Part 14 (2/2)
”The five important facts, however, that have to do with the subject in hand are:
”_1st._ That the human body is such a wonderful organization because it is the product of the forces of creation, acting through millions of years of evolution.
”_2nd._ That its capacity for progress depends upon the maintenance of the unity resulting from this creative evolution and upon a conscious recognition of this unity.
”_3d._ That this unity would not have been possible without the development of the nervous system.
”_4th._ That the conscious intelligent progress made by mankind could not have reached its present level until in the process of evolution a mechanism had been built up in the nervous system itself capable of recording the various impressions which the senses are constantly receiving.
”_5th._ That the recording of past events, with the power of consciously recalling them for the solution of problems immediately confronting it, is absolutely essential to its development.
”Now, what I want to point out is that inasmuch as man's progress depends upon the perfect co-ordination of his forces to produce unity of action, we have no right to expect an industrial organization to make progress which it must do as a unit without the establishment of a conscious co-ordinating mechanism similar to the nervous system in the human body.” _Individuality in Industry._ By Robert B. Wolf.
Doctor Charles P. Steinmetz has given in his _America and the New Epoch_ a most correct engineering picture of the political situation in the world, with a fine characterization of the psychological peculiarities of the different races. Although this book was written in 1916, that is, before the end of the World War, it will be of permanent value; because of its deep psychological a.n.a.lysis of the peoples and their inst.i.tutions which ultimately shape the development of any nation and which do not change with victory or defeat.
”My tribute to the memory of Gantt will be, not only the homage of a friend and admirer, but the proof that his philosophy is scientifically true. A rigorous proof is necessary, because the word 'service' belongs to that category of words, the meaning of which can be completely reversed by the verb, be it 'give' or 'take.' Gantt took 'rendering service' as an axiom; my observation, shared with many others, is that our civilization had quite another axiom, 'we preach give, we practice take.' The problem which interested me, was how to find a way out of this contradiction that would be irrefutable. If one of them is true and natural law for humans, then the other is not; if our words are true, then our deeds are not true, or if our deeds are true then the words are camouflage. I found the solution, by applying mathematically rigorous thinking. Mathematics, with its exact concept of dimensions, gave me the method. The method we use in studying phenomena is a.n.a.lysis, or speaking mathematically, differentiation. I soon found, that the methods of differentiation are mostly correct, but our synthesis, or process of integration made by the use of metaphysics was faulty. The differentiation correctly lowered the dimensions, but our faulty integration did not restore the original dimensions. The investigation had to be made from the beginning, by defining the phenomena of life, in a specific way, which would not permit of any blunders in dimensions.
”I defined the cla.s.ses of life by emphasizing their incontestable, dimensional characteristics: plants are 'Chemistry-binding,'
animals are 's.p.a.ce-binding,' Humans are 'Time-binding' cla.s.ses of life.
”These definitions have the peculiarity that they make it obvious, that: 1. The cla.s.ses of life have different dimensions, and that the intermixing of dimensions, as in mathematics it makes a correct solution impossible, so in life, the results of such elementary mistakes, produce tragic consequences.
”2. The old formula on which our civilization is built, HUMAN equal ANIMAL plus or multiplied by SPARK OF DIVINITY is basically and elementarily wrong, and is mathematical nonsense, which is identical to such an absurdity as _x_ square inches equal _y_ linear inches plus or multiplied by _z_ cubic inches.
”3. A basically wrong formula on which our civilization rests, is the cause of all the periodical collapses, wars and revolutions.
”4. The old system was built on animal 's.p.a.ce-binding' standards, and human 'time-binding' impulses were, all the time, in rebellion.
”5. As the theory of gravitation and the calculus made engineers and mathematicians masters of inanimate nature, so these tangible and incontestable definitions give them a positive base which will enable them to approach and solve human living problems, by establis.h.i.+ng the mathematical fact that man is man, not an animal.
”6. All of those who are blinded by traditions and refuse to investigate, or to know these mathematical truths, are a danger to humanity in directly helping to obscure issues, and in helping to maintain the faulty structure which, as in the past, is bound to collapse again and again in the future.
”7. The duty of mathematically thinking people is to throw such light on this problem as will stop the stupid, or willfully destructive, and show whether they are working for, or against, mankind.
”8. For the 'time-binding' cla.s.s of life, it is obvious then that in this dimension, 'time-binding' is the natural law, and, if understood and a.n.a.lysed, it is the highest human aim.
”9. Such 'natural laws' as 'survival of the fittest' for animals, which is the 'survival of the fittest in s.p.a.ce,' result in fight, or the survival of the strongest; whereas such a law to be a NATURAL LAW FOR HUMANS, must be in the human dimension which obviously would be the 'Survival of the fittest in TIME,'
resulting in the survival of the best.
”10. All known facts must be brought to the light, to be summed up, and correlated by mathematicians and engineers with the strictest attention to dimensionality.
”11. All of our ideas have to be revised; the animal 's.p.a.ce-binding' standards must be rejected as dangerous and destructive, must be replaced by 'time-binding' standards, which will correspond to the natural impulses and NATURAL LAWS for humans.
”12. The minds of mathematicians and engineers are by education the first to see the far reaching importance of the facts disclosed by these definitions, and just this realization will bring about the readjustment of values in life to a human dimension, wherein pending revolutions and wars could be turned into evolution, destruction into construction, discord into accord of a common aim.
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