Customer Reviews

The Impact of Science on Society

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Impact of Science on Society, by Sir Bertrand Russell - a Nobel
Prize in Literature, and son of Viscount Amberley, and grandson of
the Duke of Bedford, who was Prime Minister for Queen Victoria - is
a work astonishingly ahead of its time, for its 1952 publishing
date. The most important is the so-called Lloyd Roberts Lecture,
given at the Royal Society of Medicine, London, on Nov 29, 1949,
included as the last chapter. overall book.

This work should be required reading in education programs
world-wide, as it crystalizes from a philosophical and rational
point of view, world events from the past several hundred years, in
view of better understanding today's world, and what is to follow
suit next.

Who better than Russell, demonstrating a very advanced ability in
mental gymnastics, digesting entire libraries of literature in that
process and laying out his analysis of the World, and Man's place in
it, and the Future, in 140 pages? This is done entertainingly,
fluidly for readers, with a personal touch.

This work should be purchased and studied by all, because of the
conclusions adopted by the elite of the world, of which the author
and his audience were members.

Everyone should understand that there is an urgency among the elite
to create a One-World government, for various reasons. First, this
is needed to contain nationalist and imperialist urges in various
regions of the world by having a One-World Military.

Secondly, the single government is required to curtail population
growth, in face of limited agricultural production and resources.
The author warns that if the West cannot achieve this in India,
China, Russia, the free world will be overrun militarily,
economically by those populations in the UK, USA and Europe from an
over-populated Asia. I should note that Mao Tse Tung created a
famine, in China, resulting in as many as 38 million (yes, 38!)
casualties from starvation, in the 20 years following the
publication of this book.

Thirdly, raw materials (oil, copper, tin, uranium, etc.) will need
to be rationed and controlled by a One-World government, as they are
finite in quantity. In the past 5 years, oil has risen in multiples
to over $100 per barrel, copper and resources have risen and
mega-acquisitions from Asian and Russian government owned companies
of Canadian and US producers, commonplace.

Fourth, with Darwin on his side, and Malthus, Russell clarifies that
the One World Government, will use scientific methods to cut down
the population, to be carried out explicitly or behind the scenes,
(if birth control is rejected for religious reasons), such as new
twists on the Black Plague (Avian Flu, perhaps?), or contrived world
conflicts r intentional waves of starvation on a global scale,
(pp.129). Unchecked, population numbers destablize a science-based,
prosperous and every-increasing good quality of life. Conversely,
hungry citizens can cause recessions by only buying scarce and
expensive food items, withholding consumption of other items from
their discretionary income, pulling down the economy.

Next, Russell warns against a USA that is export-only based, since
it impoverishes the World. We've seen, accordingly, that the USA has
shown astonishingly high import/export account deficits for the past
30 years, and the manufacturing sector is practically gone
domestically, as the majority of products consumed in USA are now
imported, distributing the wealth globally, as Russell recommends.

As well, taming of natural urges and self-determination is necessary
among school children on a massive scale (Ritalin ?), and violent
nationalist propaganda banned in all schools. Russel also opposes
fanatical creeds being shown to citizens (the Middle East ?)

Russel underlines that either citizens submit to international
authority (so-called Reason) or they will perish and die (pp.96.)

As well, Russell believes that 95% of males and 70% of females are
liekly to be sterilized, so that the elite can use "scientific
breeding" (pp.66) mainly among the totalitarian governments who will
misuse a science for their own purposes, mainly imperialistic.

With non-elected governments, Russell suggests that scentific
societies will impose a special diet and injections into the body of
babies and children under 10 to shape their characters into the
desired citizens that are needed. Through special preparing,
rewarding, and manipulating psychological makeups of humans (through
mental conditioning in schools) critiques of authority, or of those
in power will be impossible, as will be non-desirable thoughts and
behaviors.

In sum, the author must be congratulated for holding back little if
nothing at all to readers, and for giving them his sincere personal
conclusions with a litany of explanations on how those were arrived
at.

Bertrand Russell's book is a riveting, must-read. It is a very short book that can be read in two sittings, consisting of only three chapters based on three lectures given at Columbia University back in 1950. The descriptive and elucidatory language used in these pages for each chapter is stunningly clear, well-paced, and beautiful, and because the esthetic value of the writing is so high and palpable, it comes as all the more shocking for the unsuspecting reader to learn that the author is no friend of the common man, no friend of liberty, no proponent of individualism (he declares in Chapter Two that the "sturdy yeoman," honest and brave, fighting against the "urban adventurers" who want to rip him off, is a myth) while he is wholeheartedly invested in the rise of a one world order, one world government, and a scientific dictatorship run by "the governing class."

The first chapter is entitled "Science and Tradition." Here, Russell covers the territory of science versus superstition and religion traditions, delineating clearly that science has definitely outbested the latter in observation, in contradistinction to (mere and religious) authority. Science has also outbested religious tradition or superstition in regard to setting forth the autonomy of the real world and having dethroned any sense of "purpose" in the world other than that which goes by the name "efficacious cause." These ideas can be found in any learned author's discussion of modernity and science and are not new. However, Russell wants to add: "[T]herefore admit that men are not all congenitally equal and that evolution proceeds by selecting favorable variations," mentioning meanwhile that the very idea that men are not equal in congenital endowment "becomes dangerous when some group is singled out as superior or as inferior." Some group? Which group? Bertrand Russell will let you know, but then he won't admit the danger any more. Finally, Russell blows a shivering hint that war and science are blighted or fated incestuous twins.

Chapter or Lecture Two is entitled "Effects of Scientific Technique." This is the section that contains the most striking and the most incendiary statements I've yet come across. Reading this section was for me what I imagine reading "Mein Kempf" must have been in the 1930s for readers who didn't know how shocking Hitler's assertions could be when he was alive. If all one has time for is time for one chapter, this is the chapter to read.

Russell starts out, almost like a novelist, laying out the destructive aspects of science. He admits the Industrial Revolution didn't work out very well for "the average happiness" of people both in England and in America, stating the quality of life was "lower than it had been a hundred years earlier." (Curiously, he contradicts himself later stating that only with the rise of industrialism would a peasant not go hungry and not until the rise of industrialism would most of his children not die. How is this state of affairs better than the industrialism that brought "unspeakable misery"?) To further the reader's awareness of the destructive aspects of science, Russell also mentions how agent provocateurs were used, in England at least, to get wage earners denounced and hanged. Here Russell is hinting at the science of persuasion and the technique of getting people to "cooperate." The cotton gin intensified slavery and its cruelty in the United States. The telegraph did much, Russell asserts, to eliminate jobs and increase central control such that, over time, fewer and few men had more and more executive power in governments than was the case formerly. Power stations and airplanes both promoted the growth of government. All of these facts lead Russell to one conclusion: "There will be now no technical difficulty about a single-world empire. Since war is likely to become more destructive of human life [through science and increase in the power of the few] . . . unification under a single government is probably necessary. . . ."

Russell comes right out and states: "We now know that limelight and a brass band do more to persuade people than can be done by the most elegant train of syllogisms. . . . This subject [persuasion] will make great strides when it is taken up by scientists under a scientific dictatorship." He goes even further: "Although this science of mass psychology will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions are generated." He writes that he admits he knows that this increase of organization with a ruling class at the top can spawn a tyranny by officials, can establish a lawless police force, and will necessarily curb your freedom, but liberty, both national and individual, will have to be "effectively restrained" -- or else mankind may not survive -- and a means must be found to make men and nations submit to the rule of law.

On the bright side, at least for this middle chapter, the one positive note science brings to the table for mankind is that science makes (certain) men richer.

The third and last chapter is called "Effects of Scientific Technique," and here Russell mentions other positive aspects of science on mankind, like medicine, nutrition and education. However, he doesn't define education well and medicine and nutrition are discussed to make the reader feel warm and fuzzy about mankind's progress through time using science. However, anyone knows that what vaccines were in the Fifties are a hell of a lot different today and what passed for food back in the Fifties no longer resembles today the modern dining table offerings. Russell even goes so far as to assert that "Science can abolish poverty and excessive hours of labor." Has anyone seen science do this? We do know, however, as Russell admits, that agriculture introduced slavery, human sacrifice and large wars into the individual's way of life and raised the standard of living only for a "tiny governing minority."

So, what's the point? The point is "Everything turns on politics" and all aspects of society, including agriculture, "are in the power of vast financial interests that are concerned in manipulating political issues." Thus, "Matters should be arranged so that large groups seldom think it is in their interest to strike." Only the governing aristocracy shall have economic advantage and there must be a world government with a "monopoly of all serious weapons of war [created by science], for nothing else will make peace secure."

To further his warm and fuzzy approach about the coming scientific dictatorship. Russell adds that he loves humanity and it his actual love for humanity that he advocates this scientific dictatorship. This aristocratic, self-interested atheist then actually intones "love, Christian love, or compassion" as a means toward happiness, adding that nationalism or its propaganda will be outlawed in the future in all forms and school children will be "taught" [propagandized] to not "hate and despise foreign nations," although if nationalism is a verboten construction, I don't know how the word "nation" could even arise in that classroom of the future.

This book was the most heinous reading material I've encountered yet on the subject of the New World Order yet it is so prescient about the global governance now occurring in the early 21st century that, even though what's being presented is as horrific as watching Hitler himself eliminate whole groups or populations, you can't avert your eyes. The unpleasant facts are right here, right in front of you -- coming at you all the way from 1951 and 1952 -- and revealed in elegant prose.

I give this book 5 stars because it is a nicely rappped package of evidence that should be shown to anyone who doubts what is going on. It is essentially a blueprint for the enslavement of free thinking humanity and a perfect road map for global genocide. Russell is giving us a small look into the diseased mind of the people who have gotten control of the world power apparatus. So if you think this scum bag is smart because he won a nobel peace prize thats good just keep drinking your flouride, worship the government and act cool, or you can join them and help kill your fellow man in order to "save the earth" what u don't want to save the earth awww come on you only have to keep the population below 500 million come on just kill everyone that sounds like fun yea. Give me Liberty or give me Death

Seven essays: six first given at Ruskin College, Oxford (not part of the University, but a sort of token place for aspirational working class types). I haven't found dates of the talks, but they probably postdate Orwell's 1984, published in 1948, The final essay 'Can a Scientific Society be Stable?' was given in 1949. The collection was first published in the UK in 1952.

Very important topic - possiby the most important there is, since science seems to be the only possible way to general happiness. It's therefore an ambitious work. (Note: there's extraordinary nonsense promoted about this book - my guess being because professional liars won't address Russell on US war crimes in Vietnam).

Russell's book isn't entirely easy to interpret though; because--

[1] His examples vary in length and emphasis - trivial points may get lot of exposition, complicated ones only a bit; rather like an impromptu speech. He sometimes doesn't keep to the point of the chapter titles; thus 'The Effects of Scientific Techniques' includes material on organisations (much of it taken from his book 'Power') which could apply to Chinese mandarins or the medieval church. His generalisations are often European-based.
[2] Possibly because he was consciously lecturing to the uneducated, some explanations are over-simply worded, and inconsistent with the rest of his book. For example, when discussing democracy, he talks of people as having three components - hero, common man, and cog. 'Hero' seems to refer to Carlyle's 'Hero Worship' and Mussolini; but turns out to mean someone allowed personal initiative. 'Common man' means someone with everyday security - Russell, being British, takes this for granted. 'Cog' means a useful member of society - but could mean devastingly impersonal exploitation. There are quite a few confusing pages of this type.
[3] Russell does not clearly distinguish science from plain trial-and-error empiricism. For instance, he says cotton processing in the southern USA was scientific; but it was just a machine, perhaps no more scientific than a prehistoric weaving machine.
[4] Being a philosopher, he overstates the importance of philosophers. He includes the passage from Marx saying the point of philosophy is to change the world. Yet obviously people have wanted to change the world for millennia! Russell thought medieval philosophers were genunely moved by other-worldly considerations, rather than just getting paid by the Church along with artists and others.
[5] He's very influenced by then-recent history: Germany, USSR, Japan, USA.

Anyway, after those cautions, here's what Russell says:

Chapter 1: Science and Tradition. Russell trots through prehistory and history - old favourites, including demons, eclipses, Galileo, witchcraft, through to Newton and Darwin. He discusses not so much what science is, as its effects on non-scientists' mentalities: the world as not having 'purpose' and being autonomous, rather than e.g. pushed around by Gods; the importance of evidence; man as being a tiny part of the universe.

Chapter 2: The General Effects of Scientific Technique - the longest chapter of the book. Russell lists inventions - gunpowder, compass, steam engine, electricity, telegraph, internal combustion engine and oil, flying. (Bear in mind that for about half Russell's life a car was a novelty). Then the social effects: 'War has been.. the chief source of social cohesion; and.. the strongest incentive to technical progress. Large groups have a better chance of victory than small ones..' Russell goes on to food and population, then industry and organisation and officials - he was concerned about this; one of his earliest books discusses the problem jobs being given for cunning or nepotism rather than genuine merit. He also discusses 'mass psychology' in the usual rather condescending way, as though personally immune. Quite a good chapter - deals with vast issues.

Chapter 3: Scientific Techniques in an Oligarchy. This is largely about the USSR; Russell gives information on forced Labour in the Arctic, mass deaths and the Soviet system, though without sources; much of his writing of the time (e.g. 'Human Society..') says this too. His introductory remarks on oligarchies (i.e. rule by smallish numbers) states that the 'Rule of the Saints' introduced in the English Civil War was the first example of power confined to one creed, which must be news to Muslims and Jews and others. This chapter includes much 'dystopian' material, and is intended to explore what might happen under scientific oligarchies. It's not a set of recommendations, as some rather stupid comments on Russell claim. Russell ends optimistically: 'I do not believe that dictatorship is a lasting form of scientific society - unless (and this proviso is important) it can become world-wide.'

Chapter 4: Democracy and Scientific Technique complements the previous chapter. What's science like in democracies? - Russell surveys early enthusiasts for democracy (he dates it from about the 18th century) as compared with more sober prophets. There's a lot on weariness, despair, people liking wars (Russell was in the US at the time of WW2!), problems of huge constituenceies etc. This is where his hero, common man, and cog aspects of people is discussed, in my view a bit confusingly.

Chapter 5: Science and War - the shortest chapter. Surprisngly optimistic, given Russell believed the H-Bomb threats. He mostly discusses effects on populations; he believed, like A J P Taylor, that modern war doesn't give rise to that many casualties - he seems to have taken this idea from armies in the Bible being wiped out by sudden epidemics. He doesn't seem aware of flu after WW1, and the sheer absolute numbers of deaths - very likely an effect of wartime censorship and lies.

Chapter 6: Science and Values. Marx, Dewey and other pragmatists, Fichte and others are quoted for their philosophies. This chapter had a reference to Christian love which, his autobiography states, attracted a deluge of letters from Christians congratulting him on his conversion. Russell deplores fanaticism. He tries to list 'bad things it [science] can diminish, and good things it can increase.' The final part is anti-nation: he says 'Nationalist propaganda, in any violent form, will have to be illegal.' Russell of course assumed the 20th century wars were caused by nationalism. It's now known that the Balfour Declaration, US entry into WW1, the funding by Jews of Bolshevism, and of Churchill, has a huge effect; Russell was aware of much of this, but the 20th century fashion was to hush it up. However, if someone is trying to avoid or minimise wars, presumably it helps to know the cuases of wars.

Chapter 7: Can a Scientific Society be Stable? - Fascinating attempt to survey the conditions needed, including physical and psychological stability. Russell comments, like Malthus, that wars or general misery will happen - and unlike Malthus, he mentions birth control too. Russell even includes the possibility of Asians exterminating Europeans. One of his conditions of course is a single government possessing a monopoly of force and therefore able to enforce peace. (Russell thinks in terms of peace between nations or countries; probably religious, cult, natural disaster-driven, and other events might slip through).

5 stars for adventurousness and considerable general knowledge, depsite the weaknesses. It would not surprise me if this book (and his Reith Lectures of 1948 - 'Authority and the Individual' - had a great deal of impact at the time, and some of his suggestions have been taken up or becaome part of 'conventional wisdom'; though of course potential elite people who were influenced tended to discount the democratic parts of Russell's argument, leading to today's skewed NWO protagonists.

Five stars because everybody needs to be familiar with the disturbing contents of the book, NOT because I support the content.

Bertrand Russell was a gifted mathematician and logician of the late 1800's and early 1900's. His "Principa Mathematica" paper developing formal systems in mathematics continues to be cited today 100 years after its publication (although it has since been proven to be an incomplete theorum). There. Let it never be said I didn't give him his due.
Sadly, he goes off the rails at that point. Instead of living an honorable life contributing to society by developing his mathematical theories, Russell instead elected for riches and accolades under the aegis of eugenicist robberbarons J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller (among others). At their behest, Russell turned from math and logic to advance degenerate philosophies and social engineering schemes. Chief among these were his contributions to the ongoing Morgan/Rockefeller plan to unify the world into a hegemonic totalitarian oligarchy. Where Napolean and others failed, Rockefeller intended to succeed using the new sciences of psychology (propaganda), genetics (eugenics), and emerging engineering fields. Russell calls this the "scientific dictatorship" (p.32)

The Impact of Science on Society is broken into three speeches Bertrand Russell gave at Columbia University in the early days of the Cold War. These lectures sell his scientific dictatorship as the only reasonable (!!) alternative to certain worldwide nuclear catastrophy. In these speeches, he brazenly details (in glowing, enthusiastic terms) just a few programs this new world order is cooking up for us, including:

1) Mass indoctrination (p.32), which he brags will be capable of "producing an unshakable conviction that snow is black", if that is what rulers wish the public to think. To achieve this, he advocates development of psychology as a tool for controlling masses, noting (p.31): "This study is immensely useful to practical men, whether they wish to become rich or to acquire the government."

2) War against the family: (p.32) "the influence of the home is destructive". After all, Russell opines, to be effective, "not much can be done unless indoctrination begins before the age of ten".

3) ...And a host of grusome suggestions to achieve global mass depopulation.

Rockefellers and their ilk continue to wield untold influence through their ownership or dominance of the member banks of the Federal Reserve, the "seven sisters" oil cabal, many universities, and a constellation of tax-free foundations and policy-influencing "think tanks", including the Council on Foreign Relations. Close examination of these institutions reveals a concerted and unified effort towards developing a "vertically integrated" world political/economic system -essentially the scientific dictatorship Russell advocates in this book. The players pushing us down this road include: the European Union, NAFTA, CAFTA, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Court, the World Trade Organization, and the United Nations and its subsidiary organizations. There is little to suggest these banking Elites have wavered from the vision outlined in this book.

I probably paid a little too much for a 114 page book, but It came quickly. the book was exactly as promised and Bertrand Russell has a way with words I cannot deny. a truly insightful work. although I cannot claim to be a convert of all of the man's logic, his arguments are well thought out and incredibly entertaining. I would recommend this book to anyone who has a passion for the study of philosophy or anyone who questions our technological oligarchy today.

In these lectures, B. Russell explains in his characteristic sarcastic style his vision on science and society, on politics, philosophy and mankind in general.

Science, knowing and doing
Science has two functions: to know things and to do things.
It dispelled traditional beliefs and gave new insights into man's body, psychology and place in the universe. New technologies (gunpowder, the mariner's compass) and new drugs were invented.
Moreover, the scientific spirit should lead to a world of free inquiry and intellectual progress without political or religious dogmatic regimes, which fear the crumbling of their authority through this spirit.
Scientific knowledge gives man the power to do things, good ones as well as evil ones. It lead to the Industrial Revolution, but also to new weaponry.

Philosophy (pragmatism)
B. Russell unveils the hidden meaning of John Dewey's pragmatism. `Truth' is substituted by `utility'. `Fact' is not a fundamental concept for the definition of `truth'. Pragmatism is inherently connected with force, in order to change society.

Mankind
B. Russell defines rightly man's behavior as basically egoistic: in most circumstances egoism is necessary for survival. But, he also believes that through this egoism mankind will choose its own extermination (the atom bomb).

Politics (education, holism, world government)
For B. Russell, education of the young should not be turned into pure propaganda for a political regime.
He condemns sarcastically holism: `the good of the multitude is a sum of the goods of the individuals composing it and not a new and separate good. When it is pretended that the State has a good different from that of the citizens, what is really meant is that the good of the government or a ruling class is more important than that of other people.' Holism is simply another version of arbitrary rule.
For B. Russell, man's suicidal behavior should be countered by a world government which should have a monopoly of armed force in order to impose peace. This `solution' has been rightly heavily criticized by Karl Jaspers, who remarks that this monopoly can all too easily be used by (or to install) a world oligarchy.

Russell's Gospel
The ultimate aim of all `doing' should be the happiness of mankind, based on love and compassion. Man should create a good society where everybody is useful (without excessive hours of labor), where everybody is as far as possible secure from undeserved misfortune and where everybody has the opportunity for personal initiative. To build that kind of society, democracy, trade unionism and birth control are indispensable.

This book written by a superb free mind is a must read for all those interested in the world we live in.

This book is based on the lectures Russell gave at Oxford and Columbia with the last one delivered in 1949. It starts of with a quick look at the pre-scientific times and then goes on to explain the effect of science on the society during the 19th and the 20th century. But the emphasis of this book is the effect of science on political organizations and how political structures might use science to further achieve their ends. Give that the lectures were given in an age where was the world was really in turmoil and science was playing a key role in the war machinery of Germany and Russia, Russell seems pretty pessimistic in his outlook. "A clear choice must be made within fifty years, the choice between Reason and Death....I fear that mankind may choose Death. I hope I am mistaken"

Russell would certainly be happy to know that he was indeed mistaken. At least for now, we seem to be guided by reason and the past 15 years or so is said to be one of the most peaceful periods in history. If anything, the recent effect of science (manifested as the information revolution) has been to increase the power of the citizens by forcing the state to be more transparent. Yes, the state can use the very same tools to aid their propaganda (as seen with the great firewall of china), but in general, the recent impact of science on the society has been pretty favorable towards the citizens. Some of Russell's concerns are very much alive - population growth, effect on the environment, etc - but hopefully soon, science will help us solve those issues as well. As to his other main concern - "Scientific technique, by making the society more organic, increases the extent to which an individual is a cog; if this is not to be evil , ways must be found of preventing him from being a mere cog" - I doubt there is any solution to this unless we radically alter the societal structure itself...and this probably won't happen unless a set of events are forced upon us.

Sir Bertrand Russell, the articulate, insightful, and brilliant mind-programmer from London's Tavistock Institute does it again. If you understand this intreped misanthrope's place in history, along with his true raison d'etre, then you will understand the context in which this book was written. If you don't understand the frame work in which this book was scaffolded, then that which makes this tome really interesting essentially vanishes, leaving only Russell's literary facility as the hook.