Evening star., 1932-09-01
MAN SEEN TRAILING
FRUITS OF SCIENCE.
Morally Unfit to Enjoy His
Own Inventive Genius, Says
Britisher.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press
YORK, England. September MAN
is morally unit" at present for the
new power science has given him and
its possible effect Oh hurnanity's future
gives cause for alarm" the British AS
ISOLATION for the Advancement OF
Science was told yesterday by its presi-
dent. Sir Alfred Ewing.
The command Of nature has been
put into mans hands before he knows
how to command himself" said Sir
Alfred, xho delivered the opening ad-
dress. Many present-day problems
might be more readily solved If ap-
preached with q purely scientific spirit,
however. he hinted He indicated he
did not believe man would destroy him
self through science.
Science has made possible mass pro-
duction and machines to ease the bur-
!, den of labor, he pointed out, but has
destroyed the 10y OF craftsmanship
and has brought overproduction and
unemployment. Even If these problems
are solved man still will face the ques-
tion OF how to use the leisure that ma
chimes have given him"
Solution May Be Found.
Sir Alfred suggested, however, that
science might hold the solution to some
present day difficulties AT a time like
the present" he said, when we carry
load of social and political and eco
nofnic discontents, the ordinary citi-
zen doubtless reflects that If only we
could apply the dispassionate temper
OF science to the difficulties of the hour
We might face them with less waste of
effort and greater likelihood of settle
ment"
On the other hand Sir Alfred said he
was "disillusioned" about the advance
Of discovery and invention in which he
used to take "unbounded delight"
I'm the present-day thinkers attitude
toward what Is called mechanical prog
ress We are conscious OF chsnged
spirit. Admiration is tempered by
criticism: complacency has given way to
doubt; doubt is passing into alarm.
There Is a sense of parplexity and
Illustration. as in one who has gone a
long way snd finds he has taken the
wrong turning.
Life Made Much Richer.
"The cornucopia of the engineer has
been shaken all over the earth, scatter
ing everywhere en- endowment of pre-
viously unpossessed and uninnagined
capacities and powers Beyond question
many Of these gifts are benefits to man,
making life fuller, wider, healthier,
richer In such happiness as material
things can promote. But we are acutely
aware that the engineers gifts have
been and may be grievouSly abused
man was ethically unprepared for so
great d bounty. In the slow evolution
of morals he is still unfit for the tre-
mendous responsibility 1t entails.
I'VE are learning that in the affairs
of nations as of individuals, there must,
for the sake of afnity, be some sacrifice
of freedom Accepted predictions as
to national sovereignty have to be aban-
doried II the world Is to keep the peace
and allow civilization to survive Geol-
ogists tell us that in the story of evolu-
ton they can trace the records of ex-
tinct personal species which perished
through the very amplitude and efflci-
ency of their personal apparatus for
attack and defense. This carries a
lesson for consideration at Geneva"
However, said Sir Alfred. II cannot
think that man is destined to atrophy
and cease through cultivating what
after all Is one of his most God-iike
faculties. the creative ingenuity Of the
engineer"