But if the 20th century witnessed the rise of ideology, it also witnessed its fall, symbolically represented in the dismantling of the Berlin Wall in 1989. To the extent that ideology was gradually downgraded throughout the second half of the 20th century, technology was significantly upgraded. The ever growing potency of technology, its propensity to harm the environment and not only transform it to man's benefit, is tending to give precedence to the relationship between man and nature over the relationship between man and man. A key achievement of technology has been to liberate man from the constraints of his size in the universe. But man has also become aware that he is not the centre of the universe and that he does not enjoy any special immunity that will protect him and guarantee that his future will be better than either his present or his past.
Technology holds out the promise of restructuring the environment to man's benefit.
But the benefit will always be relative. If ever those negative side-effects expose the human race to the danger of annihilation, the harm would not be relative but absolute. In other words, the positive effects which, as we have seen, are at best relative, could be offset by the negative effects, especially if the price of relative improvement is the risk of total annihilation.