Lewis Mumford

Pendle Hill Pamphlet # 97, 1958

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Our age has been characterized as the Nuclear Age or the Space Age, to celebrate modern man’s sudden command of time, space, and energy, in a fashion more absolute than he ever before dared to dream. But this bright side of science and invention has a dark face. As never before, ours has proved to be an age of mass extermination and mass destruction; and in the conflicts that now threaten between great states, extermination, too, may become absolute and universal. There is no mechanical escape from the dangers mankind as a whole now confronts: no rocket missiles or counter-missiles will save us. We must find the human way out. Instead of planting our flag on the moon, we must quickly move to reclaim this planet for humanity.