But the arrogant men of Babylon spurned the teaching of the Sabbath and their vaunted civilization degenerated into dissension and strife, idolatry and superstition. On it you shall not do any kind of work. This is much more than a mere day of rest. It is an all-embracing symbolic statement. With his science and his technology he can transform everything into an instrument for his own service.
Uncontrolled power leads to disaster.
As is true with other mitzvot, the control envisaged by the Torah is a self-imposed control. It consists in replacing selfish, materialist goals by unselfish, spiritual goals revealed to us by the world's Creator. This ensures that the way we administer the world will be beneficent rather than disastrous. It is our task as Jews to keep this option open. We do it by maintaining the symbol of the Sabbath.