In the
absence of any planet-wide authority, there could be neither general
planning nor general supervision. There were warnings aplenty from
liberals and radicals who were attempting to keep the situation in
perspective, but such utterances failed to reach the great bulk of
mankind.
Disturbing and upsetting products of the revolution in science and
technology--the harnessing of steam, the internal combustion engine, the
air plane, electronics, plastics, and the release of atomic energy--were
used to mutilate, destroy and kill. During the half century that began
in 1910, tens of millions were mobilized, fed, taught, armed, and led to
the slaughter fields by the masters of western civilization in two long
orgies of wholesale destruction and mass murder--1914-18 and 1936-1945.
Energies and techniques that might have brought peace and plenty to the
human family were used to set fire storms that incinerated property
while it degraded humanity to the horrors of mass suicide.
In a very real sense these ghoulish results were the logical outcome of
competitive nationalism armed and equipped with the technology produced
during the two centuries of the great revolution. War is the most
carefully planned, most elaborate and most intensive form of
competition--the decisive climax of a life and death struggle for
survival.
The great revolution had put into human hands almost infinite
possibilities for utilizing nature and improving the social environment.
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