Modern civilization has some serious defects. In Democratic countries men are equal before the law and have a voice in deciding how and by whom they shall be governed. But the sharing out of Money" ?which means the sharing out of food nod clothing and books and so on-is still very unfair. While some few people live in luxury many have not enough to eat and drink and wear. Even in the finest of the world's cities thousand old people live in dreadful surrounding. There arc many families of five and six person who live in a single room; they sleep and dress and wash and eat their meals in the same room; in the same room they are born and in the same room they die. And they live like this not for live like this for fun but because they are too poor to afford another room. A still greater danger comes from war. Twice already from 1914 to 1918 and from 1939 to 1945, almost the whole of the world has been torn by war. Moreover, in the conditions of the present day any war that starts anywhere is more and more likely to spread everywhere. What is still more tragic is that man has now discovered how to release for purposes of war the colossal forces locked up in the atom. The leading nations of the world are making atoms bombs, which if another war came. would certainly be widely used Nobody knows what the effect of dropping atom bombs on a large scale would be, but it is quite possible that the total destruction of the utilization of the west, and even of other parts or the world might ensue. Yet another greats defect of our civilization is ha it does not know what to do with its knowledge science has given us powers fit for the pods yet we use them like small children. For example, we do not know how to manage our machines. Machines were made to be Man's Servants: yet he has grown so dependent on them that they are in a fair way to become his Masters. If this goes on for another four to five centuries Man is sure to loose its Dominion and then it won't get any more time to replenish its defects. |
