"; and to the availability of adequate volumes of
productive liquid capital. Solution of the first of these three
problems must rest with the workers in Biological and
Medical Science. The second problem can be solved through
cooperative action within regional groupings of nations
which, among them, possess adequate sources from which
to draw a full suite of essential-resource materials. And the
third can be cared for either by a direct barter of surplus
natural-resource raw material for needed capital-equipment,
or by means of loans obtained from or through the World
Bank - with the assistance of one or the other of the agencies
of the United Nations Organization.

Problem (3). The problem of the exhaustibility of essential natural
resources. Human thought, and public policy, relative to the
development of essential natural resources, have been, and
are being, continually de-railed by the general incompleteness
of human understandings of the world's natural-resource
problem. For non-scientists and non-engineers have definitely
failed to appreciate that we are here dealing with Time,
Space and Energy problems to which "relativity-theory"
definitely applies. Or, stated in another way, they have
failed to appreciate the validity of a thought expressed by an
eminent scientist (who is also a great industrial executive)
who wrote, substantially, as follows: "Creative imagination,
controlled and applied is the wand which can reveal the

287

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

GEOLOGICAL ENGINEERING

AND
OTHER ENGINEERING

AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

t - *

t t

1 1

CHEMICAL

METAL-

CIVIL ENGINEERS

LURGICAL

ENGINEERING

ENGINEER

INIfi

Develope

Design Construct Buildings, -Bridges, Dams,

f t

Tunnels, Reservoirs, Highways, e

re.

PETROLEUM

MINING

and

ENGINEERS

Produce

1 J2 2

Develope and Produce Dev
Discovered

elope and Produce
Discovered

Discovered

| | yrs 1 1

I 1

_^ f^TT&^'X ^

X <

OIL a GAS OR

nnmiirnimra |

E a MINERAL

1 """^
UNDERGROUND

l^^^W^^^y^^^

KY^vY BED ROCK Y.Y^Y.Y.Y.', .

DEPOSITS

WATER

SURFACE

ENGINEERING EVALUATION OF

GEOLOGY

[

and

1 i

BEDROCK

GEOLOGICAL ENGINEERS tUPIan large scale, low cost exploratory programs.

GEOLOGY

(z] Use geophysical

and geological methods and instruments;

To discover hidden natural-resource deposits,

To map concealed bed rock surfaces and conditions.

(31 Carry forward basic research regarding geometry,

mechanics~of-origin and patterns-of-occurrence of

commercially significant crustal structures in order

that improvement of discovery methods may more than

offset increasing costs and hazard of natural -resource

exploration.

Figure 6

invisible; transform the useless into the useful; waste into
raw material of great value; exhaustible resources into
inexhaustible resources." For if the capacities of Exploratory
Engineers (see Figure 6) to discover new deposits (of many
degrees of richness) continue to be increased progressively,
by new advances in geo-exploratory science and technology,

288

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

then other engineers, employing newer and better methods
and equipment, can produce and transform mineral raw
materials more and more cheaply; thus converting larger
and larger lower-grade deposits from submarginal to com-
mercially-valuable resources. Wherefore, even though each
single deposit will be exhaustible - ultimately - yet the totals of
the deposits presently available will continue to increase, as
more and cheaper energy becomes available (from intra-
atomic and thermo-nuclear sources) as Technology advances.
If one assumes, as the writer does, that the unlimited
energies of thermo-nuclear fusion can soon be made con-
trollable and usable for constructive purposes, then Man
should never lack for the material necessities of Life, provided
that his planning for the Future is done cooperatively; on an
engineering (and "engineered") basis; and according to what
is kind, what is proper and what is reasonable. For providing
that a suitable growth-rate can, indeed, be maintained by
Exploratory Engineering (Figure 6) within the "root-zone"
of civilization (Level i of Figure 3) then the activities postu-
lated for Levels 2, 3, 4 and 5 of Figure 3 can proceed in a
satisfactory manner. And proper developments can be assured
at Level i of Figure 3 if suitable intellectual and spiritual
guidance can be had from Levels 6 and 7 of Figure 3. So now
let us turn to:

Problems 4, 5 and 6: the problems of proper and effective international
integration in the economic and political realms. The essence of these
problems can be summed up in one single question "How
can human knowledge, intelligence and experience be so
employed as to provide Man with the practical means for
"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?" And the answer
is believed to be "through that guidance of constructive
engineering activities which can be provided by the combined
advice of the several scholarly and professional groupings
which, added together, constitute "a university" in the full
sense of the term. (See Diagram i).

289

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

As Diagram i indicates, Religion, History and the other
Humanistic subjects can provide understandings regarding
those basic human aspirations and motivations which have
led to the growth of human cultures and to the rise of many
civilizations. Likewise the Social Sciences can demonstrate,
and are demonstrating, the nature of the economic and
political procedures which have been found to be successfully
applicable to the short-term hour-by-hour and day-by-day
direction and management of business and government. So,
also the Natural Sciences, in general, can give advance
warnings, when newly-made (or impending) scientific
discoveries are about to alter the whole course of history (as

DIAGRAM i

A University includes

Religion
History
Philosophy
Other Humanities

Psychology
Social Sciences and
Law
Geography

! Which
provide

Which
| provide

Biological and
Medical Science
Earth Sciences
Natural Science and
Mathematics

Which
provide

Insights into Man's
spiritual nature and
moral and social re-
sponsibilities

and

Into basic human mo-
tivations - and normal
responses thereto.

Insights into the ob-
jectives, methods and
patterns of short-term,
constructive, social and
political action.

Insights into the basic
principles of Natural
Law; Into the world-
geography of essential
natural-resource oc-
currence; Into the pro-
spective and long-term
human significance of
recent scientific dis-
coveries; and into the
probability of yet
further revolutionary
scientific discovery and
invention.

Engineering
Which employs that
combination of Art,
Technology and Scien-
ce, under guidance
contributed by all
other University
scholarly and pro-
fessional groupings,
whereby creative im-
agination, natural re-
sources, human ca-
pacities, and intel-
lectual and spiritual
wisdom can be so inte-
grated and supported
as to serve con-
structively, the needs
and worthy purposes
of Mankind.

290

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

is happening today, through the discovery of the feasibility
of obtaining prodigious energies from atomic fission and
thermo-nuclear fusion). In other words the Natural Sciences
can, in relation to the long-term problems of civilization,
function as do the headlights of an automobile, being driven
at high speed, along an unfamiliar road, and after nightfall.
For they can tell us, well in advance, that drastic changes in
policy-direction must be planned (and prepared) for, if a fatal
crash is to be avoided. And, lastly, the Earth Sciences can
contribute, in a similarly constructive fashion, to the ad-
vance shaping of national and international policy - for they
can tell us how the irregularity in world-occurrence of
essential mineral-resource deposits (see Figure i, Level 2) will,
perforce, limit and control the inter-relations between
nations and national groupings, when economic survival
and military security are at stake. For it is only on the basis of
such adequate advice (from a whole "university") - as to
objectives, methods and limiting circumstances that Engi-
neering can so build - effectively and expeditiously - that
human beings may be able to earn their right to survive. And
that Civilization may be able to continue to advance - in all
three of the realms in which Humanity lives - these three
being, respectively, material, intellectual and spiritual.

What, then, does "university-type" knowledge and ex-
perience tell us about the steps which should, and should
not be, taken - if we are to be able to relieve worldtensions,
and are to give rise to an orderly, just, peaceful and satis-
factory world? The answers needed can, it is believed, be
gotten from Figure 7.

Figure 7 tells us, among other things, that the use of
monopoly and of (imperialist) exploitation - at any level and
under any circumstances - is self-defeating - though it is,
temporarily, advantageous to the strong. Whereas the hopes
of all Humanity can be realized, in the ultimate, only by the
conversion of the United Nations Organization into a World
Economic Union and then into a (voluntarily-formed)

291

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

s 1 s

b J

1 "imperio

S Njotion'

. s

1 GP

_ _ _ _ i_

1 *

L 1

N A

NA i

Imperial

-1

Notion

N A

|\|A - -

1 *

Fig. 7.

1. A Princely State, or Local Kingdom, or "Sovereign State."

2. A Nation, or United Kingdom, or Union of "Sovereign States" formed for
mutual Economic and Security Advantage.

$. Developed Empires, consisting of a Great Power Nation (= GP), surrounded by
forcibly-held "Satellites" or "Colonial Areas" (= S).

4. A partly disintegrated Empire, plus (economically non-viable and theoretically)
"Independent Nations" or "Sovereign States."

5. (Now Needed) Regional Economic Unions, including both "National Areas"
(== NA), already Selfgoverning, and also "Territorial Areas" (= T), which are
being assisted to improve their living-standards, while they are preparing them-
selves for local self-government, within the framework of the larger "Economic
Union."

Constitutional Federation of Self-governing Peoples - a
Federation which will be capable of assuring and enforcing
Peace, and also "}ustice-under-Law" - on a world-wide basis.
In reaching this ultimate situation certain preliminary
steps must be taken by the "colonial" peoples, and by the
citizens of "princely" or "sovereign" states. For if the legiti-
mate desires of such peoples (for national self-government)
are to be realized then they must be realized in a fair and
reasonable manner, and in a fashion which not only provides
for their automony (or "independence") in the management
of their internal (national) affairs -but also solves the problems

292

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

arising from wider vital natural-resource interdependences -
through voluntary (regional) Economic Union with other,
similar, governments - all powers being reserved to the
national governments which have not been specifically
granted to the Region Grouping concerned by the terms of
its Constitution, or Charter, as ratified. That such double
objectives can be satisfactorily and effectively realized has been
recently demonstrated by the peoples of Belgium, The
Netherlands and Luxembourg, who have retained their
national governments but have done so under a now supra-
national Economic Union, whereby the three economic
circulations involved (see Figure 4) have been fused into a
single economic circulation, with the result that their com-
bined domestic trade has been trebled in ten years, and their
foreign trade has been doubled. Because of the success of the
Benelux experiment a larger Economic (and political) Union
is now in the making, including West Germany, France and
Italy, in addition to the Benelux countries.

This process of federation (for mutual benefit) has, of
course, been used in India and is now in progress in Africa
and in the Near and Middle East and elsewhere, and should
proceed until the vital natural-resource requirements of all
nations have been safely provided for, through the establish-
ment of about five or six (voluntary) Regional Unions or
Groupings - as is permissible under The United Nations
Charter. Within such regional unions the several national
currencies concerned would be replaced by a single currency;
the same system of law and j ustice would apply throughout the
region; and all intra-regional tariffs would be abolished (with
fair indemnification to those injured by such abrogation).

That seeming economic miracles can be brought about by-
such unions has already been proven by the Benelux Eco-
nomic Union experiment. For under such a union, properly
developed:

i) Tax-rates can be greatly reduced, even while annual
taxyields are being simultaneously increased ;

293

TAYLOR THOM, JR.

Fig. 8. Map showing nuclei of Prospective Regional "Economic Union" Govern-
ments. As defined by geologic (and geographic) occurrence of essential natural-
resource materials.

2) Because, under such unions Annual incomes from goods
and services rapidly become doubled and trebled;

3) Raw material production, manufacturing and marketing
can be carried forward with confidence; with increasing
employment; and with increased earnings in all quarters -
due to the absense of currency, tariff and legal uncertain-
ties and obstacles. And

4) Adequate volumes of both venture and developmental
capital can be generated - both for internal purposes and
needs and for sound foreign loans - these latter to be
made, presumably, through United Nation agencies.

With suitable and natural integrations of inter-regional
activities (to be accomplished through the UNO), the
enormous sums now being tragically diverted to only

294

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

partly-productive (military) purposes could be used for the
improvement of world living-conditions. They could also be
used for education; for the construction of urgently-needed
highway systems; for the enlargement of water-supply and
irrigation systems ; and for a variety of other public- works
and community purposes.

One more matter, fraught with utmost immediate im-
portance, needs to be considered now - a matter which has to
do with devising of proper arrangements for ending the
Cold War - before it has plunged us into World War III. In
this connection we need to realize that existing (vital) natural-
resource inter-dependencies will continue to make necessary
a regional economic-and-governmental grouping of the Cen-
tral European and Soviet peoples, even if the Soviets grant
these peoples full selfgovernment subject to the condition
that they do continue on as member-nations within a Re-
gional Economic Union, patterned on the Benelux Union

295

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

Let us also realize that the Soviet leaders are almost
certainly unaware of the fact that the recent enormous
industrial progress of the United States has been the result of a
progressive development (within the United States) of "Fair-
Competition Industry" and of "Welfare Capitalism/' which
are exact opposites of the kind of monopoly, or cartel or
imperialist-exploitationist capitalism which was known to
KARL MARX and which has been so familiar to so many
European peoples - to their sorrow. Furthermore let us
realize that it will certainly be impossible for the Soviet
leaders to believe in the sincerity, honesty and peaceful intent
of the United States, so long as "foreign aid/' granted by the
United States for the promotion of common safety, is
continuously, flagrantly, dishonestly and cynically employed
by some beneficiaries, who seek to continue to impose upon
their colonial peoples a denial of rights to autonomy in local
governmental affairs which we, the people of the United
States, also fought to gain - in the course of our own Re-
volution.

Perhaps the several misunderstandings and uncertainties
involved could be most easily removed if responsible Soviet
leaders could come to America as guests of American Labor -
in order that they might both satisfy themselves as to our
peaceful intentions and might also come to see that the
legitimate self-interests of the Soviet peoples, and of all
peoples, could be better solved by a peaceful "competitive
cooperation" or "cooperative competition," rather than by
mutual extermination, through a new World War.

The people of Japan, of China, of "Southeast Asia," of
India, of the Muslim world, of Germany, of the USSR, of
Britain, of Brazil, of North America, and of many lands, - all
are capable of making uniquely-important contributions to
the progress and welfare of the world. So let us at least
tentatively give the Soviet leaders credit for being sincerely
interested in the promotion of the welfare of the Common
Man - and in bringing local self-government, coupled with

296

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

Region Union, to the world's colonial peoples. And let us
hope, too, that we can convince the Soviet peoples that we
are similarly interested. For the only hope of human survival
lies in that direction.

In saying this the writer is not proposing that broad
assertions or unsupported assumptions be taken at face
value by anyone. For if we pause to think we shall realize that
the world's peoples are not stupid, and that if professions of
peaceful intention are but transparent cloaks for new or old
imperialisms, then the whole world will soon recognize
that fact and will unite solidly against such imperialism (or
imperialisms). What we need now is a focussing of attention
upon the constructive steps which need to be taken for the
benefit of all peoples. The actions about to be taken in the
UN Assembly will plainly show which governments really
are in favor of Peace and human progress, and which, if any,
are old-fashioned "wolves in sheep's clothing."

SUMMARY

Dedicated scientific search for Truth has led Man from
knowledge to understanding and may, by now, even be
leading him from understanding to wisdom. For thanks to
scientific search and discovery four things have become clear.

First. Astronomy has shown that the Heavenly bodies have
been moving forward through infinite Space in orderly
fashion during eons and eons of Time.

Second. Nuclear physics, and the study of decay-rates of
radio-active minerals, have now also shown that the Time-
Dimension in the History of the Earth is measurable in
billions of years.

Third. Geological and geophysical studies (of Earth Pro-
cesses and of Earth History) now give us quantitatively-
correct perspectives upon the history of development of Life,
and of Man, upon the Earth - thereby transforming con-
ventional "History 3 'from a factual and descriptive narrative

297

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

into a study which has profound human significance and
scientific importance.

Fourth. Scientific studies, in total, show that the whole of
the Universe has, since the Beginning, moved forward in
orderly fashion toward the ultimate fulfillment of the
Creator's underlying Plan and Purpose. And therefore Man,
being spiritually perceptive of this fact, has possessed (and
does possess) an innate ability to distinguish between that
which is properly progressive and accordant with the Trend
of Universal Motion, and that which is retrogressive and
directed counter to the Creator's Cosmic Intention. Or, as
the matter has usually been stated, "Man possesses an innate
ability to discriminate between that which is (properly Pro-
gressive or) "Good" and that which is (retrogressive or) "Evil."

Adding these conclusions together it can be stated that
Science has now provided essentially correct "Space" and
"Time" perspectives upon World-History. And geographic
and geologic studies now can tell us about the environmen-
tal conditions (and environmental changes) which have led
to the rise, and to the decline, of past civilizations - thereby
making it possible for us to gain understandings regarding
the anatomical structure and physiological processes which
have been characteristic of those invisible organisms which
we term "civilizations." Moreover it is now similarly possible
for us to distinguish between three types of civilizations.
Some have been rooted and tree-like in their form and
manner of growth. Others have been mobile and animal-
like in their nature and have lived according to the "Law of
the Jungle" - with the physically stronger dominating and
preying upon the weaker. And a third type of civilization
(still embryonic, rather than fully formed) is one which is
essentially "human" in its attributes, possessing not only
intelligence but a sense of social responsibility and a "sense of
Right and Wrong." This latter type of civilization, in its
developing form, resembles a great river, wherein waters
from many sources will gather, successively, to form rills,

298

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - AND THE FUTURE OF MAN

and streams and larger tributaries - until they all ultimately
join and mingle, as they move harmoniously toward that
Infinite Ocean in which the Creator has set Man's Destiny.

CONCLUSION

The World of Man, as it has existed, up until the present, is
dying. Moreover its death may come suddenly, as the result
of human {savagery, selfishness and willfulness - since atomic
and thermo-nuclear weapons now make it possible for a
modern Samson to destroy himself and all people, by
starting a Third World War. Several dictators have stated
repeatedly that according to their gospel a Third World War
is necessary and inevitable. And that such a war Mill, conse-
quently, happen soon, is probable rather than being merely
possible.

But however that may be, a new kind of civilization is
struggling to be born - a civilization which, if born, will be
vastly different from all of those which have gone before it.
For if and when it has been safely born we shall have entered a
world which is animated by a Psychology of Cooperation and
of Peace - differing thereby exactly from the older civilizations
which have been ruled by a Psychology of Monopolistic
Imperialism, Violence and Oppression, and War. Man's fate
will, of necessity, soon be sealed by his own conscious choice
and by his own decisive action - a choice arrived at within
and proclaimed through, the Assembly of the United Nations
Organization. For this Assembly represents the collective will
and conscience of all Humanity.

If, in making their fateful decisions, the delegates to the
United Nations are merely guided by "the backward look" -
and by the many bitter hatreds which have been bred by past
oppressions and injustices -then, indeed, the World of Man
will perish amid flames, as did Sodom and Gomorrah and the
"Cities of the Plain."But if, on the other hand, these delegates

299

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR.

feel that they are trustees responsible for the safety, and
heritage, of all of the "World's children - the children of Today
and of Tomorrow - then they can, through wise, proper
and generous decision, make it possible for Science and Engi-
neering to transform the world - so that "all things needful' >
can, indeed, be provided for the Future of Man. The choice
will be between Cooperation and Contention; between
Justice and Injustice; between Good and Evil; between Peace
and War; and between Life and Death. But if the final and
fatal choice is, indeed, guided by smallness of spirit, by stu-
pidity and by selfishness, then will the bodies of men, women
and children lie strewn amid ruins charred and blackened by
nuclear holocaust. The "handwriting is on the wall/ 5 where
all may read.

300

War or Peace - a Biological Problem

EUROPAEUS

What I am going to say here does not claim to be exact
science. It is a stringing together of thoughts, some of which
have, for their complexity, even not been quite thought out,
all of which, however, are meant to lead to one objective:
Better relations between the different groups of nations and
people, as the premise for content and peace within these
groups.

In part they are thoughts which will probably need decades
to mature, each within itself, or which demand the con-
current rethinking of many people who are at one with the
author. In these days, when the most terribles of all wars
are potentially a possibility, if not a probability, such a
rethinking by many people has already become reality, and
that is why these lines are written.

The suggestive force of the proverb which has brought
about so much murder on a national scale "Si vis pacem,
para bellum" - still retains its power. But slowly, the dawn of
a new comprehension is rising - the comprehension that the
problem "War or Peace" is basically a biological one, and
that it must be regarded as such if it is to be solved.

This comprehension is spreading not only in a small
circle, within the uppermost tops of science, but at long last
also among statesmen - and naturally first among the
greatest.

301

EUROPAEUS

For thousands of years this murderous proverb, in one
form or another has been hammered into the human brain,
and now we must begin to erase it or, better still, put another
in its place, as suggestive as the old one : Si vis pacem - para
pacem! And this problem is biological in nature, both
regarded from within and from without :

Both instincts and conscious volition pull in both directions, the negative
one towards war, and the positive one towards peace. But
only that conscious volition which leads in the negative
direction lies - at least for the greater part - outside the
problem seen biologically.

It is that most energetic volition which we find accompa-
nying business interests or power-political strivings of
individuals and groups everywhere. These strivings, however,
are from the first doomed to failure if they cannot gain
control over the three other fields - and these lie plumb in
the centre of biological science.

Both the negative instincts in man, to deny which would
merely mean closing one's eyes before the fact of disease, and
the positive instincts, but above all the congregated and ever
increasing conscious volition which makes use of the other
three fields in a planned manner so as to reach the goal in
the positive way - all these lie within the sphere of biology in
its wider meaning, comprising also psychology and sociolo-
gy; and it is of decisive importance that first of all the biolo-
gists themselves should be clear on this point.

Let us try and marshal these power groups against each
other.

The relevant negative instincts - a fact which in our day has
almost become universally acknowledged - can probably be
changed into positive instincts, and certainly into positive
achievements, by the right education both of children and
adults.

To take one example : We know how easy it is to change the
combative spirit by competition into the spirit of sport - and
also, as we readily concede, even more easily back again into

302

WAR OR PEACE -A BIOLOGICAL PROBLEM

the combative spirit. In the last analysis the creative instinct is
surely something very positive - and yet closely related to
the combative spirit. We can fight FOR something too, and
this combat can just as well be for something spiritual or
against something material, just as against other natural
resistance, without seeing your neighbour as your main
opponent.

What I see as far more difficult is the taming of the "Grup-
pen abwehr-Instinkt" (repelling group instinct), a phenomenon
seen with animals as well as with humans. With men it can
take the form of subconscious passive resistance or of
conscious active opposition against the foreign and strange
per se - with all grades in between these two extremes.
Trying to understand this instinct or urge, we shall find that
it belongs to the whole complex of instincts which have to
do with the preservation of the species.

This dangerous primitive instinct, far more dangerous than
the combative spirit, to which most distinguished men have
often become a prey, can in my opinion be tamed only if we
use all our powers of organizing and educating for the
purpose of changing the psychically foreign and strange into
something well known, and also to extend the natural
egocentric small group as far as its maximum up to the species
itself- that is all humanity.

In consequence of the unimaginable progress in technolo-
gy we stand today at the beginning of an era in which what
has so far been extremely foreign and strange can be brought
near very quickly both psychically and physically. In fact, the
beginnings of such an approach are already being made.

Airplane, Radio and cinema are already typical bearers of such an
international mission. An international language for the purpose
of international understanding should be the next step, to be
taken as soon as may be.

But the central guiding hand is still missing, especially as
regards the Radio and cinema. That air traffic will become a
network of international understanding and union among

303

EUROPAEUS

nations, with or without or even against the War Offices of
the different countries concerned, can be assumed with some
certainty already.

Possibly the airplane more than anything else makes the
existing political borders of states and groups of states be-
come more and more constricted. In the last analysis traffic
speed is the most important human standard for distance on
earth, just as the speed of light is for space.

Seen from this angle, even most of the dwarf states of the
Middle Ages were far larger than is today the whole of our
earth, for from one border to the other it took longer to
travel than today does flying to the antipodes.

The cinema, seen from our viewpoint, is still far behind the
airplane. In fact, it often instigates instincts leading in the
opposite direction to our conscious or unconscious goal.
And yet the screen might have extraordinary possibilities for
contributing to the vital goal, bringing the different groups of
people near to each other, making them appear less strange
one to the other. Here UNESCO has an immense field of
activity which may well be of decisive importance. Thus they
might, f.i. organize committees to investigate the educative
value of films, in order to connect positive ones with material
advantages and conversely, what is almost as important,
disadvantages for negative films.

The third unifying item, and perhaps the most important
in the fight against the repelling group instinct is a truly
international language. Here we touch on a sore point in the
history of mankind, a complex of questions which has ever
since prehistoric times occupied the best minds. The biblical
legend about the tower of Babel has lost nothing of its urgent
topicality in our days.

Different experiments have been made, partly with region-
al success, to make some existing and widespread language
into the international means of communication; in our
times, even artificial languages have been constructed for the
purpose. In Babylonian times, to take an ancient instance,

304

WAR OR PEACE -A BIOLOGICAL PROBLEM

Aramaic was such a unifying language for the whole of
Western Asia, Greek in Hellenistic times joined all the
educated of the Mediterranean world at the time when
actually the Romans were the Imperial Power; Latin became
an international language only because of the Vulgate (the
Latin version of the Bible of the 4th century) and remained
supreme all through the Middle Ages and Modern times, for
the European Cultural world, until the nineteenth century.

We have a similar development as Latin gained by means of
the Vulgate, becoming an international language, for
Arabic, which in consequence of the Koran united the
different Moslem peoples from the Atlantic Ocean to India.
A third example is the prevalence of German by means of
LUTHER'S translation of the Bible, for Central Europe. In
science and research Latin remained the predominent
language long after Louis XIV of France, when the inter-
national language of diplomacy and the upper crust of
society had become French.

With the splitting of science into national units, the chaos
in language began, actually becoming the strongest brake on
scientific development - in the second half of the nineteenth
century. It has only been since the Second World War that it
has become quite unbearable, in many cases ruinous. The
reason is that national consciousness as regards most Euro-
pean nations, on a scale unknown before, drove all other
considerations into the background. One consequence was
that there was a strong urge to put their own language in the
foreground even as regards science, often enough at the
price of publicity and sometimes even of comprehen-
sibility.

The so-called purificators of the German language who
might in one sense be called the precursors of the National-
Socialist movement, have found slavish imitators among
many nations. As this tendency towards isolation, often
enough an unconscious one, still exists in strong measure
today, and as it is a concealed and therefore all the more

305

EUROPAEUS

dangerous fact for humanity in general and for science
especially, I think a few remarks on the subject may not
come amiss.

There are endeavours at work with many peoples, aiming
at the replacement of words, even internationally and quite
regularly used words, by national expressions, often enough
even at the cost of achieving the correct shading which
alone makes for the wealth of a language.

We are here faced with an essential error. This error
consists in the widespread belief that by exchanging such a
"foreign word," which is in reality very well known, with a
new word in the national language, this own language is
being enriched. A language can be enriched only by widening
its scope of expression by new concepts or shadings of
concepts, but not by the purely phonetic exchange of one
word for another. Let us try and understand the real effect of
such an exchange quite clearly.

Actually, the result of such changes is merely that the
relevant language is not in the least enriched, but the nation
most essentially impoverished by having once more lost
part of a means of communication with other peoples - in
every case with the far, far greater part of humanity outside
the special narrow national limits.

Isolation is thus increased, and the natural repelling group
instinct is strengthened on both sides by this socalled "puri-
fication" of the language.

I think it right to express this once for all, even if it brings
the danger of being called an enemy by the diverse enthusi-
astic defenders of linguistic purity among diverse nations,
enthusiasts or fanatics who in every other respect may be
quite excellent men or women.

As such words as I refer to are generally known, the term
"foreign" word is wrong, they are in truth "loan-words" or
borrowed words, and this type of borrowing is probably the
only one in the world which brings substantial interest to
both giver and taker, loaner and borrower.

306

WAR OR PEACE -A BIOLOGICAL PROBLEM

It is to be hoped that humanity will find its way through all
these thickets to achieve a united and unifying language,
existing, at least in the beginning, beside the national
languages. It would indeed be an irreparable loss if the
countless specific concepts existing in the individual
languages, and which often enough are not even trans-
latable by circumlocution, should be lost.

But surely it is not too much to hope that such a second
unifying language, supported by the growing contact
between nations, should in time absorb the specific concepts
of the individual languages and use adequate expressions
for them, so that in the course of several or many generations
for all civilized peoples with a high cultural level this second
language may become the main one.

We have already seen such examples if only on a small
scale. The Scots and the English are two ethnically very
dilfferent peoples who have a common mothertongue,
certainly to the advantage of both. I do not believe that the
Scots think otherwise. That the original popular language
can go on being cherished, either from historical, sentimental
or whatever reasons, is proved by the Gaelic Speech Circles.

But what I wish to stress with all possible emphasis is that
the first and decisive step in this direction towards a common
language can and should originate with science. Every other
way is impassable.

Within biological science these endeavours have in the
last two decades led to quite concrete attempts. In the first
analysis they were not suggested by highflying and partly
still utopistic thoughts about the development of mankind,
the impulse for these attempts was and is the iron necessity,
increasing every day to face the terrible threat to the single
branches of science, inherent in their unlimited specialization.

The urge towards synthesis in the biological sciences, the
development of border sciences, and the urge towards a
uniform language are all parallel functions of the fear of
disaster, common to all far-seeing scientists. Today we have

307

EUROPAEUS

learned that each single branch of science can also be split
into its atoms - and this is the moment when we must do
everything in our power to learn how to build up a new and
better world by means of the vast forces at our disposal, for
the good of humankind, and taking the constructive path of
evolution.

The knowledge that only devoted common work towards
this goal gives any hope has already entered the minds of
very many scientists in great measure; that the most im-
portant tool for achieving this goal would be a common
language is clear to all - but here we have many obstacles in
our path still.

Let us try and tackle the ungrateful task of seeing this
complex of problems objectively.

What we need is not so much an international language as
a common intercontinental language. We have quite a
number of international languages, that is such as are being
spoken by different peoples (racially different peoples also) as
their mothertongue. English, German, Russian, Spanish are
some examples. On the other hand there are some conti-
nental languages which are the mothertongues of a very
much greater number of individuals than some of the
international languages just mentioned, such as Russian or
Chinese.

From the viewpoint of scientific publications English,
Russian, German and French probably head the list by far.

If we try and balance all the necessary viewpoints one
against the others objectively, we must approach the view
that just at this moment the time has come to introduce the
one language as a common international and inter-conti-
nental one which we are used to call English. (See the Note
at the end). The name is rather misleading, as the English
People form only a tiny minority among the peoples
speaking English as their mothertongue.

Furthermore, this language is the mothertongue or at
least the speech of about 250 million people - but that is of

308

WAR OR PEACE -A BIOLOGICAL PROBLEM

less importance. What gives weight to the proposal to
make use of this tongue is the fact, that already it is the means
of scientific and political communication between the most
diverse nations in all continents. It is significant, for instance,
that the first Panasiatic Conference, mostly covered by
delegates of anti-British peoples, had to choose English as
the only possible language of the meeting.

It is true that imponderables no less than certain power-
political interests from different sides weigh in the balance
against this solution. I am not thinking merely of the Russian
sphere of power. The great endeavours and achievements of
the Russianspeaking nations in all fields including the one
which for us is objectively the decisive one - that of scientific
literature - make it imperative that Russian together with
French and German should be used as the objectively justi-
fied languages beside English, as far as science is concerned.

I am convinced that it will be possible to find, at least for
a certain time of transition, a compromise, arrived at in a
general discussion, of a kind that will obviate any possible
Russian umbrage. When we enter these discussions, let us
always remember: there can scarcely be anything more con-
ductive to peace than having such a common tongue as a means
of understanding each other. And itis in thissphere thatscience
more than anything else is fit to become the vanguard.

At all the coming congresses and meetings, not only
within but also beyond UNESCO, the problem of a common
language must be brought to a solution as soon as may be.

It is the greatest service that science can do to mankind, and no discovery
or invention, be it what it may, can come near this step in its importance.

At the beginning of these remarks we set up a sort of plan,
a parallelogram of four psychological groups of forces, two
of which are pulling mankind in a negative direction, two in
a positive one.

The negative forces were :

a) The negative instincts (f.i. atavistic sadism, or the fighting
instinct of the male, or the repelling group instinct

309

EUROPAEUS

common to all creatures, etc. etc.). Once these urges are
realized to be biologic in nature, it is not very difficult to
defeat or to change them.

b) The negatively directed conscious volition, finding its ex-
pression in certain power-political endeavours, or in
business vested interests. - It needs to control the three
other groups, before it can achieve its aims.
The positive forces mentioned were:

a) The positive instincts such as the self-preservative group
instinct which comprises within itself many good instincts,
f.i. the mother instinct, the urge to help and the satis-
faction gained from such help. - The thirst for knowledge
which must be guided in the right direction and others.

b) The positively directed conscious volition, which after
the First World War led to the setting-up of the League of
Nations and after the second to the foundation of UNO
and its Specialized Agencies.

This volition, as far as an outsider can judge, seems to be
the basic concept of the great statesmen of the West as of the
East, even if single factors some times seem to contradict this;
and it is also the foundation for the different planning
schemes on a vast scale which are approaching concrete
realization.

This parallelogram of forces can only be changed so that its
resultant leads to the positive goal with certainty, if we, that
is the scientists and especially the biologists, are filled with
this urgent volition in the positive direction.

It is we who have the duty of knowing these instincts for
what they are, it is we who must show the way to master
them, and above all it is we who must in common endeavour,
as a sort of giant symposion, try to seek and to find the way
to such productivity on earth that all men of today - and of
tomorrow even more - should be warranted a life of con-
tentment: Free to think, free to believe, free of need, and free
of fear.

The politicians can do no more than aid by providing the

310

WAR OR PEACE -A BIOLOGICAL PROBLEM

means for reaching this goal. It is the biological problem of the
present and of the future, to create the foundations for
making this possible.

It is our guilt that in the past it was not so.

And here I must refer to the wonderful manifesto of VER-
DOORN'S (Scientific Fiasco, Chron. Bot. V: 325), written at the
time when the war began, in 1939 (!), a trumpet call which
sparked in so many of us the understanding that we, the
biologists, bear so great a part of the guilt - the guilt that such
a war could begin at such a time.

We kept well away from all key positions, leaving the
solution of biological problems to the politicians. And our
guilt is not lessened by the fact that we failed to make the
politicians understand how the problems before them were
biological, simply because we ourselves did not see this clearly.

That a politician can solve a biological problem only in an
amateurish way is a matter of course, and nobody can
reproach him with it. The tragic moment lies in the fact that
these problems involved the fate of nations, and that they
hold within themselves the development towards war or
peace.

In a little article written during the Second War (Chron.
Bot. IX: 86) the attempt was made by H. BOYKO to show a
passable way for realizing the thoughts contained in VER-
DOORN'S manifesto in sober fact. The article suggested that by
slow stages an international organization for a certain
biological purpose (The International Network of Plant-
sociological (= ecological) Stations) should gradually be
changed into an organization of all the scientists of all the
world. Its leading motive should be work on world-wide
biological problems, problems which could only be solved
by the common work of all, which would prove to be a means
joining and uniting the peoples of the world, and which
would be furthered and aided by the emotional and tense
interest of all members of civilized nations. It would mean the
creation of a symposium on a world-wide scale.

311

EUROPAEUS

What at the time was supposed to take many decades to
mature, is now in process of becoming reality through the
conscious volition of many people thinking as one.

BOYKO himself began to organize the cooperative work on
such a problem: Arid Zone Research with the aim of pro-
ductivizing the deserts. (General Assembly of IUBS, Amster-
dam 1947). The result was a symposium on these problems in
the framework of IUBS and a proposal of the Indian Govern-
ment to Unesco, to erect a Central Institute for this line of
research. The proposals led gradually to the great "Arid
Zone Project" of UNESCO, now carried out in close cooper-
ation with the other Specialized Agencies of UNO and many
of the adhering countries.

A few years after these proposals the big plan of a global
"Geo-physical Year" was proposed and carried out with
great devotion of many hundreds of scientists from West
and East as well. The possibility of a wholehearted global
cooperation in the fields of science to the advantage of all
humanity has been proved by this beyond any doubt.

However, we should do wrong to underestimate the
forces ranged against us. Still today there already exist
statesmen who see with the eye of the biologist, and biolo-
gists with statesmanlike qualities, and when the words
scientific planning are pronounced, even such statesmen will
support it as are in other respects still far removed from
regarding things with the biologist's eye.

Our task today is the education - including the education
of statesmen - of the world towards this understanding, and
above all - the example.

Let us create as swiftly as possible the organizatory carrying
out of certain biological tasks of great importance and
general interest. Let us see to it that the world takes part in
our work, sharing not only our successes but also our
failures, which also will be of educational value. Not in terror
of its result - as was the case with the atombomb - but in
hopes of a better future. Many of us are deeply concerned

312

WAR OR PEACE -A BIOLOGICAL PROBLEM

with problems of vital importance for all planned develop-
ment, or of interest for all. The great majority of men is most
sensitive to our scientific researchwork and eager for
scientific knowledge in general, most of all for natural
science.

I am convinced - and I am not the first to give utterance to
this conviction - that for instance the problem of cancer
would have been solved long ago if as much centralized
energy and means could have been used for it as has been put
at the disposal of the atombomb problem. Other examples
are the problems of the function of brain cells, produc-
tivizing the deserts, control of the treasures in the oceans
(including breeding instead of mere fishing), irrigation with
Seawater, and so on.

Each of us will readily have other examples of the kind at
disposal. Let us begin and work! Let us give the example!

First of all let us create the common language, at the be-
ginning for the use of science. Having achieved this, we shall
see that the speed of air traffic and its increasing density will
make it the common language for all civilized peoples, as
their second tongue in use beside the mothertongue.

Let us comprehend, ourselves, first of all, the decisive im-
portance of biology for the development of mankind, in the
positive direction, in the direction towards peace, in the
direction away from war, and we shall, working together,
have the strength to transmit this comprehension to the
others.

Let us subordinate ourselves voluntarily to an objective,
global organizational instrument which has this object in
view, as an universal World Academy of Science.

Let us do this and we shall reach our goal more quickly
than we ever dreamed of.

It is the goal recognized by all the great religions, by all the
great philosophers, by all the great statesmen as the only one
truly worth striving for.

It is for us scientists, and especially us, the biologists, to

313

EUROPAEUS

point the way. That it has taken us so long to see the scientific
possibilities for it, is our paltriness ; that we can see them today,
our greatness.

APPENDIX

I have tried to achieve as objective a scale of priorities as is
possible, by evaluating the most important criteria of such a
common scientific language in points. The result is given
in the following table. Some people may wonder at my
including the Bantu language. At this moment in time such
a wonder may still have its justification, but we should not
disregard the extremely swift development taking place in
Africa.

It might be a good beginning, if every scientist would
write down such a table, trying to be as objective as is human-
ly possible.

The author would be grateful to compare many such
tables with his own, in order to diminish its natural subjec-
tive weakness.

Letters to the author should be sent c/o Dr. W. Junk
Publishers, 13, van Stolkweg, The Hague, The Netherlands.

314

WAR OR PEACE -A BIOLOGICAL PROBLEM

"oS

*TJ
Jit

WSUII,

^ ti

<JJ

d(-d
c/5 fl

International

(1-5)

Inter-continental

(1-5)

Inter-racial

(1-5)

Mothertongue (each

100 million and part

of one hundred =

i point)

Highly developed as

scientific language

(1-5)

Highly developed as

script

(1-5)

Scientific publications

(1-5)

Scientific abstracts

(1-5)

Tradition as scientific

language

(1-5)

The priority list thus shows the result: -

English

French

Russian

German

.Spanish

42 points

Chinese

Italian

Japanese

Malay

Bantu

27 points

According to this list we should, during the time of trans-
ition, teach -apart of the mothertongue- English and French
and maybe later only one of them, for the full time of study
(fifteen years), and use them as the only authoritative
language(s). Summaries in one of the two international
languages should be added even to those scientific papers
which are only of limited local significance, and therefore
written in the respective national language.

i. I tried also to evaluate Latin by this point-method and came to the rather high
figure of 30 (5, 5, 5, o, 3, 5, 2, i, 4). I did, however, not include it in the table, because,
during the last hundred years Latin has lagged far behind the development of
science and even more so of technology. It could, however, be included for more
or less political reasons as a completely neutral language; but in this case a much
longer transition period will have to be allowed in order to achieve a better lin-
guistic adaptation to modern science, and modern civilization and culture in
general.

315

Science and Modem Civilization

I. BERENBLUM

Unlike the slow biological evolution of animal species,
measured in terms of millions of years, the phenomenal
progress of human civilization, from primitive society to
modern times, covers little more than six thousand years.
This is all the more impressive when one remembers how
erratic the course of human progress has been, with centuries
of almost imperceptible change punctuated by intermittent
periods of violent social upheavals.

Yet, to imagine each upheaval as an unfortunate set-back
in an otherwise progressive trend, would be too superficial
an interpretation of history. More often than not, such an
upheaval was the climax of a fundamental conflict between
the old and the new - a conflict that arose from the impact of
a revolutionary idea upon a previously stable society.
Whether the ' 'revolutionary idea" took the form of a change
in man's mode of life (e.g. from the nomadic to the settled
state through the introduction of land cultivation), or a new
foundation for religious belief (such as the Jewish concept
of monotheism or the advent of Christianity), a new method
of disseminating knowledge (with the discovery of written
language or, later, of the printing press), or a new standard
of human values (as in the formulation of the equality of
human rights), it usually led to a new level of civilization,
however disturbing its effects may have been at the time. The

317

I. BEHENBLUM

emergence of twentieth century civilization owes more to
the catalytic effects of these rare germinal ideas than to any
sustained efforts at improving human society.

In the light of this, how is one to interpret the instability of
our present civilization? Is it another example of "a conflict
between the old and the new," and, therefore, a necessary
step in the forward march of civilization, with science
acting this time as the catalyst or revolutionary idea? Or is the
world actually on the verge of a catastrophic retrogression
which humanity may not be able to survive?

Whatever the answer to this question may be, there seems
little doubt that the rapid growth of science is closely con-
nected with the problem. A dispassionate assessment of its
scope and influence should, therefore, help us to understand
what is happening to our civilization.

Based on ancient principles of logic, and fostered for
centuries in the restricted fields of mathematics and as-
tronomy, the "scientific method" received its first effective
opportunity at about the time of the Italian Renaissance.
Since then, the waning influence of medieval mysticism, the
rapid diffusion of knowledge through the introduction of
printing, and the social and political changes associated with
the French Revolution, all contributed towards its coming of
age. Not until a century ago, however, did science really
begin to impose itself on the varied aspects of human activity,
the Industrial Revolution being but the outward manifes-
tation of man's acceptance of science as a guiding force in
human affairs.

Being in the midst of this period of phenomenal progress of
scientific achievement, we are rather apt to make a distorted
evaluation of the advances, and perhaps to lay undue
emphasis on the practical applications of science.

We see the amazing speed and efficiency of travel by land,
sea and air, the intricate mechanization of industry, with the
harnessing of various forms of energy for elaborate systems of
heating, lighting, and power; the improved utilization of

318

SCIENCE AND MODERN CIVILIZATION

mineral and vegetable resources of the soil, with advances in
breeding of livestock, perfection in methods of cultivating
the land, and exploitation of the chemical riches of the earth,
the prevention and cure of diseases previously responsible
for untold suffering, and the control of epidemics which, in
the past, used to ravage the world, and a thousand and one
other examples by which the hardship of life has been
overcome, and nature's wealth brought to the service of
man.

But the wonders of science are by no means restricted to
these practical applications. Behind the facade of hydro-
electric plants and ocean liners, of airoplanes and submarines,
of films and television, of penicillin and D.D.T., lies the realm
of fundamental research, inspired, partly at least, by the
disinterested search for knowledge. This basic kind of scien-
tific pursuit has led to a prodigious expansion of our
knowledge of inanimate matter and a growing understanding
of the intricate functioning of life itself.

To be able to estimate the weight of a planet millions of
miles away, or measure the infinitesimally small distances
between the invisible atoms in a molecule, to have the
means of analysing the chemical composition of a distant
star, or mapping out the positions of the genes within the
chromosomes of a microscopic living cell, to "see" in total
darkness, and to "hear" across oceans, to determine the age
of a fossil millions of years old, or to predict the existence of a
new chemical element prior to its discovery, to be able to
count single electrons, or to comprehend the laws governing
heredity, these are indeed achievements which our
forefathers would have deemed miraculous. And with it all
has now come the discovery of nuclear energy, making
available for man's use tremendous sources of power which,
for billions of years, have remained confined within the
atom.

The conquest of nature, once an idle dream, has now
become almost an understatement.

319

L BERENBLUM

Few people take the trouble to ask themselves how it is
that after thousands of years of futile endeavour to gain
control over our surroundings, success should suddenly
have become so readily available, and that the rate of progress
should have become so rapid. There is, after all, no evidence
to suggest that the capacity of the human mind has increased
in the last few centuries, or that individuals of genius are
being bred in greater numbers now than in the past. Yet man
now performs acts and acquires knowledge altogether
debarred from previous generations.

The truth of the matter is that the perfection, as mani-
fested by modern scientific achievements, lies not in any
change in man himself, but in the new technique he has
adopted - the scientific method of approach. Without its use, men of
even outstanding ability found themselves incapable of
solving the most elementary problems concerning the
material universe; but with the aid of the scientific method
of approach, .progress is possible for all who care to make
the effort, while in the hands of a genius, the scientific
method acquires almost the properties of a magic wand.

In short, the "scientific method" is nothing more nor less
than a mental tool of exceptional efficiency.

But is efficiency enough? Does it necessarily follow that
the ever-increasing rate at which discoveries are being made
must inevitably increase human happiness, or enable man to
live a fuller life, or lead to a commensurate advancement in
human civilization? On this point, opinion is divided.

There are those who blame science for all the evils of
modern society and fear that the exploitation of the
knowledge thus acquired must inevitably lead to disaster.
They believe that science carries the germ of its own de-
struction, and that the material comforts and benefits it
provides are obtained at the expense of all the finer qualities
of our past civilization, tending to destroy the spiritual and
religious heritage of man, arrest his aesthetic achievements,
and undermine his morality. How, they argue, can science

320

SCIENCE AND MODERN CIVILIZATION

be identified with human progress if, in mastering and
dominating the world, it destroys humanity itself? Those
who hold this pessimistic view look back nostalgically to the
more leisurely way of life which, with all its faults, was able to
satisfy man for thousands of years, and to provide a measure
of spiritual peace altogether lacking in contemporary
civilization.

There are others, however, who take the opposite view.
Science is, to them, neither good nor evil, but merely a
method of approach that can be used for either purpose
according to man's desire. To blame science for the evils of
modern society is, to their way of thinking, reminiscent of the
child's urge to smack the table against which he has hurt
himself. They see in the continued application of science
great possibilities for constructive effort, with undreamt of
benefits to mankind. They are fully aware of the disturbing
influence science is having at the present time, but they
interpret this as a transition phase in the gradual establish-
ment of the truly scientific age. They have faith in man's
ability to weather the storm inherent in the present conflict,
and foresee the time when man will emerge triumphant,
with the creation of a new civilization that will be as far
ahead of the pre-scientific era of a few centuries ago as the
latter was ahead of the primitive society of our cave-dwelling
ancestors.

When two diametrically opposite views are presented for
dispassionate appraisal, each supported by, what appears to
be, quite convincing arguments, one is tempted to conclude
that some essential factor has been missed, or intentionally
ignored, by both sides.

What, in fact, is the potential limit of scientific
achievement? To answer this requires an understanding of
the nature and scope of the technique employed: - the
scientific method.

In essence, the scientific method is very simple: - It is, first,
to ask one question at a time, for only then can the answer

321

I. BERENBLUM

be free from ambiguity ; secondly, to rely on precise data, and
where these cannot be acquired by simple observation, to
devise experiments for eliciting the information; and thirdly,
since the human mind finds it difficult to assess shades of
inferences, to insist on quantitative rather than qualitative
values, obtained, if possible, by objective recordings. (The
simplicity of the scientific method is, in a way, deceptive,
since it requires great self-discipline to frame problems in
such a way that only one question is asked at a time; it calls
for considerable ingenuity to plan appropriate experiments
for eliciting reliable data; and it needs long training and
experience to obtain accurately recorded quantitative data.
Nevertheless, in essence, the scientific method is remarkably
simple,)

This is the whole secret of the efficiency of science as a
tool for the search for knowledge. But herein also lies its
limitations: - For, clearly, not all human problems lend
themselves to quantitative treatment, nor can they all be
resolved into single questions. Indeed, the division of human
preoccupations into material and spiritual spheres, roughly
correspond to the human problems that can, and those that
cannot, be readily solved by the application of the scientific
method.

Such spiritual values as ethics and morality, the constant
striving for intellectual and aesthetic achievement, the
passionate desire to fathom the purpose of man's existence,
and the elusive search for lasting happiness have always
served as the corner-stones of human endeavour in the
progress of civilization. For thousands of years, man has been
grappling with these spiritual problems; and though
progress in this search has been slow, it has at least kept pace
with progress in the material sphere, that is to say, in the
fight for physical survival against the forces of nature, and
the attempt to husband these forces for man's particular
needs.

The situation has now changed. With the application of the

322

SCIENCE AND MODERN CIVILIZATION

scientific method for the solution of man's material problems,
his mastery over the elements has developed with prodigious
speed, leaving his spiritual values more or less where they
were. His power over the universe has outstripped his under-
standing of himself.

Here lies one of the major causes of conflict, or disharmony
of contemporary civilization for which a solution is so
feverishly being sought. The fault of the disharmony is not
with the scientific method, which has contributed all that
could be expected of it, but with the fact that the human
mind has so far failed to devise a "mental tool" of comparable
efficiency, suitable for the solution of man's spiritual
problems.

Having reached this disquieting conclusion, the first
inclination might be to call a halt to scientific progress - a
moratorium for, say, a century, by which time man may
have discovered the means of solving some of his other
problems, so that the fruits of science could then be inte-
grated in harmony with his inner, spiritual life, in the true
march of progress.

Little attention need be paid to this proposition, for it is a
counsel of despair, as impractical as it is illogical. It would be
a denial of freedom of thought and the negation of progress -
the blaming of what is potentially good, for the stupidity of
those who prostitute it to base purposes. It presupposes that
man, having once savoured perfection in the method of
searching for the truth, would willingly abandon it in the
interest of an abstraction of dubious value.

Finally, since restrictive measures of this sort would only be
obeyed by honest men (whose use of science is calculated
to be for the benefit of mankind), while the more unscrupu-
lous and dishonest would secretly continue to exploit its use
for evil purposes, the policy would actually increase the very
instability which the measure seeks to eradicate.

An alternative approach would be to look towards science
itself for a solution. If the scientific method is indeed so

323

I. BERENBLUM

efficient a mental tool for the solution of material problems,
could it not be adapted in some way for the solution of
spiritual problems ? Are there not, in fact, examples of the
successful application of scientific principles to problems
that are too complex to be resolved into single questions, or
which do not lend themselves to quantitative treatment?

The answer to this is partly in the affirmative, and this
might, at first sight, offer a ray of hope. The study of the
mechanism of mental activity is just such a problem, and it
must be admitted that the application of scientific methods
to this problem has met with at least partial success, from
two different directions.

PAVLOV made a serious attempt to apply the scientific
method to the study of mental processes. Realizing the need
for a quantitative approach, he sought for the unit of mental
activity, and this he achieved in his brilliant discovery of the
"conditioned reflex." From simple mental processes in dogs,
involving single conditioned reflexes, he passed on to
somewhat more complicated mental processes in dogs, and
hoped finally to probe into the elaborate workings of the
human mind. However, the success of his experiments is
destined, in all probability, to remain a tour de force, with no
prospect of extension to the realm of complicated thought.
The reason for this is that, in insisting on the use of rigid
scientific principles, he was aiming at the impossible; for
while succeeding in bringing mental activity down to a
quantitative level, he was unable to achieve the other es-
sential of scientific study, namely, of reducing every problem
to the level where there is only one variable to be investi-
gated at a time.

FREUD'S approach was different. He accepted the fact that
the human mind was far too complex and dynamic to be
approached by exacting scientific principles; and instead of
trying to simplify the mind in order that the scientific method
could be rigidly applied to it, he modified the scientific
approach itself. If PAVLOV'S was the synthetic approach (ie.

324

SCIENCE AND MODERN CIVILIZATION

starting from the simplest unit of mental activity, and
working upwards), FREUD'S, on the contrary, was the ana-
lytical approach (i.e. starting from the most complex - the
behaviour and emotions of the adult who has failed to fit
into his elaborate surroundings - and working downwards.)
The "science" in FREUD'S approach consisted simply of the
recognition and use of observation for the acquisition of data,
freed from the thoughts and feelings of the observer. It
had, surprisingly enough, never before occurred to anyone
that this could only be achieved if the observer succeeded in
ridding himself of the role of judge or moralist, of healer or
confessor.

Naturally, FREUD'S method lacked precision. It dealt with
intricate complexities in apparent confusion, not amenable
to quantitative treatment. All the same, his method proved
more successful in analysing mental activity than anything
previously attempted, and led to the momentous discovery
of the existence and significance of the subconscious mind -
that mental process, determined by forgotten experiences,
which unconsciously influenced most of our irrational, and
even of some of our rational, behaviour.

Two lines of criticism might be levelled against Freudian
psychology, in so far as it affects the subject under discussion:
- first that psychoanalysis achieves, at best, the eradication
of a subconscious conflict, without any attempt at putting
anything positive in its place and secondly, that psychology
is essentially a study of the isolated individual, while the
major problems of contemporary civilization are concerned
with integrated society as a whole.

As regards the first criticism, it must be admitted, that, as
a therapeutic measure, psychoanalysis has this negative function
of eradicating undesirable conflicts. However, the knowledge
thus acquired ultimately makes it possible to avoid some of
these conflicts from ever arising, through sounder principles
of parental care and educational upbringing of children, and
through a more sympathetic awareness of the causes and

325

I. BERENBLUM

origins of troubles in adult human relationships. In this sense,
at least, psychology should, in time, be able to contribute
towards the creation of a more stable society.

As for the second criticism - that psychology is essentially a
study of isolated individuals - one must remember that the
same semi-scientific principles that proved so effective in the
psychoanalysis of the individual, can be, and are being,
applied to integrated groups and whole societies as well.
Social anthropology is to the community what psychology
is to the individual. It, too, is based on dispassionate analysis
and observation, aiming to discover the deeply rooted,
subconscious motives that determine the collective behaviour
patterns of integrated societies.

It is, perhaps, too early to assess the efficacy of these new
methods of study, or to judge the full scope of the impact
of the knowledge thus acquired in the reshaping of the
collective character of a society. Social anthropology is, as
yet, a very young subject, and still suffers from many of the
crudities of an immature science. However, there are already
sufficient indications to show what far-reaching results may
be obtained from a scientific study of the habits, customs,
religious observances, methods of education, etc., of past and
present civilizations. If this were, indeed, to provide a deeper
understanding of the origins and developments of specific
patterns of collective behaviour (and that is, after all, what
we niean by "civilizations") it should theoretically enable
future societies to reshape their own civilizations at will into
any desired mould.

Whether such a society would, in fact, make the necessary
effort to reshape its collective pattern of living, is another
matter. This brings us to the core of the problem. While a
correct evaluation of history may provide an understanding
of the developmental errors of an unstable society, and while
the fruits of psychology, anthropology and other social
sciences, may show the way to alter the existing pattern of
society, it does not necessarily follow that mankind would be

326

SCIENCE AND MODERN CIVILIZATION

ready to execute the changes called-for and accept all the
consequences involved. Science may be able to show the way,
but other human attributes and qualities must serve as
motives.

Earlier, in dealing with the limitations of the scientific
method, it was pointed out that, broadly speaking, the
division between material and spiritual spheres of human
preoccupations roughly correspond to the human problems
that can, and those that cannot, be readily solved by the
application of the scientific method. We now perceive
another, and more fundamental, limitation: science can only
serve as a method, not as a motive or inspiration of human
activity. The fruits of science may serve as a stimulus for
further endeavour; the habit of scientific thinking may seep
into our daily lives and influence our thinking in other
spheres; but even the best of methods is useless if misapplied,
or not applied at all.

What, then, should serve as the motive force? A return to
religion? Or some political philosophy? Or, perhaps, a new
ethical principle that may emerge spontaneously as a conse-
quence of the continued spread of culture?

Before even attempting to answer this important question,
one must try (i) to understand why it is that religion is no
longer a dominant influence in human affairs today, and (2)
to evaluate the function and limitations of political philoso-
phy as an inspirational force.

Faith is the basis of religion; reason is the underlying
principle of science. When faith is artificially bolstered by
false reasoning, or when reason is irrationally circumscribed
by faith, chaos and confusion is the inevitable consequence.

To people who have become accustomed to dispassionate
appraisal of evidence and to the habit of scientific thought,
the rigid dogmas and creeds of established religions must
inevitably lose their hold, especially if they obliterate, in
time, the underlying ethical principles on which such
religions were initially founded. Moreover, the biblical

327

I. BERENBLUM

account of the Creation, the succession of miracles that defy
the normal laws of nature, and the anthropomorphic
conception of God and his ministering angels, however
attractive they may be as poetry or allegory, cannot much
longer be expected to serve as the foundation of man's belief.

That is not to say that there is necessarily a conflict between
science, and a belief in a divinity that can serve as an inspi-
ration to higher ethical ideals. On the contrary, in helping to
dispose of the artificial encumbrances of existing religions,
science may even contribute towards a reawakening of a
pure religious belief. SPINOZA saw this clearly enough three
hundred years ago. But meanwhile, there is little evidence of
the emergence of a worldwide religious revival which could
serve as a powerful force in directing the future progress of
civilization.

Without wishing to draw too close a parallel, it may be
said that, in a sense, political movements play the part today
that established religions did in former times. Political theory
calls for selfless devotion to the betterment of mankind in the
name of justice and ethical idealism; but it can, in time, also
become an object of blind worship, divorced from its initial
moral values, impervious to logical reasoning, and tyranni-
cal in its demands. Indeed, in the course of time, as the moral
principles underlying a political philosophy become for-
gotten by its adherents, or wilfully abused by its leaders,
rational thought becomes replaced by fears and hatreds in a
spirit of prejudice.

One must not, however, fall into the error of condemning
political philosophy on the grounds that it lends itself to
abuse, any more than one is prepared to deny the benefits of
science because of its potential misapplication for evil and
destruction, or to condemn sincere religious belief because
it has so often been debased in the past. Political theory, as a
potential force in directing civilization, must be judged on its
merits.

We are, of course, not dealing here with political phi-

328

SCIENCE AND MODERN CIVILIZATION

losophy in general, but only with the contemporary patterns
and even here, we are not so much concerned with the po-
litical creeds of the opposing systems, as with the features they
have in common, as an index of man's political aims in contempo-
rary society.

The existence of such a common denominator is apparent
from the extent to which Marxian principles intrude in the
political thinking of even the most conservative upholders of
capitalistic societies and conversely, from the degree to which
socialistic and even communistic societies accept some of the
most cherished principles of capitalism as necessary tech-
niques in the government of a modern State.

This common denominator stems from a blend of
eighteenth century liberalism and the Marxian materialistic
concept which equates human happiness with freedom from
hunger and want. The principle of eighteenth century
liberalism, aiming at individual freedom and suffrage, has
become so deeply ingrained in contemporary society that
even a modern dictator finds himself obliged to pay lip
service to it, while attempting, in fact, to destroy it. The
Marxian emphasis on freedom from hunger and want as
almost the sole function of human striving, is also becoming accepted
as if it were an axiomatic truth.

No rational person would deny that hunger and want
must be eradicated, and that the individual in a civilized
society must be given as much freedom as possible to ex-
press his thoughts and desires in shaping its affairs. But that
is no more a recipe for a civilized society than to say that an
adequate supply of air is the means for maintaining the com-
plete health of an individual. Man may live in luxury and
exercise his voting rights at elections, and yet be acutely
unhappy.

All the same, serious attention must be given to the
practical question of the physical needs of mankind. History
has ceased to be an account of Machiavellian rulers and of
battles. We know, for instance, that more casualties have

329

I. BERENBLUM

been suffered through typhus and other epidemics than by
actual warfare; and that the results of victorious wars have
more often been determined by failures of food crops than
by decisions at Peace Conferences. It needs but-a slight change
in the statistical ratio between birth-rate and death-rate to
cause, in less than a century, a complete change in the face
of a whole continent, regardless of political movements or
national aspirations.

While birth-rates and death-rates, food supplies and
epidemics, have, in the past, been left to chance and the Will
of God, these are now factors amenable to scientific controL
The population of the world is increasing at quite an
alarming rate; but given the chance, science could cope with
the resulting increased demand for food supply. The inequi-
table distribution of the available food throughout the world
has led to mass starvation in some areas and overabundance
in others. The solution of this fantastic situation could also
be achieved by science, if it were not complicated by political
issues. The population can itself be checked by birth-control.

One is, in fact, confronted again and again with the propo-
sition, mentioned above, that while most of the formidable
problems of contemporary civilization are potentially
soluble by the application of science, the motive that would
drive society to achieve the desired objectives lies within man
himself.

It is, perhaps, in this direction that contemporary civili-
zation is most in need of salvation. The spread of education
has eradicated illiteracy in western society, but has, so far,
failed to show how people can use their newly-acquired
literacy to appraise their knowledge in a logical and
unemotional fashion. The failure of education lies in the
sacrifice of quality and content for quantity. We pride
ourselves that the percentage of illiteracy is continually
falling, that the proportion of university graduates is con-
tinually rising, and that the tonnage of printed matter read
by the public is increasing at a prodigious rate. Yet learning is

330

SCIENCE AND MODERN CIVILIZATION

less and less respected for its own sake; the teaching pro-
fession, in whosehands thesubsequentgenerationis moulded,
stands low in the social hierarchy; and the average man is
far more bewildered than his illiterate forefathers. The fault
lies not with religion, politics, or science; it stems from a dis-
torted sense of values.

We have developed a thirst for facts and figures, but not an
appreciation of their value and significance. We no longer
prize creative achievement; we only worship success. The art
of memorizing and the quoting of statistics have become a
lazy substitute for thinking: arguments are pigeonholed and
people are branded by the use of catch-phrases ("bourgeois/ 5
"decadent," "reds") instead of being judged on their merits.
While the practical fruits of man's achievements are becoming
more and more abundant, human relationships continue to
deteriorate. Race-hatred and other forms of intolerance
continue, despite our progress in civilization, and though the
targets change from time to time, the evil grows in intensity.
People are learning to get on with one another individually,
but more and more to hate, each other collectively.

This is the sorry state of contemporary civilization in its
spiritual spheres, and the blame must be laid on the edu-
cational system we have chosen, using "education" in its
widest sense as the model of society we encourage our next generation to
adopt. It is here that science may, after all, save civilization -
not science as a profession, nor scientists as individuals, nor
even the fruits of science, with the material benefits they
may provide for mankind, but the scientific method, applied to all
walks of life.

The world is torn by opposing ideologies of socialism and
capitalism, each claiming that it can bring peace, happiness
and prosperity to mankind. Assessing the relative merits of
these two rival claims is surely a matter for scientific analysis,
-and not for decision by threat of warfare. Either of these two
opposing ideologies may be maintained by authoritarian or
democratic means. These are essentially techniques (as

331

SCIENCE AND MODERN CIVILIZATION

distinct from the ideologies they happen to sponsor), and as
techniques, they can also be evaluated by an analysis of the
evidence, free from preconceived notions.

In the past, man was very conscious of the enormity of the
universe and of his own relative insignificance in relation to
it. He, therefore, held on to tradition for his stability; and
when faced with problems that were beyond him, he turned
to a supernatural source for inspiration and guidance. In
more recent times, with all the scientific achievements
affecting the material universe, man acquired a certain
degree of emancipation and self-reliance: he no longer felt
the need to propitiate an angry deity when confronted with
calamities that were now explicable by scientific laws of
nature. Yet his uncertainty persisted, as manifested, at
moments of stress, by worship of human instead of super-
human leadership and demagogy. The next stage in the
development of civilization will have to be towards a more
assured sense of collective self-reliance, man's destiny being
controlled by his understanding of the problems that face
him - freed from prejudice and hysteria, and from the ever-
growing power of the propaganda machine.

How will the change come about? No one can tell yet.

With the growing disharmony of contemporary civili-
zation, the collective will for survival will presumably play a
part in stirring humanity out of its traditional grooves. But
the spiritual "message" that will act as the motive force may
prove as remote from religion or politics (as we understand
them today) as the latter are from the tribal taboos of primi-
tive societies. Until then, science will supposedly continue to
add to the material comforts of man, while continuing to
widen the gap between his growing prosperity and his
diminishing peace of mind.

332

New Ways with Science as Leader

by
WILLEM CAREL DE LEEUW

The interrelations which face terrestrial mankind today are
chaotic: morally, sociologically, politically. No sincere
thinker will deny this. Thousands of people in this fear-
ridden world are trying today to find a way out, in order to
provide happier conditions along many different lines,
proposing many explanations and remedies - more or less
strongly objectively coloured. The latter - in so far as mate-
rialistic or emotional - by far the most - will bring only
incidental, no lasting relief. However, they all concur herein,
that man's environment is considered as not conducive to
his well-being and that it demands fundamental im-
provement; whereas it is now at least unsatisfactory, not to
say fraught with danger and is threatening human existence.

Where lies the cause of all this? Certainly not with Man's
environment. It was the present and earlier generations, that
brought it into being and the fault must lie with the creator,
Man himself. His inner attitude has been wrong, being
ignorant of his origin, his place and his task in the cosmic
conditions in which he finds himself. The basis of all his
activity on his habitat needs complete reformation or
remoulding.

The Universe in which terrestrial Man and his Globe have
their place - and a very modest one at that - is one of integral
Law and Order. No Law of Nature is autonomous or self-

333

ILLEM CAREL BE LEEUW

sufficient. If this were the case, the Universe would not be a
Kosmos, but a Chaos, or might at any moment become so.
Man is part of this grand Whole. It is his duty to live in
harmony with the gradual unfolding, the Evolution of it.
This means submission to the lines of that Evolution, laid
down at the beginning of every new manifestation of the
Unique Unknown and Unknowable Reality, of which Law
and Order are but the reflections on the phenomenal plane in
each successive Universe.

Now the great majority of men have not the slightest idea
of such submission. They live egotistically, if not egocentri-
cally, or extremely selfishly. They see themselves, not as
humble cogs in the great cosmic machinery, but they place
themselves autonomously or even antagonistically opposite
of Nature. They consider it their right to subdue and exploit
her to his needs (as "authorized" by Genesis i, 28). They
thus create disturbance in the unfolding of the cosmic
scheme. This has been going on on this Earth for countless
ages, since manlike animal became a thinking, planning tyro,
however stumbling. And the present global conditions are
the accumulated outcome of this long-protracted mal-
treatment of Nature and the violation of her Laws. Viewed
from a spiritual point of view her resources have been wasted
lately in a terrific, and accelerated tempo.

If ever there should dawn improvement, this must start
with Man's mutual relations, as well as those of Man with
Nature, in the way of generating a profound change of human
attitude. Man needs knowledge to bring about this change.
Being of an intellectual nature his knowledge belongs to the
realm of Science. It is to her, that we must look for help. The
present Religion and Philosophy of the West are contem-
plative and can not help directly in his remoulding of
attitude; but they can do it indirectly, be it that they may
benefit or even inspire Man's search after the causes of
Man's present moral decline. It is ratiocinative intellect that
rules this era and it appeals particularly to the modern man.

334

NEW WAYS WITH SCIENCE AS LEADER

This is not contemplative, but in the first place extrovert.
And this extroversion, followed by gestation and recon-
sideration of present values is what man thinks he needs now.

The omnipresent validity of Law and Order and their
harmonious interrelation point to a final cosmic Unity of
intellectual nature. This intellectuality is not of a shifting
nature, progressive like human knowledge, but is established
and its field laid down once and forever for every new
cosmic manifestation. Hence there is Coherence, Unity in
Nature. Only Man, with his unripe intellect, can disturb it,
but only temporarily. If he continues his mistakes long
enough, the evolutionary trend towards Unity will sweep
him, individually or groupwise, away. Nations have gone out
like a torch dipped in water.

Lack of awareness of this Unity and its ethical conse-
quences is the main cause of the present bewilderment. In
our era of ratiocinative intellect it is, as said above, Science
that is best capable of reaching the masses. The way of the
mystic which leads as well to a realization of the Unity, is not
effective for the average man of our time. Yet in millions of
people, even in those who are not particularly religiously
inclined, Unity is felt vaguely as an intuition - religious
instinct, that lies at the root of all ethics. In this intuition lies
the hope for salvation.

It would mean a formidable step forward towards im-
provement if the reality of Unity and its implications would
gradually dawn on the inner life of Man. It would mean a
deep change in the moral attitude of the many and bring
about an outlook on life diametrically opposed to the
present general way of life. Such men would view themselves
as part of a great whole and feel their responsibilities towards
their own Inner Life, toward Mankind and all Nature.
Altruism need no longer be based on commandments, fear
or emotions, however good, but would become to be viewed
as a cosmic necessity. Having attained to this as a firm con-
viction, Man's consciousness will then enable him to realize

335

WILLEM CAE.EL DE LEEUW

and to live up to the bond which holds together all Nature
and binds him to all, which compells to exercise his duty as a
helper at the frontline of Evolution and assist in the ex-
pression of its universal trend.

By broadening and deepening its correlations to such extent,
that Unity becomes manifest in all her departments, thus
furnishing a final correlation, Science can give to the "World a
coherent, intellectual expression to the prevailing intuition
of Universal Unity. Science herself will also benefit greatly
from that: from compartmental it will become unified.
Scientists progress on the borderline of the human field of
consciousness and in a unified science they will be compelled
to keep, in postulating correlations, their inner views always
directed towards the Centrum, from which Unity emanates.
By combining induction and analysis with deduction and
synthesis they will be able to detect and establish the validity of
the Law of Unity throughout the Kosmos. No longer relying
on the pseudo-reality of sensorial observation Science will
become a whole: knowledge wedded to universal Philosophy
and Ethics. Now the former is neglected; the latter com-
pletely ignored.

In the way in which more and more individuals realize the
existence of Unity, as unveiled by Science, they will see the
necessity not merely to value it as a mental conception, but
to assimilate it in their inner life and then to turn outward and
apply it in their behaviour. This then will be the initial effort
towards Spiritual Evolution by trying to adopt altruistic
standards. This means inner conflicts and they constitute
the greatest of all wars, waged within Man's breast: two
souls, as it were, in constant conflict, as GOETHE said. That
evolution has become complete only in rare indivi-
duals.

It is Science, if well directed, that can call forth the initial
effort towards it: a grand task indeed ! Its outcome will go far
beyond the present certainly wonderful achievements of
Science. It will provide a remodelling of the general way of

336

NEW WAYS WITH SCIENCE AS LEADER

life. Many thinkers, revolting against mere lip-confession of
ethics have tried in vain to establish the beginnings of a
better world along emotional lines. Would Science try it in

her way?

337

Per Aspera ad Astra l

by
BERTRAND RUSSELL

CURRENT PERPLEXITIES

The present time is one in which the prevailing mood is a
feeling of impotent perplexity. We see ourselves drifting
towards a war that hardly anyone desires - a war that, as we
all know, must bring disaster to the great majority of
mankind. But like a rabbit fascinated by a snake, we stare at
the peril without knowing what to do to avert it We tell
each other horror stories of atom bombs and hydrogen
bombs, of cities exterminated, of Russian hordes, of famine
and ferocity everywhere. But although our reason tells
us we ought to shudder at such a prospect, there is another
part of us that enjoys it, and so we have no firm will to avert
misfortune, and there is a deep division in our souls between
the sane and the insane parts. In quiet times the insane parts
can slumber throughout the day and wake only at night. But
in times like ours they invade our waking time as well, and
all rational thinking becomes pale and divorced from the

1. This article represents the main lines of the author's book: "New Hopes for a
Changing World."

The text has been put at our disposal by the author with the kind permission of
the publishers George Allen & Unwin Ltd., London and Simon and Schuster Inc.,
New York.

Earl BERTRAND R.USSELL is one of the first Chartermembers of the World Academy
of Art and Science.

339

BERTRAND RUSSELL

will. Our lives become balanced on a sharp edge of hypothe-
sis - if there is to be a war one way of life is reasonable; if not,
another. To the great majority of mankind such a hypo-
thetical existence is intolerably uncomfortable, and in
practice they adopt one hypothesis or the other, but without
complete conviction. A youth who finds scholastic education
boring will say to himself: "Why bother? I shall be killed in
battle before long." A young woman who might live con-
structively thinks to herself that she had better have a good
time while she can since presently she will be raped by Rus-
sian soldiery until she dies. Parents wonder whether the
sacrifices called for by their children's upbringing are worth
while since they are likely to prove futile. Those who are
lucky enough to possess capital are apt to spend it on riotous
living, since they foresee a catastrophic depreciation in which
it would become worthless. In this way uncertainty baulks
the impulse to every irksome effort, and generates a tone of
frivolous misery mistakenly thought to be pleasure, which
turns outward and becomes hatred of those who are felt to be
its cause. Through this hatred it brings daily nearer the
catastrophe which it dreads. The nations seem caught in a
tragic fate, as though, like characters in a Greek drama, they
were blinded by some offended god. Bewildered by mental
fog, they march towards the precipice while they imagine
that they are marching away from it.

It must be said that the purely intellectual problems
presented by the world of our day are exceedingly difficult.
There is not only the great problem: can we defend our
Western world without actual war? There are also problems
in Asia and problems in Africa and problems in tropical
America which cannot be solved within the framework of
the traditional political ideas. There are those, it is true, who
are quite certain that they can solve these problems by
ancient methods. One of the painful things about our time is
that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any
imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and

340

PER ASPERA AD ASTRA

indecision. I do not think this is necessary. I think there is a
view of man and his destiny and his present troubles which
can give certainty and hope together with the completest
understanding of the moods, the despairs and the maddening
doubts that beset modern men. It is my hope to set forth
such an outlook in the following pages in a way that shall be
convincing and overwhelmingly encouraging, that shall
enable men of goodwil, to work with the same vigour which
of late has been the monopoly of cruel bigots; to take away
from our Western mentality the reproach that we have
nothing to offer inspiring the same firm conviction and the
same solid body of belief as is offered by the disciples of the
Kremlin. But I anticipate. And after this digression into hope
I must return to the causes of its opposite, which have all too
much sway in the reflections of thoughtful men. If we
forget MAC ARTHUR, what are we to think about Asia? From
the time of VASCO DA GAMA until the Russo-Japanese war,
the Western world did not think seriously about Asia. No
doubt, it was a picturesque continent, and amid our pro-
gressive schemes we enjoyed talking about the unchanging
East. Philosophers with kindly contempt, and missionaries
with reforming zeal, studied what we were pleased to call
their superstitions. We enjoyed their military incompetence,
and their incapacity to extract high wages. For all these
reasons we rather like them. We realized, of course, that the
inhabitants of Asia did not all form one community. There
were Mohammedans and Hindus and Buddhists, and it was
our hope that they would continue to hate each other for
ever. And on this ground the more enlightened among
administrators deprecated the work of missionaries for fear
lest it should diminish the virulence of "superstition."

The first country of Asia to cause misgivings in Europeans
was Japan. At first, after Commodore PERRY had opened the
country to our curiosity, we admired the cherry blossom,
Bushido, and the chivalrous virtues of the Samurai. We like
the temples and the art, and our aesthetes imagined the Japa-

341

BERTRAND RUSSELL

nese to be kindred souls. But gradually a change came over
the spirit of our dream. It may be seen in the works of
LAFCADIO HEARN. At first he was enthusiastic about the
Japanese, but his last book, Japan, an Interpretation, has
begun to be aware of things slightly more serious than
cherry blossom. The Japanese refused to stay put. They set
to work to imitate the West, and in the measure in which
they succeeded they inspired hatred in Western minds.

The Japanese for the moment encountered disaster; they
mastered our brutalities, but not our suppleness. But they
left to the rest of Asia a legacy of war-like rebellion against
Western insolence. Western men of liberal outlook cannot
but sympathize with the wish of Asia to be independent, but
it would be a pity if this sympathy were to blind Western
thought to certain matters of the gravest import. The
Western world has achieved, not completely but to a con-
siderable extent, a way of life having certain merits that are
new in human history. It has nearly eliminated poverty. It
has cut down illness and death to a degree that a hundred
years ago would have seemed fantastic. It has spread edu-
cation throughout the population, and it has achieved a
quite new degree of harmony between freedom and order.
These are not things which Asia, if it becomes quickly
independent, can hope to achieve. We, in the West, aware of
the appalling poverty of South-East Asia, and convinced that
this poverty is a propaganda weapon in the hands of the
Russians, have begun to think for the first time that some
thing ought to be done to raise the standard of life in these
regions. But their habits and our beliefs between them make
the task, for the present, a hopeless one. Every increase of
production, instead of raising the standard of life, is quickly
swallowed up by an increase in population. Eastern popu-
lations do not know how to prevent this, and Western
bigots prevent those who understand the problem from
spreading the necessary information. What is bad in the West
is easily spread: our restlessness, our militarism, our fanati-

342

PER ASPERA AD ASTRA

cism, and our ruthless belief in mechanism. But what is best
in the West - the spirit of free inquiry, the understanding of
the conditions of general prosperity, and emancipation from
superstition - these things powerful forces in the West
prevent the East from acquiring. So long as this continues,
Eastern populations will remain on the verge of destitution
and in proportion as they become powerful, they will
become destructive through envy. In this they will, of course,
have the help of Russia, unless and until Russia is either
defeated or liberalized. For these reasons, a wise policy
towards Asia is still to seek.

In Africa the same problems exist, though for the present
they are less menacing. 2 Everything done by European
administrators to improve the lot of Africans is, at present,
totally and utterly futile because of the growth of population.
The Africans, not unnaturally, though now mistakenly,
attribute their destitution to their exploitation by the white
man. If they achieve freedom suddenly before they have men
trained in administration and a habit of responsibility, such
civilization as white men have brought to Africa will quickly
disappear. It is no use for doctrinaire liberals to deny this;
there is a standing proof in the island of Haiti.

It must not be supposed that there is any essential stability
in a civilized way of life. Consider the regions overrun by the
Turks and contrast their condition under the Turks with
what they were in Roman days. Over great parts of the
earth's surface, similar misfortunes are not impossible in the
near future. On the other hand it must be admitted that
until we include birth-control in our African policies every
increase in efficiency and honesty and scientific skill on the
part of European administrators will only increase the sum
of human misery.

The population problem is similar in Central and South
America, but it does not there have the same political
importance.

2. Remark: this was written in 1951.

343

BERTRAND RUSSELL

I have been speaking hitherto of public perplexities, but it is
not these alone which trouble the Western mind. Traditional
systems of dogma and traditional codes of conduct have not
the hold that they formerly had. Men and women are often
in genuine doubts as to what is right and what is wrong, and
even as to whether right and wrong are anything more than
ancient superstitions. When they try to decide such questions
for themselves they find them too difficult. They cannot
discover any clear purpose that they ought to pursue or any
clear principle by which they should be guided. Stable
societies may have principles, that, to the outsider, seem
absurd. But so long as the societies remain stable their
principles are subjectively adequate. That is to say they are
accepted by almost everybody unquestioningly, and they
make the rules of conduct as clear and precise as those of
the minuet or the heroic couplet. Modern life, in the West,
is not at all like a minuet or a heroic couplet. It is like free
verse which only the poet can distinguish from prose. Two
great systems of dogma lie in wait for the modern man when
his spirit is weary: I mean the system of Rome and the
system of Moscow. Neither of these gives scope for free mind,
which is at once the glory and the torment of Western man.
It is the torment only because of growing pains. The free
man, full grown, shall be full of joy and vigour and mental
health, but in the meantime he suffers.

Not only publicly, but privately also, the world has need of
ways of thinking and feeling which are adapted to what we
know, to what we can believe, and what we feel ourselves
compelled to disbelieve. There are ways of feeling that are
traditional and that have all the prestige of the past and
weighty authority, and that yet are not adapted to the world
in which we live, where now techniques have made some
new virtues necessary and some old virtues unnecessary. The
Hebrew prophets, surrounded by hostile nations, and de-
termined that their race should not be assimilated by Gentile
conquerors, developed a fierce doctrine in which the leading

344

PER ASPERA AD ASTRA

conception was sin. The Gentiles sinned always and in all
their ways, but the Jews, alas, were only too apt to fall into
sin themselves. When they did so they were defeated in
battle and had to weep by the waters of Babylon. It is this
pattern which has inspired moralists ever since. The virtuous
man has been conceived as one who, though continually
surrounded by temptation, though passionately prompted to
sin, nevertheless, by almost superhuman strength of will,
succeeds in walking along the straight and narrow path,
looking meanwhile disdainfully to the right and left at those
inferior beings who have loitered to pluck flowers by the way.
In this conception, virtue is difficult, negative, and arid. It is
constrictive and suspicious of happiness. It is persuaded that
our natural impulses are bad and that society can only be
held together by means of rigid prohibitions. I do not wish
to pretend that society can hold together if people murder
and steal. What I do say is, that the kind of man whom I
should wish to see in the world is one who will have no
impulse to murder, who will abstain from murder not
because it is prohibited but because his thoughts and feelings
carry him away from impulses of destruction. The whole
conception of sin has, as it were, gone dead, so far, at least, as
conscious thought and feeling are concerned. Most people
have not thought out any other system of ethics, and have
not, perhaps, theoretically rejected the old system. But it has
lost its hold on them. They do not murder or steal as a rule,
because it would not be to their interest to do so, but one
cannot say as much for their obedience to the Seventh
Commandment. They have, in fact, no wish to conform to
the ancient pattern. The Publican thanks God that he is not
as this Pharisee, and imagines that in so doing he has caught
the point of the parable. It does not occur to him that
feeling superior is what is reprehended, and that whether it
is the Publican or the Pharisee who feels superior is an
unimportant detail.
I should wish to persuade those to whom traditional

345

BERTRAND RUSSELL

morals have gone dead, and who yet feel the need of some
serious purpose over and above momentary pleasure, that
there is a way of thinking and feeling which is not difficult
for those who have not been trained in its opposite, and
which is not one of self-restraint, negation and condem-
nation. The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do
not mean that if you are good you will be happy; I mean
that if you are happy you will be good. Unhappiness is
deeply implanted in the souls of most of us. How many
people we all know who go through life apparently gay, and
who yet are perpetually in search of intoxication whether of
the Bacchic kind or some other. The happy man does not
desire intoxication. Nor does he envy his neighbour and
therefore hate him. He can live the life of impulse like a child,
because happiness makes his impulses fruitful and not
destructive. There are many men and women who imagine
themselves emancipated from the shackles of ancient codes
but who, in fact, are emancipated only in the upper layers of
their minds. Below these layers lies the sense of guilt
crouching like a wild beast waiting for moments of weakness
or inattention, and growling venomous angers which rise to
the surface in strange distorted forms. Such people have the
worst of both worlds. The feeling of guilt makes real happi-
ness impossible for them, but the conscious rejection of old
codes of behaviour makes them act perpetually in ways that
feed the maw of the ancient beast beneath. A way of life
cannot be successful so long as it is a mere intellectual
conviction. It must be deeply felt, deeply believed, dominant
even in dreams. I do not think that the best kind of life is
possible in our day for those who, below the level of
consciousness, are still obsessed by the load of sin. It is obvious
that there are things that had better not be done, but I do not
think the best way to avoid the doing of such things is to
label them sin and represent them as almost irresistibly
attractive. And so I should wish to offer to the world
something scarcely to be called an ethic, at any rate in the

346

PER ASPERA AD ASTRA

old acceptation of that word, but something which
nonetheless, will save men from moral perplexity and from
remorse and from condemnation of others. What I should
put in the place of an ethic in the old sense is encouragement
and opportunity for all the impulses that are creative and
expansive. I should do everything possible to liberate men
from fear, not only conscious fears, but the old imprisoned
primeval terrors that we brought with us out of the jungle.
I should make it clear, not merely an as intellectual propo-
sition, but as something that the heart spontaneously believes,
that it is not by making others suffer that we shall achieve
our own happiness, but that happiness and the means to
happiness depend upon harmony with other men. When all
this is not only understood but deeply felt, it will be easy to
live in a way that brings happiness equally to ourselves and to
others. If men could think and feel in this way, not only their
personal problems, but all the problems of world politics,
even the most abstruse and difficult, would melt away.
Suddenly, as when the mist dissolves from a mountain top,
the landscape would be visible and the way would be clear. It
is only necessary to open the doors of our hearts and minds
to let the imprisoned demons escape and the beauty of the
world take possession.

THE HAPPY WORLD

I have been concerned in my book "New Hopes for a
Changing World," to set forth certain facts, and certain
hopes which these facts render rational. The facts concern
the unification of mankind through modern technique, and
the liberation of mankind from bondage to excessive toil
which the inadequate technique of the past rendered
unavoidable. The hopes that are based upon these facts are
hopes as to the general well-being that may be realised if
mankind learned to practice the cooperation which modern

347

BERTRAND RUSSELL

techniques demand. There are, it is true, correlative fears, for
which there is perhaps as good basis in the present state of the
world as for the hopes that I have been setting forth. The
technical unification of the world not only makes possible
much greater general well-being than at any former time, if
it is accompanied by economic and political unification; it
also makes possible greater disasters than any known to even
the worst of former times, if our technical skill continues to
be devoted to disunity rather than unity. I have not, however y
in this book dwelt much upon the reasons for fear, since I do
not think that it is through fear that we shall avoid the
dangers that threaten us. Our world has too much of fear,
and emphasis upon dangers is apt to lead to apathetic despair.
What our world needs is the opposite; it needs rational
creative hope; it needs something positive to live for. It
needs "yes" feelings rather than "no" feelings. If the "yes"
feelings are as strong as a purely rational consideration allows
them to be, the "no" feelings will melt away and become
unnecessary. But if we dwell upon "no" feelings too much,
we shall never emerge from despair.

I shall assume in what follows that mankind, whether
through the lessons of a third world war or through some
less painful process, will have come to understand the
community of interest which unites the human family. And
I shall try to portray the kind of world that will result from
this understanding. I shall consider that public institutions
can do to bring about a happy issue in the three age-long
conflicts of men: with nature, with each other, and with
themselves.

Let us begin with the conflict with nature.

There will have to be an international authority con-
trolling the production and distribution of food and raw
materials. This authority must have power to prevent such
wasteful agricultural methods as have produced the deserts
in North Africa and the Dust Bowl in the United States. The
present cultivators of the soil must not be allowed to enrich

348

PER ASPERA AD ASTRA

themselves by using up wastefully the natural capital upon
which future generations will have to subsist. It must come
to be realized that whoever destroys the fertility of the soil in
any region is doing an injury to mankind as a whole, and that
this is not the sort of injury that private persons, or even
whole nations, have a right to inflict. The agricultural
authority, in addition to insisting upon soil conservation, will
have to give advice on scientific agriculture and to make all
knowledge on this subject easily available to every cultivator.
But I do not think that cultivators need be compelled to
adopt the latest scientific methods, except in cases where the
old methods are permanently destructive to fertility.

Somewhat similar considerations apply to raw materials.
As I write a dangerous dispute is in progress concerning
Iranian Oil. The Persians say that it belongs to them, the
British and Americans say that it belongs to them, the
Russians, in the background, are hoping that it will soon
belong to them. But by what right should it belong to any
of these contending parties ? It was not they who put it there,
and it is not they alone who will use it. It should be viewed
as the common property of all nations. Socialists have
become aware of the evils of private property in land, when
the private landowner is a citizen whose interests may be
opposed to those of other citizens of his state, but they have
not yet become aware of the evils of national private property
- I mean property vested in one nation to the exclusion of
others. With the unification of world economy, this kind of
private property becomes increasingly harmful, and is a
constant incentive to war. It is because of this kind of private
property that Czechoslovakia has to have a Communist
Government, since otherwise Russia would not be able to
use its uranium in the manufacture of atom-bombs. For such
reasons it is not enough that raw materials should be nation-
alized; they must be internationalised, and rationed to
possible users on some system that has international sanction.

As we have seen, the problem of adequately nourishing the

349

BERTRAND RUSSELL

human family cannot be solved while the population
continues to increase rapidly. Rapid increase has been
checked in the past by famine and pestilence, but these are
painful methods. Moreover, their effectiveness is diminishing;
medicine is coping with pestilence, and philanthropy is
causing famine to be a less localized phenomenon than it
used to be. The population problem, therefore, if the world
is to flourish in spite of scientific medicine and economic
justice must be dealt with by means of universal birth-
control. Whatever this may involve in the way of education,
industrialization and increase of prosperity in the poorer
regions of the world must be undertaken at no matter what
cost, if a scientifically unified world is to be stable, and is not
to sink to continually lower levels of subsistence.

I come now to the conflicts of man with man. Here the
first thing to be coped with is war. While mankind are subject
to the threat of war, especially by the deadly methods which
science is perfecting, nothing good can be secure. There is
only one way of making the world safe against war, and that
is to have only one armed force in the world. There might
be local police forces with minor weapons such as could cope
with unarmed civilians, but all the really serious weapons of
war must be concentrated in the hands of one single authori-
ty. When this has been achieved, there will no longer be
danger of serious wars, unless they were to take the form
of civil wars between different parts of the international
force. To prevent this, measures which are not purely
military will be required. There will need to be control over
education, in the sense that no country must be allowed in
its schools to teach a predatory nationalism. The teaching of
history everywhere should lay more stress upon the progress
of man than upon national victories of defeats in contests
with other nations. The books used in the teaching of
history should everywhere be such as have been sanctioned
by the international authority, and have been certified to be
free from nationalistic falsehoods. There should also be a

350

PER ASPERA AD ASTRA

very widely diffused teaching of sound economics - the
economics, I mean, which emphasizes the much greater part
played by co-operation than by competition in an intelligent
modern technique. There should be a gradual approach to
universal free trade. There should be complete freedom of
travel, as there was in most countries before 1914. There
should be interchanges of students, so that many people,
while still young enough to be not hardened in habits and
prejudices, should become intimate with people of other
countries and with their ways of thought and behaviour. The
edifice of internationalism in education should have at its
apex an international university, open to able students from all
countries, containing professors to whom the international
ideal appeared important, and affording a refuge to able men
who, like EINSTEIN, were found displeasing to their com-
patriots. One might hope that in such a university a free
community might grow up of men capable, not only of
overcoming nationalism in their thoughts by deliberate
effort, but of genuinely feeling the unity of man and of the
common tasks to which a wise humanity should devote
itself.

I come last to the protection of the individual, both against
the hostility of the herd and against his own fear. These two
are more closely connected than is sometimes thought, for
herd hostility is usually the result of fear, and the fear that it
expresses though nominally directed outwards, has, as a rule,
its root in a fear which the intolerant individuals feel of a
part of themselves. I have spoken in previous chapters of
what education in the very early years can do to prevent the
growth of underground terrors, such as psycho-analysis lays
bare. Affection and security are what is mainly needed in the
early years. A population wisely handled in youth will be less
liable to herd hostilities than is now common in most parts
of the world. Nevertheless, it must be expected that herd
hostilities will be sometimes aroused in cases in which to the
outsider there seems no just ground for such hostilities. The

35i

BERTRAND RUSSELL

best way of dealing with such cases would be to provide
places of sanctuary, as was done in the Middle Ages ; those
who had fled to such places should be examined by a neutral
authority and should be protected if that authority pro-
nounced them blameless.

Regimentation and uniformity are dangers that an
organized industrial world will have to fear, and against
which it should take deliberate measures. There should be
opportunities for exceptional individuals, such as poets and
artists, who would be like to fail in any attempt to win the
approval of elderly bureaucrats. I should have academies for
such men, not as a reward for achieved eminence, for then
it is too late, but as expressing the favourable opinion of
young men engaged in similar pursuits. I would have election
to such academies only possible for men under twenty-five,
and I would confine the voting for election to members of
the Academy concerned who were still under thirty-five.
Such regulations might make it possible for the academy not
to become an ossified collection of old fogies, as academies
too often are.

There would still be some whose work would be too
anarchic or too much opposed to the fashion to win the
approval even of the young. BLAKE, for example, would not
have secured the suffrages of contemporary poets or painters.
Such men would have to make their living by work that left
them a certain amount of leisure, and if they were content to
live simply this should be possible. There should be for
everybody considerably shorter hours of work then are now
customary, and much longer holidays than are now enjoyed
by anybody except university professors. Some people are
afraid that in such a community life would be too tame and
unadventurous, but this need not be the case. There are
innumerable forms of adventure which could be open to
everybody who desired them, if holidays were as long as they
easily might be. For those who wish at all times to live
strenuously, and to whom a soft life feels disgusting, it

352

PER ASPERA AD ASTRA

should be possible to find a quite sufficient outlet in some
really difficult work, whether of artistic creation or of
scientific research. Such work stretches men's powers to the
very utmost, as much in its way as an attempt to climb
Everest; but for those who do not find it adequate, Everest
still remains to be conquired.

Unusual individuals whom subsequent ages, but not their
contemporaries, have regarded as meritorious, have been
possible in the past if they had the good fortune to inherit
money. MILTON, BYRON, SHELLEY and DARWIN were all
rendered possible by this piece of good fortune. But there is
no social system imaginable which will enable everybody to
inherit a fortune, and in the society of the future, if ex-
ceptional individuals whose merit is not recognized while
they are young are to be enabled to do their work, there
must be definite institutions designed for this purpose. If this
is not done, fundamental progress will cease, and men will
tend to look back to the intellectual or artistic giants of
former times as something beyond the capacity of the
present age.

No society can be great without great individuals, and I
should not think much of a world which had secured
universal safety at the price of universal mediocrity. I think,
however, that universal security, if it were attained by the
kind of means that I have spoken of, would so much di-
minish envy and fear of eccentricity that the recognition,
even in the young, of possible exceptional merit would not
encounter the psychological resistance which it now has to
meet in the great majority of mankind. If this is indeed the
case, and if such institutions as I have spoken of can be
established, the happy world that I am envisaging can be not
only happy but glorious. I cannot believe that what is dark
and dreadful and destructive in the souls of men is essential
to the production of great works of imagination. I believe, on
the contrary, that it lies within the power of man to create
edifices of shining splendour, from which the glory and

353

BERTRAND RUSSELL

greatness of which human thought and feeling are capable
shall spread a light unmixed with darkness, filling men's
hearts with joy and their thoughts with clarity. Such a world
is possible. It rests with men to choose whether they will
create it, or allow the human race to perish in anger and
sordid hate.

Man, in the long ages since he descended from the trees,
has passed arduously and perilously through a vast dusty
desert, surrounded by the whitening bones of those who have
perished by the way, maddened by hunger and thirst, by
fear of wild beasts, by dread of enemies, not only living
enemies, but spectres of dead rivals projected on to the
dangerous world by the intensity of his own fears. At last he
has emerged from the desert into a smiling land, but in the
long night he has forgotten how to smile. We cannot believe
in the brightness of the morning. We think it trivial and
deceptive; we cling to old myths that allow us to go on living
with fear and hate - above all, hate of ourselves, miserable
sinners. This is folly. Man now needs for his salvation only
one thing: to open his heart to joy, and leave fear to gibber
through the glimmering darkness of a forgotten past. He
must lift up his eyes and say: "No, I am not a miserable
sinner; I am a being who, by a long and arduous road, have
discovered how to make intelligence master natural obstacles,
how to live in freedom and joy, at peace with myself and
therefore with all mankind." This will happen if men will
choose joy rather than sorrow. If not, eternal death will bury
man in deserved oblivion.

354

The Authors

Lord JOHN BOYD ORR, F.R.S., F.R.S.E., LLD., D.Sc., M.D.;
Physiologist. Apart of his extensive research and organisatory
work in animal and human nutrition in the service of the
British Commonwealth, he taught as Professor of Agricul-
ture at the University of Aberdeen. He is the founder and
former Director General of the United Nations' Food and
Agricultural Organization. For his fight against hunger on a
global scale he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1949.

Lord BOYD ORR is one of the Charter Members and the
first President of the World Academy of Art and Science,
(see the Manifesto on page 367).

Adress: Newton of Stracathro, Brechin, Scotland.

ALBERT EINSTEIN, 1879-1955. The visionary words quoted here,
are words of his early life as scientist. During his whole life,
however, his thoughts and his work were directed to a global
cooperation - and not only in science. He inspired the idea
of the World Academy of Art and Science, but died to early
to witness its materialization.

HUGO N. BOYKO, Ph.D., born in Vienna, Austria, where he
introduced plant sociology at that University. At present he
is Ecological Advisor to the National Research Council of

355

Israel, Prime Minister's Office. His numerous publications
contain several new lines of research, three natural laws, and
about fifty new methods in plant ecology. His main scientific
activities are at present in the field of ecological climato-
graphy and of fundamental research for productivizing
deserts and waste lands, continuing also his and his wife's
successful experiments of direct irrigation with sea water.

He holds several leading positions in international organ-
izations of science and is Secretary General of the World
Academy of Art and Science.

Address: i Ruppin Street, Rehovot, Israel

ROBERT OPPENHEIMER, D. Sc. ; formerly Professor of Physics
at the University of California and at the Californian In-
stitute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. As Chairman
of the Atomic Energy Commission (1946-1952) he organized
the research work in this field in the United States of America.
He achieved world fame as scientist and teacher, as well
as for his striving for peaceful use of atomic energy. A close
co-worker of EINSTEIN, ROBERT OPPENHEIMER is one of the
outstanding educationists of international influence teaching
the humanitarian obligations of science, wherever the op-
portunity is given.

Address: Institute for Advanced Study - Princeton, N.J.
U.S.A.

W. F. G. SWANN, M.A., D.Sc., A.R.C.S.; Physicist and Philo-
sopher, worked first at the Carnegie Institute of Washington
(1913). Then in succession he became Professor of Physics at
the University of Minnesota, the University of Chicago and
Yale University, where he was Director of the Sloane
Laboratory. In 1927 he became Director of the Bartol Research
Foundation of the Franklin Institute, from which position
he retired in 1959 to become Director Emeritus.

356

He is a member of numerous scientific societies and was
President of the American Physical Society in 1931-1932. Profes-
sor SWANN is the author of some 250 scientific publications, and
his outstanding contributions to science as well as his sti-
mulating efforts towards progress in research during the
last decades have won him many honorary degrees and
awards in America and abroad.

Address: Bartol Research Foundation, Whittier Place,
Swarthmore, Pa., U.S.A.

HERMANN JOSEPH MUIXER, M.A., Ph.D., D.Sc.; Leading
Geneticist; Professor of Zoology at the Indiana University,
Bloomington, U.S.A.; Distinguished Service Professor since
1953; his international fame is based not only on his outstand-
ing scientific work but also on his humanitarian activities.
In his own field of research he won many international
honours, among them (in 1946) the Nobel Prize in Physiology
and Medicine for the "discovery of the production of mu-
tations by means of X-rays."

He is Charter Member of the World Academy of Art and
Science, and Vice President of its first Presidium.

Address: Department of Zoology, Indiana University,
Bloomington, Ind., U.S.A.

HAROLD D. LASSWELL. Ph.D.; Professor of Law and of Political
Science, Yale University. He taught his new lines of research
at various Universities in the East and in the West of the
U.S.A., as well as in China and Japan.

He is one of the co-founders of Political Science and Past
President of the American Political Science Association.
Professor LASSWELL is particularly known internationally for
his leading research in the field of political sociology and
psychology.

Address: Yale University, Law School, New Haven, Conn.,
U.S.A.

357

SOLCO W. TROMP, Ph.D.; Formerly Professor of Geology at
Fouad I University, Cairo, Egypt; Geological Consultant of
the United Nations Technical Assistance Program. At present
he is Head of the Bioclimatological Research Centre, Uni-
versity Medical Centre at Leiden, the Netherlands, and
Secretary of the Netherlands Society of Medical Geography.
Apart from his work in foreign countries and particularly
from his exploration work in Afghanistan, which represents
an important basis for the development of that country,
he is - in the international teamwork of science - Secretary
General of the International Society of Bioclimatology and
Biometeorology.

Address: Hofbrouckerlaan 54, Oegstgeest, the Netherlands.

RICHARD MONTGOMERY FIELD, Ph.D. (Harvard); Professor
Emeritus of Geology, Princeton University; Past President,
American Geophysical Union; President-Director, Ameri-
can Institute of Geonomy and Natural Resources; etc.

An internationally acknowledged leading geologist, he
worked many years in the framework of the International
Union of Geodesy and Geophysics as Chairman of the
International Committee for the Social Value of Natural
Sciences. In this capacity he organized, together with the
late JOHN A. FLEMING, the International Conference on Science
and Human Welfare, Washington, D.C, 1956, which led to
the election of the International Preparatory Committee
for the World Academy of Art and Science.

Address: American Institute for Geonomy and Natural
Resources, South Duxbury, Mass., U.S.A.

PIERRE DANSEREAU, Ph.D.; Born in Montreal, he received his
doctorate in Europe (Geneva) and taught - until his ap-
pointment as Professor of Botany at his birthplace in 1955 -
as Lecturer and as Professor in many countries (Canada,

358

Brazil, U.S.A., Spain, France, Portugal, New Zealand, etc.).
He now works at the New York Botanical Garden.

His research work in all these countries has won him a
leading position as plant geographer and - based on his
worldwide experience - as ecologist

Address: New York Botanical Garden, Bronx Park, New
York 58, N.Y., U.S.A.

M. }. SIRKS, Ph.D., (Leiden); Professor of Genetics, Groningen
University (1937-1960). (Since September 1960, Professor Emeri-
tus).

A leading Botanist and Organizer of international cooper-
ation in science, he was elected Secretary General of the
International Union of Biological Sciences (1935-1947) and
then its President (1947-1950). Since 1935, Member of the World
Council of Botany. Honorary President of two International
Botanical Congresses (Stockholm, 1950, and Paris, 1954).

Address: Genetisch Instituut, Haren (Gron.), the Nether-
lands.

PIERRE CHOUARD, D.es Sc. ; Professor of Plant Physiology at
the Sorbonne University, Paris, he is one of the foremost
leaders in Botany. As Director of the French Phytotron and
Member of the French Academy of Agriculture, he is also
closely connected with agricultural problems.

In the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS),
he is President of the Division of Botany and Vice-President
of the Union itself. For his activities in Desert Research, he
was appointed by UNESCO as one of the nine members of the
International Advisory Committee for Arid Zone Research.

Address : Laboratoire de Physiologic Vegetale, i Rue Victor
Cousin, Paris, France.

JOHN F. V. PHILLIPS, D.Sc., F.R.S.E., F.R.S.S.Afr. ; Ecologist,
Conservationist and Agriculturist; Formerly Professor of

359

Botany, University of Johannesburg; Professor of Ecology
and Agriculture, University of Ghana; Consultant to FAO
(Food and Agriculture Organization) and to the International
Bank for Reconstruction and Development of the United
Nations Organization. At present Chairman, Advisory Com-
mittee on African Agricultural Development, Southern
Rhodesia.

His books on Africa's Ecology and Agriculture are acclaim-
ed as basis for land use and agricultural development of
Africa, South of the Sahara.

Address: 16 Fourth Avenue, P.O. Mabelreign, Salesbury,
Southern Rhodesia.

THEODORE ANDRE MONOD, D.es Sc. ; Corresponding Member
of the French Academy of Sciences, Professor at the National
Museum of Natural History in Paris, and Director of the
Institut Franf ais d'Afrique Noire in Dakar. THEODORE MONOD
is internationally acclaimed as one of the few encyclopedists
of our time. Although his main field is Zoology, he is a
leading scientist also in several other fields, as Geography,
Geology, Archeology and Botany.

His famous recent journey through the length (!) of the
Sahara from West to East on camelback, with two Beduins
only as companions, enriched significantly our knowledge
of deserts and desert life in many directions.

Address: Institut Franjais d'Afrique Noire, Dakar, Senegal,
West Africa.

HENRIK F. INFIELD, Ph.D. (Vienna); He taught Sociology at
several Universities in Central Europe and in the U.S.A.
and is at present Visiting Professor at the Hebrew University
in Jerusalem.

His special field is Sociology of Cooperation, and his ex-
tensive publications in this branch of science have appeared
in many languages. He is a member of the Board of Editors

360

of the International Archives of the Sociology of Cooper-
ation, and was in 1953 elected President of the International
Council of this Research.

Address: The Eliezer Kaplan School, Hebrew University,
Jerusalem, Israel.

LYLE K. BUSH, Professor of Fine Arts, Simmons College,
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

Internationally known for his teaching philosophy, voiced
particularly in his papers in the Harvard Educational Review
and in the Simmons Review, where he regards current schisms
between cultural and scientific criteria to be a major handi-
cap to meaningful survival.

His active participation in the foundation of the World
Academy has as its particular aim to help in building the
necessary bridge.

Address: King Arthur Way, Duxbury, Massachusetts,
U.S.A.

W. TAYLOR THOM, Jr., D.Sc; Professor of Geology, Emeritus,
and Chairman, Emeritus, Department of Geological En-
gineering, Princeton University, U.S.A. Born of an old
Quaker family, he developed, already as a young geologist,
how the matters of mineral-resources discovery, develop-
ment and political geography have influenced the rise and
decline of nations, of empires and of civilizations through-
out historic times. During 1920 and 1921 he was charged
with preparing an estimate of available American oil reserves,
and soon achieved international fame by his work on
mineral resources.

With RICHARD M. FIELD he is co-founder of the out-of-
door summertime University, and organizer and co-worker
of many important national and international teamworks
in his scientific field. For his outstanding achievements he
received the John Fleming Medal in 1957.

Address: 272 Snowden Lane, Princeton, N.J., U.S.A.

361

EUROPAEUS: As the language problem is closely connected
with political problems, the author is of the opinion, that
it may be of more advantage for an objective and scientific
consideration of the subject if he remains anonymous.

ISAAC BERENBLUM, M.D., M.Sc; At present Head of the De-
partment of Experimental Biology at the Weizmann In-
stitute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. Formerly on the staff
of the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at Oxford
University.

His field is experimental cancer research with special refer-
ence to the mechanism of carcinogenesis. Professor
BERENBLUM -besides his numerous scientific publications and
invited lectures in all continents - is author of the book
"Man Against Cancer", and his leading position in this
field of research has won him many international honours
and awards. But - as this essay also proves, and like most of
the leading scientists - he does not confine himself to his
specialized research only.

Address : Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.

WIIXEM CAREL DE LEEUW, has been for many decades a leading
scientist in Botany, without being connected with a scien-
tific institution.

His work is widely acknowledged internationally. He is
Doctor honoris causa of the University of Amsterdam, and
President of the International Society for Plantgeography
and Ecology.

Address: Roodenburgerstraat 35, Leiden, the Netherlands.

EARL BERTRAND A. W. RUSSELL, O.M., M.A., RR.S.; Philoso-
pher, mathematician and educationist, the dynamic nona-
genarian is one of the foremost spiritual leaders of our times,
and a keen co-worker of the World Academy of Art and
Science.

362

His idea of a World University (first published in 1951)
is one of the major aims of the World Academy. The name
BERTRAND RUSSELL has long become a symbol of man's
struggle for real freedom and peace.

Among the visible acknowledgements are the Nobel Prize
for Literature (1950) and the UNESCO Kalinga Prize (1957).

Address: Plas Penrhyn, Penrhyndeudraeth, Merioneth,
U.K.

363

World Academy

Art and Science

Manifesto

In the Name of Science and the Future of Mankind.

The appeal of the International Conference on Science and
Human Welfare has been realised - THE WORLD ACADEMY OF
ART AND SCIENCE has been established.

This urgently needed forum has been created for dis-
tinguished scientists and scholars to discuss the vital problems
of mankind, independent of political boundaries or limits -
whether spiritual or physical; a forum where these problems
will be discussed objectively, scientifically, globally and free
from vested interests or regional attachments.

The World Academy of Art and Science will function as an
informal "world university" at the highest scientific and
ethical level, in which deep human understanding and the
fullest sense of responsibility will meet.

The structure of the Academy and its goal are laid down
in the first volume of its publications, "Science and the
Future of Mankind," now in press.

The basic idea which led to the founding of the Academy
stems from the following considerations:

All existing international organisations which decide on
vital problems of mankind are constructed on the principle
of national or group representation. This forum is inter-
national, or more truly trans-national.

From the dawn of mankind people have worked together
to build the tower of knowledge, and no nation has failed

367

to contribute to this marvellous building. The creative power
of the human spirit is to be found in the first prehistoric
digging stick for agriculture as in the motorised plough of
our time. The first canoe is no less original in concept than
the Archimedian principle; the first wheel no less than the
first aeroplane - perhaps even more so.

The true object of all these achievements of the human
spirit is to lighten the burden of life, to enrich it - and
certainly not to make it more difficult or to destroy it. In
the words of EINSTEIN who is one of the spiritual fathers
of this trans-national forum: 'The creations of our mind
shall be a blessing and not a curse to mankind."

This is the fundamental aim of the World Academy: to
rediscover the language of mutual understanding. It will
work in close collaboration with the institutions of the
United Nations. It will look for the true enemies of peace,
and try to fight them :

These enemies are hunger and sickness, waste and de-
struction; the archenemies intolerance and ignorance,
resignation and fear.

In International meetings and conferences, represented
by group or nation, the intrinsic merits of the questions
discussed have too often to be subordinated to considerations
of national prestige or group-interests. The World Academy
has no pre-established tasks to fulfil and no vested interests
to serve. It is free to attack problems in the broad interests
of mankind, and to seek solutions leading to hope, happiness
and peace.

With the help of science and the support of all cultural
and constructive forces of mankind, the World Academy
will be able to dedicate itself to its objective - the aim of
serving as an impartial and unpolitical adviser, comple-
menting other organisations, in this difficult transition
period, and contributing in leading mankind to an era of
true progress, true human welfare, and true happiness.

Supported by the confidence and trust of a great number

368

of spiritual leaders of mankind, we herewith declare the
World Academy of Art and Science founded.

For the Charter Members:
The President - Lord JOHN BOYD ORR

(Brechin, Scotland, U.K.)
The Vice Presidents - HERMANN JOSEPH MULLER

(Bloomington, Ind. s U.S.A.)
HUGO OSVALD

(Uppsala, Sweden)
The Secretary General - HUGO BOYKO

(Jerusalem-Rehovoth, Israel).

24th December, 1960.

369

Manifeste

Au nom de la Science et de Tavenir de FHumanite,

L'appel de la Conference Internationale sur la Science et le
Bien-etre humain a ete entendu. L' Academic Mondiale de
1'Art et de la Science a ete constitute.

Ainsi, ce forum dont le besoin se faisait sentir de faf on
pressante a ete cree; des hommes de science et des savants
de reputation international y delibereront ensemble, hors
de toute restriction ou frontiere politique, des problemes
vitaux de I'humanite, qu'ils soient spirituels ou physiques;
un forum ou ces problemes pourront etre discutes objective-
ment, scientifiquement, dans leur ensemble et par dela
tous interets acquis ou interets de groupes.

L' Academic Mondiale de 1 s Art et de la Science fonctionnera
comme une "universite mondiale" non formelle, d'un tres
haut degre scientifique et moral, ou regneront une profonde
comprehension humaine et un sens parfait des responsa-
bilites.

La structure de FAcademie et son but sont exposes dans
le premier volume de ses publications, "Science and the
Future of Mankind" [Science et 1'avenir de THumanite],
actuellement sous presse.

Quelle est Tidee fondamentale qui a conduit a la fondation
de I'Academie?

Elle provient des considerations suivantes: les organisa-
tions Internationales qui, aujourd'hui, conferent sur les pro-

371

blemes vitaux de Phumanite et les tranchent sont toutes
baties sur le prlncipe d'une representation nationale ou de
groupe.

Ce forum-ci est vraiment international. II est meme plus :
il est trans-national.

Depuis Paube de Phumanite, nous autres etres humains
avons travaille tous ensemble a batir la tour de nos con-
naissances. II n'y a pas de peuple sur notre planete qui n'ait
participe de faf on constructive a ce merveilleux edifice.

Le pouvoir createur de Pesprit humain se retrouve aussi
bien dans le morceau de bois qui servait a piocher la ter-
re aux temps prehistoriques que dans la charrue motorisee
de notre epoque. La premiere pirogue n'est pas moins ori-
ginale dans sa conception que le principe d'Archimede,
la premiere roue que le premier avion; peut-etre meme
Pest-elle davantage.

Le veritable objet de tous ces succes de Pesprit humain
est d'alleger le poids de la vie, de Penricbir-et certes non pas
de la rendre plus difficile ou de la supprimer. Ou bien, pour
reprendre les paroles d'EiNSTEiN qui est Pun des peres
spirituels de ce forum transnational: "Les creations de notre
esprit doivent etre une benediction et non pas un fleau pour
Phumanite".

Ceci est le but fondamental de PAcademie Mondiale:
essayer de trouver de nouveau le langage de la compre-
hension mutuelle.

Elle travaillera en etroite cooperation avec les institutions
des Nations Unies.

Elle reconnaitra quels sont les veritables ennemis, le cartel
des ennemis de la paix, et montrera comment les combattre.

Ces ennemis sont la faim et la maladie, le gaspillage et la
destruction, et avant tout: Pintolerance et Pignorance, la
resignation et la peur.

Dans les reunions ou conferences internationales dont la
representation est soit de groupe soit nationale, les merites

372

intrinseques des questions discutees sont trop souvent
subordonnes a des considerations de prestige national ou
aux interets des groupes.

L 3 Academic Mondiale n'a pas de taches pre-etablies a
remplir ni d'interets acquis a servir. Elle est plus libre pour
attaquer les problemes dans le plein interet de Fhumanite
et pour chercher des solutions conduisant a Fespoir, a la
joie et a la paix.

Avec Faide de la Science et Fappui de toutes les forces
culturelles et constructives de Fhumanite, F Academic Mon-
diale pourra se consacrer pleinement a son objectify le but
de servir de conseiller impartial et a-politique, suppleant
ainsi d'autres organisations dans cette difficile periode de
transition, et contribuant a conduire Fhumanite vers une
ere de progres veritable, de vrai bien-etre de Tetre humain
et de veritable joie de vivre.

Soutenus par la confiance et Fespoir d'un grand nombre
de chefs spirituels de Fhumanite, nous declarons fondee,
par la presente, FACADEMIE MONDIALE DE L S ART ET DE LA SCIENCE.

Pour les membres de la Charter

Le President - Lord JOHN BOYD ORR

(Brechin, Scotland, U.K.)

Les Vice-Presidents - HERMANN JOSEPH MULLER

(Bloomington, Ind., U.S.A.)

HUGO OSVALD
(Uppsala, Suede)

Le Secretaire General - HUGO BOYKO

(Jerusalem-Rehovot, Israel)

Le 24 Decembre 1960.

373

List of Co-Workers in the Preparatory Steps and of

Charter Members of the
World Academy of Art and Science

PIERRE CHOUARD
RITCHIE CALDER

Paris
Aberdeen

H. MUNRO Fox London

JOSEPH NEEDHAM Cambridge,

U.K.

GEORGE LACIAVE'RE Paris
G. LE LIONNAISE Paris

ROBERT OPPENHEIMER Princeton

Main International
Organization
(activities)

Ecologist President, Division of Bota-
ny, LU.B.S.

Science President, Int. Association

Writer of Science Writers

Zoologist Past-President of LU.B.S.
Biochemist, Co-Founder of UNESCO
Historian, and first Director of its
Orientalist Dept. of Natural Sciences
Geophysicist Secretary-General of

LU.G.G.

Science Chairman, Round Table

Writer Conference of UNESCO

Physicist

The following scientists have already sent their agreement to sign as charter mem-
bers: -

PIERRE AUGER

I. BERENBLUM

Paris

Rehovot

LORD J. BOYD-ORR Brechin

Physicist

Biologist,
(Cancer-
Research)
Nutritionist

Advisor and former Direc-
tor of UNESCO, Dept. of
Natural Sciences

H. BOYKO
LYLEK.BUSH
G. BROCK CHISHOIM
MAURICE EWING

Rehovot

Boston

Victoria

New York

Founder and first Director
General of FAO, Nobel Pri-
ze Laureate

Ecologist President, ICE; Vice-Presi-
dent, ISBB

Prof, of Art Member, Int. Preparatory
Commission of WAAS

Medicine Founder and first Director
General of WHO

Geophysicist President, Geophysical
Union of America

375

PAUL FALLOT

Paris

Geologist

R. M. FIELD

South Duxbury

Geologist

F. R. FOSBERG

Washington,

Ecologist

D.C.

}. HEIMANNS

Amsterdam

Botanist

A. KATCHALSKY

Rehovot

Physico-

Chemist

HAROLD D. LASSWELL

New Haven

Political

Science

W. C. DE LEEOT

Leyden

Plant socio-

logist and

philosopher

P. MAHESHVARI

Delhi

Botanist

]. VAN MlEGHEM

Bruxelles

Meteorologist

THEODORE MONOD

Dakar-Paris

Zoologist

STUART MUDD

Philadelphia

Microbio-

logist

HERMANN JOSEPH

Bloomington

Geneticist

MULLER

HUGO OSVALD

Uppsala

Agriculturist

P. VAN OYE

Ghent

Hydrobiolo-

gist

FRANCIS PERRIN

Paris

Physicist

A. DE PHILIPPIS

Firence

Forest

Scientist

JOHN F. V. PHILLIPS

Southern

Agricultural

Rhodesia

Ecologist

CHRISTIAN POULSEN

Kopenhagen

Mineralogist

B. PREGEL

New York

Physicist

J. ROTBLAT

London

Physicist

EARL BERTRAND

U.K.

Philosopher

RUSSELL

ARTHUR WILLIAM

Calif.

Forest

SAMPSON

Scientist

M. J. SIRKS

Wageningen

Geneticist

HARLAN T. STETSON

Fort Landerdale,

Astronomer

Florida

W.EG.SWANN

Philadelphia

Physicist

(died shortly after signing
as Charter Member)
Past President, Geophysical
Union of Amerika, Presi-
dent, American Institute
for Geonomy and Natural
Resources

Co-founder and Vice-Pre-
sident, Int. Association for
Tropical Ecology

Vice-President, Israel
Academy of Science

President, Int. Association
of Plantgeogr. and Ecology

President, Royal Flemish
Academy of Sciences; Vice-
President, Int. Commission
of Aerology, WMO

President, Int. Association
of Microbiological Societies
Nobel Prize Laureate

Vice-President, Int. Asso-
ciation of Limnology

Vice-President, Int. Union
of Forest Research Stations
Advisor of World-bank in
African Problems
President, Int. Union of Pa-
leontology and Stratigraphy
Past President, and Chair-
man, Board, New York
Academy of Science
Hon. Secretary of, and Liai-
son officer to Pugwash Con
ferences
Nobel Prize Laureate

Past President, I.U.B.S.

Director Emeritus, Bartold
Research Foundation of the
Franklin Institute

376

W. TAYLOR THOM, JR. Princeton
SOLCO W. TROMP Oegstgeest

HARLD C. UREY
FRANS VERDOORN

Calif.
Utrecht

WALTER W. WEISBACH The Hague

Geologist

Bioclimato-
logist
Chemist
Botanist

Physician
(Hygiene and
National
Economy)

Member, Preparatory Com-
mission of WAAS
Founder and Seer. General
ISBB

Nobel Prize Laureate
President, Int. Commission
for Biohistorical Science

We miss the signatures of four great men who worked in this direction until their

death:

Sir IAN CLUNIES Ross, the famous Australian Biologist and Organisator of scientific
research, who - full of enthusiasm - had just started to write his essay for our
book "Science and the Future of Mankind", when sudden death ended his
work

JOHN A. FLEMING, the former President of the International Council of Scientific
Unions, who organized, together with R. M. FIELD, the First Internat. Confe-
rence on Science and Human Welfare in 1956, where the decision of this foun-
dation was made

HOMER LE ROY SHANTZ, the great Ecologist, who encouraged the plan by word and
letter through the 3 years 1955-1958, and last but not least

ALBERT EINSTEIN, the spiritual father of the idea.

All four we can call - Charter members "posthumus".

ABBREVIATIONS

FAO Food and Agricultural Organization of United Nations Organization

ICE International Commission of Ecology of International Union of Bio-
logical Sciences

Int. International

ISBB International Society of Bioclimatology and Biometeorology

IUBS International Union of Biological Sciences

IUGG International Union of Geophysics and Geodesy

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNO United Nations Organization

WAAS World Academy of Art and Science

WHO World Health Organization of United Nations Organization

WMO World Meteorological Organization of United Nations Organization

377

Informatory Notes

1. GENERAL REMARKS:

The World Academy of Art and Science intends to publish
periodically the results of its official investigations and dis-
cussions on vital problems of mankind. These volumes
will also contain general information about organiza-
tional developments of the Academy (member lists,
working groups, etc.) as an Appendix.

2. CONTENTS OF THE NEXT VOLUME (VOL. II):

Academy members and others have been approached by
Circular letter for their opinion regarding priorities out
of a list of vital problems. As a result of this "voting" by
correspondence the next volume will deal with the global
population problem and related problems (e.g. birth
control, etc.), and with recommendations for their so-
lution. In accordance with this decision the Secretary
General has invited leading experts to join an appropriate
working group of the World Academy and to contribute
to the forthcoming Volume II.

In connection with these preparatory steps the Secretary-
General has also been approached by leading personalities
of "The International Conference on the World Popu-
lation Crisis" and has been asked to include the pro-
ceedings of this important meeting into the forthcoming

379

volume. This Conference took place in New York City,.
May, 1961, under the Chairmanship of Sir Julian Huxley
with participants and lecturers from five continents,
among them official representatives from various over-
populated countries (Ceylon, China, India, Japan, Paki-
stan, etc.).

3. OFFICIAL NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE CENTRAL SECRETARIATE ;
World Academy of Art and Science
(An Agency for Human Welfare),
i Ruppin Street, Rehovot, Israel. P.O. Box 534.
Telephone: 951533
Bank Account No. 211588

Jacob Japhet and Co. Ltd., Bankers,

Jerusalem, Israel.

380

(Continued from front flap)

sible the total destruction of life as we know
it. Recent breakthroughs have also placed
man in a position where he may possess
unique and hitherto undreamed-of control
over his well-being. He could, the contribu-
tors emphatically state, become the creator
of the "good life," but whether he will or
not depends on how realistically and crea-
tively he can approach the obstacles in his
way and handle the ''double-edged sword
of knowledge/ 7

Science and the Future of Mankind is the
first volume to be published under the spon-
sorship of the World Academy of Art and
Science. Founded in 1960, this Academy
was encouraged by the late Albert Einstein,
who recognized the great social responsi-
bility of men of creative genius, and issued
a fervent plea for "a new kind of thinking in
order that we may survive/ 7 As explicitly
stated in Science and the Future of Man-
kind, the World Academy of Art and
Science aims to function as an extra-na-
tional and extra-political forum in which
the outstanding men of science and art of
our time can objectively, from a "global
point of view/ 7 discuss vital contemporary
problems, and offer proposals for their
solution.

Jacket Design by Peter Oldenburg

INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS

BLOOMINGTON

C 2
CD <

20 129

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Books

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "Science And The Future Of Mankind"

See other formats