IN THE FUTURE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 97, 15 December 1931, Page 2

IN THE FUTURE

CREATION dF POPULATION BnDER sblENjriFIC MANAGEMENT. R.emarkable prophecy of what, in futute science iriay do for jmarikind is made by Earl Russell in his latest book, "The Scientifie, Outlook,"j3ub-. lish'ed by Messrs. Alleri arid Unwin. Bef&re he "succeeded to the title Qn the death of his brother, the eai'l was known as Mr. Bertrahd Russell, nfathematician, philosopher and humorist. Contrastmg what he. refers to as the "Scientifie Society" with the Socialist State, or the "Fascist State," or any other State that fhe world has, or has -not yet known, he declares that "In the end such a syst-em must Jbreak down -either in an orgy of bloo'dshea or in the rediscovery of joy." . ? The autnor traces the growth oi' power which scientifie discovery has piaced in the hands of controlling authorities — such as the propagaridri power of the film and the.wireless-y-r and suggests that "tb,e _ scientifie "so: ciety will be just as oligarchic under Socialism or "Comriiunism as under Capitalism, f oi' even where the f orrps of d,emoeracy exist they cannpt supply the fordinary votecL with the requisite knowledge, nor enable hihi to be on the'spot at the crucial moment". . . "Equality, therefore, like liberty, isj I fear, no more than. a nineteenth-cen, tury dreahi," he writes. "The world of the future will contain a governy ing class probably riot hereditary ,but more analogous to . the. government of the. Ca^holic Church. And this.'gbverning class", as it acquires^ iricreasing knowledge and confiderice', will inte,rfere more and more with the life of the indivijdual, and will learn more and more the techniqrip ,of ,ca.usirig' thi's interfereh'ce to be tol'erated." Scientifie Management. By this time, the author suggests, the creation of people will be under scientifie management. . ,Gnly about fivA per cent. of the men will be allmved to become fathers and 25 per cent. of the women m'others. The r'est will be sterilised, in such a mapner that they will still experi'ehce, the simjple delights of love-making without " any possibilty of becoming patents. .The process of renewing the population, he continues, . may. become so ausf erely scientifie that fathers will not.know, or even necessarily ever

meet, the mothers of their children. The scientifie technique may be still further developed, so jthat the unborn babe will be grown, for some months at least, in an incubator, and the mother m'ay thus never know her child. , ! ! j «. "It is clear," he- says, "that in the next great war Europe will go to pieces. Probably the population will be halved, and the surviving half will be in a condition of anarchic despair. In these circumstances it will r.qst with thb Unrted States to mahe the world safe for plutocracy. An,essential step iri this process will be the. I apquisjtion of a .considerable measure I of control over Europe." I