There is No Way but Ahead
Yes, science has helped create problems, too—serious ones. And we must labor to solve them—in the only way history tells us problems have been solved: by science. If we were to turn away now, if a noble young generation abandoned the materialism of an industry, what would happen Without the machinery of that industry, we would inevitably drift back to slavery.
No fundamental technological advance has ever been given up willingly by any society. There has been no way to do it.
About 8,000 B. C. mankind invented agriculture. Again it made possible an increase in numbers. People had never eaten so well, but it meant they had to give up the free, nomadic life and remain bound to the soil. It meant hard labor. It meant banding together to fight off surrounding tribes who, still food gathering, might help themselves to your crops. It also meant the risk of crop failure.
Why not, then go back to the wilder, freer ways of hunting and food gathering.’ Wouldn’t that mean less work and worry, less wars, less plagues