Evening star., 1946-03-17
AIdous Huxley Anozes the Role Of Science as Peocemok
By Providing Enough for Ar in the World Of Tomorrow
SCIENCE, LIBERTY AND PEACE,

D/TIOVI0IHg enough
SCIENCE, LIBERTY AND PEACE
By Aldous HURLEY. Harper,
81
Aldous Huxley, in his affirmation
Of religion, has been accused by
some critics Of abandoning the prob
lens Of the practical world. There
has never been any basis for. such 4
charge. Mr. Huxley has made it
clear that he regards religion as the
elimination Of his long search for
some principle which would confer
reason and harmony on human So
ciety. He has not ceased to be the
student Of practical" life because
he has vowed his belief in religion as
q necessary factor in human organ
izations. On the contrary, he has
become the student triumphant. So
much Is plain to any one who reads
him with any degree Of understand
ing. Now, however. as If to answer
specifically those who accuse him Of
retreating into other-worldliness as
an escape, he offers us work
analyzing our practical" situation
in strictly practical" terms. It
is a volume of 86 pages and there
are only incidental references to
religion in it.
1t is concerned with the danger to
liberty which lies in our present
science governed civilization. 1t be-
gins with the thesis, quoted from
Tolstoy, that 'if small number Of
people have power over the majority
and Cypress it, every victory over
nature will inevitably serve only to
increase that power and that op-
preston" A small number Of peo-
pie, says Mr.. Huxley, had concen-
trsted the financial power of Europe
In their hands in advance of the
scientific revolution of the 18th and
18th centuries. They duly gave direc-
ton to that revolution, when it
came, and guided 1t to ends of their
liking.
Great Centralized Industries.
The result has been the rise Of
great centralized industries which
control and exploit the discoveries
of science, putting them at the dis
posal of the majority, 1t Is true, but
doing so in way which deprives the
majority more and more Of its inde-
psndence. The people have become
workers for these industries In their
public lives and consumers Of the
industrial products in their private.
Their entire existence is circum-
scribed by the great industrial
bosses. The process has been so con-
sistent that we think of it as in
evitable but, says Mr.. Huxley, it
was. not inevitable. The discoveries
and techniques of science could just
as well have been put to the service
Of decentralized cooperative groups
as to mass production. But the
slogan of bigger and better" has
been resolutely enforced with re-
suits which we now see are. bigger
and worse. @ss. i.g3 i
The people, he continues, trying
to defend themselves from their
bosses, fall back on trades unions,
but there, too, the centralizing proc |
ess is taking place. The unions,
instead of acting as liberating |
agents, frequently are mere second
set of bosses. Similarly, appeal to
government only adds to centraliza- |
ton. The total state has by now
written its history and no one can
discern any hope for the human
individual in its ghastly reginenta
ton. Science, moreover, has pvt
weapons at the disposal Of the
state which make the old techniques
of civil revolt worthless-citizens
behind barricades cannot hope to
Withstand bombing planes and
fiamethrowers. Where, then, lies
the hope for liberty and peace?
It's a Dangerous Idea.
Mr.. Huxley discusses the cur
rent idea of putting the destructive
discoveries Of science equally at the
disposal of all nations in the hope
that the nations will thus be scared
out of their ancient proclivity for
making war, 1t would not work,
he says. THE collective mentality
of nations" he observes, "the men
tality which reasonable adults have
to adopt when making important
decisions in the field Of international
politics-is that of delinquent
boy of IA, at once cunning and
childish, malevolent and silly,
maniacally egotistical and acquis-
tive, and at the same time ludi-
crously boastful and vain - To
this boy gangster in our midst, the
natural reaction to an atom bomb Is
not an impulse to put an end to
war =. Rather it Is an impulse
to make use Of the new powers
for the purpose Of establish
ing world dominion for his partic-
ular gang" 1t is not, then, in the
Capitalization of scientific discovery,
any more than in the Capitalization
Of finance, industry, labor or govern
ment that Mr.. Huxley discerns the
hope for peace and freedom.
1t is not In any Capitalization
WQaJGfcT. 11C ID, ilC BAYS, Vi tllC
Decentralist persuasion. He offers
his solution Let the masses Of the
people, in the grinding years which
certainly are ahead, remember
Gandhi, he counsels. Nonviolent
resistance, for which there Is a
definite techique, has, SO far, been
the only force which unarmed
citizens have successfully opposed
to an armed state. And let the
scientists, whose labors have brought
all this horror about, think of their
consciences and souls. rs it pos
sible to work on the development
Of instruments of even more in
discriminate slaughter and to re-
main-not good Christian or a
good Buddhist-but good human
being?" Let the scientist think not
Of Increasing the forces Of destruc-
ton, but Of developing methods by
which enough food may be produced
In any region for that regions In
habitants. international trade has