Editorial August 2, 1982 Issue

Moral chemicalization and human survival

DeWITT JOHN

Viewing the panorama of the twentieth century in broadest terms, one cannot help being impressed by two contrasting phenomena of enormous consequence.

One is the flowering of human talent and genius that has transformed our world. Giant computers magnify the projections of human intelligence. Electronic microscopes and telescopes extend the range of the human senses. A profusion of technological marvels are conquering time and space; they are multiplying the applications of human power to almost unimaginable proportions.

The other is a recognition of the hideous depravity in the human mind. A good deal of modern literature seems absorbed by the evil and guilt, the savagery and self-destructive perversity, that lurk in its depths. Verdun and Dachau, Hiroshima and Cambodia, not to mention the plight of millions of homeless, rightless, starving refugees—indeed, a whole procession of twentieth-century atrocities—have appalled humanity with the cruelty of which the unredeemed human mind is capable.

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