Man has ever been the greatest puzzle to man. There are many and important
reasons for this fact. As the subject of this book is not a theoretical,
academic study of man, of which too many have already been written, I will
not recount the reasons, but will confine myself to the more pressing
matters of the task in hand, which is that of pointing the way to the
science and art of Human Engineering. The two facts which have to be dealt
with first, are the two which have most retarded human progress: (1) there
has never been a true definition of man nor a just conception of his rôle
in the curious drama of the world; in consequence of which there has never
been a proper principle or starting point for a science of humanity. It
has never been realized that man is a being of a dimension or type
different from that of animals and the characteristic nature of man has
not been understood; (2) man has always been regarded either as an animal
or as a supernatural phenomenon. The facts are that man is not
_super_natural but is literally a part of nature and that human beings are
not animals. We have seen that the animals are truly characterized by
their autonomous mobility—their space-binding capacity—animals are
space-binders. We have seen that human beings are characterized by their
creative power, by the power to make the past live in the present and the
present for the future, by their capacity to bind time—human beings are
time-binders. These concepts are basic and impersonal; arrived at
mathematically, they are mathematically correct.
It does not matter at all _how_ the first man, the first time-binder, was
produced; the fact remains that he was somewhere, somehow produced. To
know anything that is to-day of fundamental interest about man, we have to
analyse man in three coordinates—in three capacities; namely, his
chemistry, his activities in space, and especially his activities in time;
whereas in the study of animals we have to consider only two factors:
their chemistry and their activities in space.
Let us imagine that the aboriginal—original human specimen was one of two
brother apes, _A_ and _B_; they were alike in every respect; both were
animal space-binders; but something strange happened to _B_; he became the
first time-binder, a human. No matter how, this “something” made the
change in him that lifted him to a higher dimension; it is enough that in
some-wise, over and above his animal capacity for binding space, there was
superadded the marvelous new capacity for binding-time. He had thus a new
faculty, he belonged to a new dimension; but, of course, he did not
realize it; and because he had this new capacity he was able to analyze
his brother “_A_”; he observed “_A_ is my brother; he is an animal; but he
is my brother; therefore, _I_ AM AN ANIMAL.” This fatal first conclusion,
reached by false analogy, by neglecting a fact, has been the chief source
of human woe for half a million years and it still survives. The
time-binding capacity, first manifest in _B_, increased more and more,
with the days and each generation, until in the course of centuries man
felt himself increasingly somehow different from the animal, but he could
not explain. He said to himself, “If I am an animal there is also in me
something higher, a spark of some thing _super_natural.”
With this conclusion he estranged himself, as something apart from nature,
and formulated the impasse, which put him in a cul-de-sac of a double
life. He was neither true to the “supernatural” which he could not know
and therefore, could not emulate, nor was he true to the “animal” which he
scorned. Having put himself outside the “natural laws,” he was not really
true to any law and condemned himself to a life of hypocrisy, and
established speculative, artificial, unnatural laws.
“How blind our familiar assumptions make us! Among the animals, man, at
least, has long been wont to regard himself as a being quite apart from
and not as part of the cosmos round about him. From this he has detached
himself in thought, he has estranged and objectified the world, and lost
the sense that he is of it. And this age-long habit and point of view,
which has fashioned his life and controlled his thought, lending its
characteristic mark and color to his whole philosophy and art and
learning, is still maintained, partly because of its convenience, no
doubt, and partly by force of inertia and sheer conservatism, in the very
teeth of the strongest probabilities of biological science. Probably no
other single hypothesis has less to recommend it, and yet no other so
completely dominates the human mind.” (Cassius J. Keyser, loc. cit.) And
this monstrous conception is current to-day: millions still look upon man
as a mixture of animal and something supernatural.
There is no doubt that the engineering of human society is a difficult and
complicated problem of tremendous ethical responsibility, for it involves
the welfare of mankind throughout an unending succession of generations.
The science of Human Engineering can not be built upon false conceptions
of human nature. It can not be built on the conception of man as a kind of
animal; it can not be built on the conception of man as a mixture of
natural and supernatural. It must be built upon the conception of man as
being at once natural and higher in dimensionality than the animals. It
must be built upon the scientific conception of mankind as characterized
by their time-binding capacity and function. This conception radically
alters our whole view of human life, human society, and the world.
It must be obvious to any one that time-binding is the only natural
criterion and standard for the time-binding class of life. This mighty
term—time-binding—when comprehended, will be found to embrace the WHOLE of
the natural laws, the natural ethics, the natural philosophy, the natural
sociology, the natural economics, the natural governance, to be brought
into the education of time-binders; then really peaceful and progressive
civilization, without periodical collapses and violent readjustments, will
commence; not before. Everything which is really “time-binding” _is in_
the HUMAN DIMENSION; therefore, it will represent every quality that is
implied in such words as—_good_, _just_, _right_, _beautiful_; while
everything that is merely space-binding will be classified as “animal” and
be thus assessed at its proper value. Those ignorant “masters of our
destinies” who regard humans as animals or as monstrous hybrids of natural
and supernatural must be dethroned by scientific education.
Humans can be literally poisoned by false ideas and false teachings. Many
people have a just horror at the thought of putting poison into tea or
coffee, but seem unable to realize that, when they teach false ideas and
false doctrines, they are poisoning the time-binding capacity of their
fellow men and women. One has to stop and think! There is nothing mystical
about the fact that ideas and words are energies which powerfully affect
the physico-chemical base of our time-binding activities. Humans are thus
made untrue to “human nature.” Hypnotism is a known fact. It has been
proved that a man can be so hypnotized that in a certain time which has
been suggested to him, he will murder or commit arson or theft; that,
under hypnotic influence, the personal morale of the individual has only a
small influence upon his conduct; the subject obeys the hypnotic
suggestions, no matter how immoral they are. The conception of man as a
mixture of animal and supernatural has for ages kept human beings under
the deadly spell of the suggestion that, animal selfishness and animal
greediness are their essential character, and the spell has operated to
suppress their REAL HUMAN NATURE and to prevent it from expressing itself
naturally and freely.
On the other hand, when human beings are educated to a lively realization
that they are by _nature_ time-binding creatures, then they will
spontaneously live in accordance with their time-binding nature, which, as
I have said, is the source and support of the highest ideals.
What is achieved in blaming a man for being selfish and greedy if he acts
under the influence of a social environment and education which teach him
that he is an animal and that selfishness and greediness are of the
essence of his nature?
Even so eminent a philosopher and psychologist as Spencer tells us: “Of
self-evident truths so dealt with, the one which here concerns us is that
a creature must live before it can act ... Ethics has to recognize the
truth that egoism comes before altruism.” This is true for ANIMALS,
because animals die out from lack of food when their natural supply of it
is insufficient because they have NOT THE CAPACITY TO PRODUCE
ARTIFICIALLY. But it is not true for the HUMAN DIMENSION.
Why not? Because humans through their time-binding capacity are first of
all _creators_ and so their number is not controlled by the supply of
unaided nature, but only by men’s artificial productivity, which is THE
MATERIALIZATION OF THEIR TIME-BINDING CAPACITY
Man, therefore, by the very intrinsic character of his being, MUST ACT
FIRST, IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO LIVE (through the action of parents—or
society) which is not the case with animals. The misunderstanding of this
simple truth is largely accountable for the evil of our ethical and
economic systems or lack of systems. As a matter of fact, if humanity were
to live in _complete_ accord with the animal conception of man, artificial
production—time-binding production—would cease and ninety per cent of
mankind would perish by starvation. It is just because human beings are
not animals but are time-binders—not mere finders but creators of food and
shelter—that they are able to live in such vast numbers.
Here even the blind must see the effect of higher dimensionality, and this
effect becomes in turn the cause of other effects which produce still
others, and so on in an endless chain. WE LIVE BECAUSE WE PRODUCE, BECAUSE
WE ARE ACTING IN TIME AND ARE NOT MERELY ACTING IN SPACE—BECAUSE MAN IS
NOT A KIND OF ANIMAL. It is all so simple, if only we apply a little sound
logic in our thinking about human nature and human affairs. If human
ethics are to be human, are to be in the human dimension, the postulates
of ethics must be changed; FOR HUMANITY IN ORDER TO LIVE MUST ACT FIRST;
the laws of ethics—the laws of right living—are _natural_ laws—laws of
human nature—laws having their whole source and sanction in the
time-binding capacity and time-binding activity peculiar to man. Human
excellence is excellence in time-binding, and must be measured and
rewarded by time-binding standards of worth.
Humanity, in order to live, must produce creatively and therefore must be
guided by applied science, by technology; and this means that the
so-called social sciences of ethics, jurisprudence, psychology, economics,
sociology, politics, and government must be emancipated from medieval
metaphysics; they must be made scientific; they must be _technologized_;
they must be made to progress and to function in the proper dimension—the
human dimension and not that of animals: they must be made time-binding
sciences.
Can this be done? I have no doubt that it can. For what is human life
after all?
To a general in the battlefield, human life is a factor which, if properly
used, can destroy the enemy. To an engineer human life is an equivalent to
energy, or a capacity to do work, mental or muscular, and the moment
something is found to be a source of energy and to have the capacity of
doing work, the first thing to do, from the engineer’s point of view, is
to analyse the generator with a view to discovering how best to conserve
it, to improve it, and bring it to the level of maximum productivity.
Human beings are very complicated energy-producing batteries differing
widely in quality and magnitude of productive power. Experience has shown
that these batteries are, first of all, chemical batteries producing a
mysterious energy. If these batteries are not supplied periodically with a
more or less constant quantity of some chemical elements called food and
air, the batteries will cease to function—they will die. In the
examination of the structure of these batteries we find that the chemical
base is very much accentuated all through the structure. This chemical
generator is divided into branches each of which has a very different rôle
which it must perform in harmony with all the others. The mechanical parts
of the structure are built in conformity to the rules of mechanics and are
automatically furnished with lubrication and with chemical supplies for
automatically renewing worn-out parts. The chemical processes not only
deposit particles of mass for the structure of the generator but produce
some very powerful unknown kinds of energies or vibrations which make all
the chemical parts function; we find also a mysterious apparatus with a
complex of wires which we call brain glands, and nerves; and, finally,
these human batteries have the remarkable capacity of reproduction.
These functions are familiar to everybody. From the knowledge of other
physical, mechanical and chemical phenomena of nature, we must come to the
conclusion, that this human battery is the most perfect example of a
complex engine; it has all the peculiarities of a chemical battery
combined with a generator of a peculiar energy called life; above all, it
has mental or spiritual capacities; it is thus equipped with both mental
and mechanical means for producing work. The parts and functions of this
marvelous engine have been the subject of a vast amount of research in
various special branches of science. A very noteworthy fact is that both
the physical work and the mental work of this human engine are always
accompanied by both physical and chemical changes in the structure of its
machinery—corresponding to the wear and tear of non-living engines. It
also presents certain sexual and spiritual phenomena that have a striking
likeness to certain phenomena, especially wireless phenomena, to
electricity and to radium. This human engine-battery is of unusual
strength, durability and perfection; and yet it is very liable to damage
and even wreckage, if not properly used. The controlling factors are very
delicate and so the engine is very capricious. Very special training and
understanding are necessary for its control.
The reader may wish to ask: What is the essence of the time-binding power
of Man? Talk of essences is metaphysical—it is not scientific. Let me
explain by an example.
What is electricity? The scientific answer is: electricity is that which
exhibits such and such phenomena. Electricity means nothing but a certain
group of phenomena called electric. We are studying electricity when we
are studying those phenomena. Thus it is in physics—there is no talk of
essences. So, too, in Human Engineering—we shall not talk of the _essence_
of time-binding but only of the phenomena and the laws thereof. What has
led to the development of electric appliances is knowledge of electrical
phenomena—not metaphysical talk about the electrical essence. And what
will lead to the science and art of Human Engineering is knowledge of
time-binding phenomena—not vain babble about an essence of time-binding
power. There is no mystery about the word time-binding. Some descriptive
term was necessary to indicate that human capacity which discriminates
human beings from animals and marks man as man. For that use—the
appropriateness of the term time-binding becomes more and more manifest
upon reflection.
What are the conditions of life upon this earth? Is there war or peace in
daily life? All living beings require food; they multiply in a geometrical
ratio; and so the _natural_ productivity of the soil becomes increasingly
inadequate. The tendency to increase in geometrical ratio is true of all
life—vegetable, animal and human, but the tendency is checked by various
counteracting influences, natural and artificial. A short time ago these
checks had so operated to annul the law of increase as almost to stop the
growth of human population. It is only by the time-binding capacity of
man—by scientific progress and technological invention—that the checks
have been overcome. And so in the last century the population of Europe
increased more than it had increased in several centuries before.
Impoverished soil, excessive heat or cold, excessive moisture, the lack of
rain-fall, and many other factors are hostile to life. It is evident,
therefore, that human life must especially struggle for existence; it must
carry on a perpetual contest for self preservation. It seems obvious that,
if there is perpetual war in every-day life, war methods must be applied.
We have just passed through a tremendous world-wide _military_ war and we
developed special ways of producing power to overcome the enemy. We were
thus driven to discover some of the hidden sources of power and all of our
old habits and ideas were bent toward military methods and military
technology. The war of every-day life against hostile elements is war for
the subjugation of physical nature and not for the conquest of people. It
is a war carried on by the time-binding power of men pitted against
natural obstacles, and its progressive triumph means progressive
advancement in human weal.
The lesson of the World War should not be missed through failure to
analyse it. When nations war with nations, the normal daily war of
millions and millions of individuals to subjugate natural resources to
human uses is interrupted, and the slow-gathered fruits of measureless
toil are destroyed.
But peaceful war, war for the conquest of nature, involves the use of
methods of technology and, what is even more important, technological
philosophy, law and ethics.
What I want to emphasize in this little book, is the need of a
thoroughgoing revision of our ideas; and the revision must be made by
engineering minds in order that our ideas may be made to match facts. If
we are ill, we consult a physician or a surgeon, not a charlatan. We must
learn that, when there is trouble with the producing power of the world,
we have to consult an engineer, an expert on power. Politicians,
diplomats, and lawyers do not understand the problem. What I am advocating
is that we must learn to ask those who know how to produce things, instead
of asking those whose profession is to fight for the division of things
produced by nature or by other human beings.
As a matter of fact our civilization has been for a long time disorganized
to the point of disease. Lately through the whirl of changing conditions,
due to the great release of power in the new-born giant technology, the
disorganization has become acute. The sick seldom know the cure for
themselves. If the cure is to be enduring, we have to go to the source,
and this can be done only by men familiar, not only with effects but also
with the causes.
Money is not the wealth of a nation, but production is wealth; so _ordered
production_ is the main object for humanity. But to have the maximum of
production, it is necessary to have production put on a sound basis. No
mere preaching of brotherly love, or class hatred, will produce one single
brick for the building of the future temple of human victory—the temple of
_human_ civilization. Ordered production demands analysis of basic facts.
This era is essentially an industrial era. To produce we have to have: (1)
raw material or soil; (2) instruments for production—tools and machines;
and (3) the application of power.
The three requirements may be briefly characterized and appraised as
follows:
(1) Raw material and soil are products of nature; humanity simply took
them and had the use of them for nothing, because it is impossible to call
a prayer of thanksgiving (if any) addressed to a “creator” as payment to
gods or men. But raw material and soil, in the conditions in which nature
produces them, are of very little immediate benefit to humanity, because
unfilled soil produces very little food for humans, and raw material such
as wood, coal, oil, iron, copper, etc., are completely useless to humanity
until after human work is applied to them. It is necessary to cut a tree
for the making of timber; it is necessary to excavate the minerals, and
even then, only by applying further human work is it possible to make them
available for any human use. So, it is obvious that even raw materials in
the form in which nature has produced them, are mostly of no value and
unavailable for use, unless reproduced through the process of “human
creative production.” Therefore, we may well conclude that “raw material”
must be divided into two very distinct classes: (_a_) raw material as
produced by nature—nature’s free gift—which in its original form and place
has practically no use-value; and (_b_) raw material reproduced by man’s
mental and muscular activities, by his “time-binding” capacities. Raw
materials of the second class have an enormous use-value; indeed they make
the existence of humanity possible.
As to the second requirement for production, namely:
(2) Tools and machines, it is obvious that “tools and machines” are made
of raw material by human work, mental and muscular.
And, finally:
(3) The application of power. Different sources of natural energy and
power are known. The most important available source of energy for this
globe is the sun—the heat of the sun. This solar heat is the origin of
water power, of wind power, and of the power bound up in coal, of the
chemistry, growth and transforming agency of plants.(10)
All foods which the animals as well as the humans use are, already, the
result of the solar energy transformed into what may be called chemical
energy. Transformation of energies is building up of life.
It is to be clearly seen that the only source of energy which can be
directly appropriated and used by man or animal is vegetable food found in
the wilderness; no other sources of power are available for _direct_ use;
they have first to be mastered and directed by human brain. The same is
true in regard to the getting of animal food, the creation of a water- or
windmill, or a steam engine, or the art of using a team of horses, or a
bushel of wheat; these are not available except by the use of the human
“time-binding” power.
This short survey of facts, known to everybody, brings us to the
conclusion that all problems of production come ultimately to the analysis
of
(1) Natural resources of raw material and natural energy, freely supplied
by nature, which, as we have seen, in the form as produced by nature
alone, have very little or no value for humanity;
(2) The activity of the human brain (because human muscles are always
directed by the brain) which gives value to the otherwise useless raw
materials and energies.
Hence, to understand the processes of production, it is essential to
realize that humanity is able to survive only by virtue of the capacity of
humans to exploit natural resources—to convert the products of nature into
forms available for human needs. If humanity had only the capacity of
apes, depending exclusively on wild fruits and the like, they would be
confined to those comparatively small regions of the globe where the
climate and the fertility of the soil are specially favorable. But in the
case supposed, humans would not be humans, they would not be
time-binders—they would be animals—mere space-binders.
There are other facts which must be kept constantly in mind. One of them
is that, in the world in which we live, there are natural laws of
inorganic as well as organic phenomena. Another of the facts is, as before
said, that the human class of life has the peculiar capacity of
establishing the social laws and customs which regulate and influence its
destinies, which help or hinder the processes of production upon which the
lives and happiness of mankind essentially and fundamentally depend.
It must not be lost sight of in this connection that the human class of
life is a part and a product of nature, and that, therefore, there must be
_fundamental laws which are natural for this class of life_. A stone obeys
the natural laws of stones; a liquid conforms to the natural law of
liquids; a plant, to the natural laws of plants; an animal, to the natural
laws of animals; it follows inevitably that there _must_ be natural laws
for humans.
But here the problem becomes more complicated; for the stone, the plant
and the animal do not possess the intellectual power to create and
initiate and so must blindly obey the laws that are natural for them; they
are not free to determine their own destinies. Not so with man; man has
the capacity and he can, through ignorance or neglect or mal-intent,
deviate from, or misinterpret, the natural laws for the human class of
life. Just therein lies the secret and the source of human chaos and woe—a
fact of such tremendous importance that it cannot be over-emphasized and
it seems impossible to evade it longer. To discover the nature of Man and
the laws of that _nature_, marks the summit of human enterprises. For to
solve this _problem is to open the way to everything which can be of
importance to humanity_—to human welfare and happiness.
The great problem has been felt as a powerful impulse throughout the ages
of human striving, for in all times it has been evident to thinkers that
upon the right solution of the problem must forever depend the welfare of
mankind. Many “solutions” have been offered; and, though they have
differed widely, they agree in one respect—they have had a common fate—the
fate of being false. What has been the trouble? The trouble has been, in
every instance, a radical misconception of what a human being really is.
The problem is to discover the natural laws of the human class of life.
All the “solutions” offered in the course of history and those which are
current to-day are of two and only two kinds—_zoological_ and
_mythological_. The zoological solutions are those which grow out of the
false conception according to which human beings are animals; if humans
are animals, the laws of human nature are the laws of animal nature; and
so the social “sciences” of ethics, law, politics, economics, government
become nothing but branches of zoology; as sciences, they are the studies
of animal life; as arts, they are the arts of managing and controlling
animals; according to this zoological philosophy, human wisdom about human
beings is animal wisdom about animals.
The mythological “solutions” are those which start with the monstrous
conception according to which human beings have no proper place in nature
but are mixtures of natural and _super_natural—unions or combinations of
animality and divinity. Such “solutions” contain no conception of
_natural_ law; scientifically judged, they are mythological
absurdities—muddle-headed chattering of crude and irresponsible
metaphysics—well-meaning no doubt, but silly, and deadly in their effects
upon the interests of mankind, vitiating ethics, law, economics, politics
and government.
Such have been and still are the regnant philosophies of human nature.
What is the remedy? How are the laws of human nature to be discovered?
It is evident that the enterprise, like all other scientific enterprises,
must be based upon and guided by realities. It is essential to realize
that the great, central, dominant, all-embracing reality is the reality of
_human nature_. If we misconceive this fundamental matter, the enterprise
must fail; that is both logically clear and clear in the sad light of
history; but if we conceive it aright, we may confidently expect the
enterprise to prosper. That is why, in the chapter on “The Classes of
Life,” I have laid so much stress on the absolute necessity of conceiving
Man as being what he really is, and not something else. And we have
discovered what man is: we have discovered that man is characterized by
the capacity or power to bind time, and so we have _defined_ humanity as
the time-binding class of life. That concept is fundamental. It contains
the germ of the science and art of Human Engineering. The problem of
discovering and applying the “laws of human nature” is the problem of
discovering and applying to the conduct of life the laws of
time-binding—of time-binding activity—of time-binding _energy_. This fact
must be firmly seized and kept steadily in mind.
Energy, we have noted, is the capacity to do work. In human economy work
may be (1) _useful_ or (2) _neutral_ or (3) _harmful_. These words have no
significance except in human economy. The energy of the human intellect is
a time-binding energy, for it is able to direct, to use, to transform
other energies. This time-binding energy is of higher rank—of higher
dimensionality—than the other natural energies which it directs, controls,
uses, and transforms. This higher energy—which is commonly called the
mental or spiritual power of man—_is_ time-binding because it makes past
achievements live in the present and present activities in time-to-come.
It is an energy that initiates; it is an energy that creates; it is an
energy that can understand the past and foretell the future—it is both
historian and prophet; it is an energy that loads _abstract_ time—the
vehicle of events—with an ever-increasing burden of intellectual
achievements, of spiritual wealth, destined for the civilization of
posterity. And what is the natural law of the increase? What is the
natural law of human advancements in all great matters of human concern?
The question is of utmost importance both theoretically and practically,
for the law—whatever it be—is a _natural_ law—a law of human nature—a law
of the time-binding energy of man. What _is_ the law? We have already
noted the law of arithmetical progression and the law of geometric
progression; we have seen the immense difference between them; and we have
seen that the natural law of human progress in each and every cardinal
matter is a law like that of a rapidly increasing geometric progression.
In other words, the natural law of human progress—the natural law of
amelioration in human affairs—the fundamental law of human nature—the
basic law of the time-binding energy peculiar to man—is a Logarithmic
law—a law of logarithmic increase. I beg the reader not to let the term
bewilder him but to make it his own. It is easy to understand; and its
significance is mighty and everlasting. Even its mathematical formulation
can be understood by boys and girls. Let us see how the formulation looks.
Suppose _PR_ to denote the amount of progress made in some important field
by a given generation—which we may call the “first” generation; where _R_
denotes the common ratio—the ratio of improvement—that is, the number by
which the progress of one generation must be multiplied to give the amount
of progress made by the next generation; then the amount of progress made
by the second generation will be _PR__2_; that made by the third
generation will be _PR__3_; and so on; now denote by _T_ the number of
generations, counting the first one and all that follow in endless
succession. Then the following series will show the law of human progress
in the chosen field:
_PR, PR__2__, PR__3__, PR__4__, PR__5__, ..., PR__T__, PR__T+1__, ..._;
notice how it goes; the first generation ends with PR; the second
generation starts with _PR_, adds _PR__2_, and ends with _PR + PR__2_; the
third generation starts with _PR + PR__2_, adds _PR__3_ and ends with _PR
+ PR__2__ + PR__3_; and so on and on; the _gain_ made in the _T__th_
generation is _PR__T_; _the total gain_ made in _T_ generations is
_PR + PR__2__ + PR__3__ + ... + PR__T_;
this total gain is given by the formula,
Total gain in T generations = (R ÷ R-1) (PRT-P).
If we take _R_ to be 2 (which is a very small ratio, requiring the
progress of each generation to be merely double that of the preceding one)
and if we take _T_ to be (say) 10, then we see that the progress made by
the single 10th generation is _P_ × 210, which is 1024 times the progress
made in the “first” generation; and we readily compute that the total gain
in 10 generations is 2046 times the progress made in the “first”
generation. Moreover, to gain a just sense of the impressiveness of this
law, the reader must reflect upon the fact that it operates, not merely on
one field, but in all fields of human interest. “Operates in all fields” I
have just now said; as a matter of fact, as before pointed out, it does
not so operate _now_ in _all_ fields nor has it ever done so. My point is
that it _will_ so operate when we once acquire sense enough to let it do
so. That sense we shall have when and only when we discover that by nature
we are time-binders and that the _effectiveness_ of our time-binding
capacity is not only a function of time but is, as I have explained, a
logarithmic or exponential function of time—a function in which time (_T_)
enters as an _exponent_, as in the expression _PR__T_, so that we humans
are, unlike animals, naturally qualified not only to progress, but to
progress more and more rapidly, with an always _accelerating
acceleration_, as the generations pass.
This great fact is to be at once the basis, the regulator and guide in the
science and art of Human Engineering. Whatever squares with that law of
time-binding human energy, is right and makes for human weal; whatever
contravenes it, is wrong and makes for human woe.
And so I repeat that the world will have uninterrupted, peaceful progress
when and only when the so-called social “sciences”—the life-regulating
“sciences” of ethics, law, philosophy, economics, religion, politics, and
government—are technologized; when and only when they are made genuinely
scientific in spirit and method; for then and only then will they advance,
like the natural, mathematical and technological sciences, in conformity
to the fundamental exponential law of the time-binding nature of man; then
and then only, by the equal pace of progress in all cardinal matters, the
equilibrium of social institutions will remain stable and social
cataclysms cease.