Chapter VI. Capitalistic Era

Chapter VI. Capitalistic EraThe immortal work done by Descartes, Newton and Leibnitz was to discover powerful methods for mathematics—the only fit language for expressing the laws of nature.Human Engineering will be the science by which the great social problems will be solved. For the first time since the first day of man, humanity will really understand its own nature and status; and will learn to direct scientifically the living and the non-living forces for construction, avoiding unnecessary destruction and waste.It may seem strange but it is true that the time-binding exponential powers, called humans, do not die—their bodies die but their achievements live forever—a permanent source of power. All of our precious possessions—science, acquired by experience, accumulated wealth in all fields of life—are kinetic and potential use-values created and left by by-gone generations; they are humanity's treasures produced mainly in the past, and conserved for our use, by that peculiar function or power of man for the binding of time. That the natural trend of life[pg 120]and the progress of the development of this treasury is so often checked, turned from its natural course, or set back, is due to ignorance of human nature, to metaphysical speculation and sophistry. Those who, with or without intention, keep the rate of humanity's mental advancement down to that of an arithmetic progression are the real enemies of society; for they keep the life-regulating“sciences”and institutions far behind the gallop of life itself. The consequence is periodic social violence—wars and revolutions.Let us carry the analysis of potential and kinetic use-values a little further. All potential use-values left to us by the dead are temporal and differ in utility. Many potential use-values are found in museums and have very limited value to-day in practical life. On the other hand some roads or water-ways built by the ancients have use-value to-day; and an almost endless list of modern potential use-values have or will have use-values for a long time to come, such as buildings, improved lands, railroad tracks, certain machines or tools; the use-value of some such items of material wealth will last for more than one generation. Kinetic use-values are permanent in their character, for, though they may become antiquated, they yet serve as the foundation for the developments that supersede them, and so they continue to live in that to which they lead.I would draw attention at this point to one of the[pg 121]most important kinetic and potential use-values produced by humanity—the invention of the steam engine. Through this invention, humanity has been able to avail itself, not only of the living fruits of dead men's toil, but also of the inconceivably vast amounts of solar energy and time bound up in the growth of vegetable life and conserved for use in the form of coal and other fuels of vegetable origin. This invention has revolutionized our life in countless directions. To be brief, I will analyse only the most salient effects. Human Engineering has never existed except in the most embryonic form. In remote antiquity the conception and knowledge of natural law was wholly absent or exceedingly vague. Before the invention of the steam engine, people depended mainly upon human powers—that is, upon“living powers”—the powers of living men, and the living fruits of the labor of the dead. Even then there were manifold complications.The invention of the steam engine released for human use a new power of tremendous magnitude—the stored-up power of solar energy and ages of time. But we must not fail to note carefully that we to-day are enabled to use this immense new power of bound-up solar energy and time by a human invention, a product of the dead.The full significance of the last statement requires reflection. The now dead inventor of the steam[pg 122]engine could not have produced his ingenious invention except by using the living powers of other dead men—except by using the material and spiritual or mental wealth created by those who had gone before. In the inventor's intellectual equipment there was actively present the kinetic use-value of“bound-up-time,”enabling him to discover the laws of heat, water, and steam; and he employed both the potential and kinetic use-values of mechanical instruments, methods of work, and scientific knowledge of his time and generation—use-values of wealth created by the genius and toil of by-gone generations. This invention was not produced, let us say 6000 years ago, because civilization was not then sufficiently advanced: mathematically considered, the production of this great use-value had to await all the accumulated work of six thousand years of human ingenuity and human labor. So, if we choose, the steam engine may be considered a kinetic use-value in which the factor of time is equal to something like 6000 years, or let us say roughly 200 generations.It is obvious that, in one life time, even a genius of the highest order, could not, in aboriginal conditions, have invented and built a steam engine, when everything, even iron, was unknown. Of course if the same inventor could have had a life of several thousands of years and could have consecutively followed up all the processes, unhampered by the prejudices[pg 123]of those days, and been able to make all of these inventions by himself, he would represent in himself all the progress of civilization.By this illustration we see the profound meaning of the words—the living powers of the dead; we see the grave importance in human life of the factortime; we behold the significance of the time-binding capacity of man. The steam engine is to be seen anew, as in the main the accumulated production of dead-men's work. The life of one generation is short, and were it not for our human capacity to inherit the material and spiritual fruit of dead men's toil, to augment it a little in the brief span of our own lives, and to transmit it to posterity, the process of civilization would not be possible and our present estate would be that of aboriginal man. Civilization is a creature, its creator is the time-binding power of man. Animals have it not, because they belong to a lower type or dimension of life.Sophistry avails nothing here; a child, left in the woods, would be and remain a savage, matching his wits with gorillas. He becomes a civilized man only by the accumulation of, and acquaintance with dead men's work; for then and only then can he start where the preceding generation left off. This capacity is peculiar to men; the fact can not be repeated too often.It is untrue to say thatAstarted his life aided[pg 124]exclusively by the achievements of (say) his father, for his father's achievements depended on the achievements ofhisimmediate predecessors; and so on all the way back through the life of humanity. This fact, of supreme ethical importance, applies toallof us; none of us may speak or act as if the material or spiritual wealth we have were produced by us; for, if we be not stupid, we must see that what we callourwealth,ourcivilization, everything we use or enjoy, is in the main the product of the labor of men now dead, some of them slaves, some of them“owners”of slaves. The metal spoon or the knife which we use daily is a product of the work of many generations, including those who discovered the metal and the use of it, and the utility of the spoon.And here arises a most important question: Since the wealth of the world is in the main the free gift of the past—the fruit of the labor of the dead—to whom does it of right belong? The question can not be evaded. Is the existing monopoly of the great inherited treasures produced by dead men's toil a normal and natural evolution?Or is it an artificial status imposed by the few upon the many? Such is the crux of the modern controversy.It is generally known that the invention of the steam engine and other combustion engines which release sun-power for mechanical use, has revolutionized[pg 125]the economic system; for the building of engines in the scale of modern needs, it is necessary to concentrate a great number of living men in one place, to build factories, to set up machines used in producing the engines, and all this requires the use of vast amounts of money. That is why this era is called the capitalistic era. But it is necessary to stop here and analyse the factors of value in the engine to be made and in the money used for the purpose of making use of the stored-up energies of the sun. We have found that the major part of the engine and all factors connected with its production are the combined power of dead men's labor. We have found that wealth or capital and its symbol, money, are also, in the main, the bound-up power of dead men's labor; so that the only way to obtain the benefit in the release of sun-power, is by using the product of the toil of the dead. It is further obvious that only the men or organizations that are able to concentrate the largest amounts of money, representing the work of the dead, can have the fullest use of the stored-up energies of time and the ancient sun. Thus the monopoly of the stored-up energies of the sun arises from monopolizing the accumulated fruits of dead men's toil. These problems will, in the future, be the concern of the science and art of Human Engineering.Let us glance briefly at the problems from another[pg 126]angle. The power developed in the combustion of one pound of coal is theoretically equal to 11,580,000 foot pounds. But by our imperfect methods of utilization, not more than 1,500,000 foot pounds are made available. This is about the amount of physical power exerted by a man of ordinary strength during a day's work. Hence 300 pounds of coal will represent the labor of a man for a year. The current production of coal in the world is about 500,000,000 tons (1906). If we suppose that only half of this coal goes for mechanical use, this will give us approximately the number as 1,600,000,000 man-powers that are producers but not consumers.Let us take a still broader view of resources; we have approximately 1,600,000,000 living human beings (all censuses available between 1902 and 1906); a wealth of approximately $357,000,000,000 (Social Progress, 1906, page 221) which in our analysis is dead men's work; and sun-power equal, in work, to the work of our whole living population, or equal to 1,600,000,000 sun man-powers. Taking, for simplicity's sake, $35.70 as the average living expenses per annum for each one of theworld'spopulation, we will have:(1) 1,600,000,000 living men.(2) 10,000,000,000 living man-powers of the dead.[pg 127](3) 1,600,000,000 sun man-powers.Such classification needs a reflection: man is intrinsically an increasing exponential power and always produces two use-values—the potential and the kinetic. All living men have in some degree this type of power;they are able to direct and use basic powers.So we see that this world is really populated to-day by three different populations, all of them dynamic and active: to wit, 1,600,000,000 living men; 10,000,000,000 living man-powers of the dead; 1,600,000,000 sun man-powers.Thus it is obvious beyond any argument,that this additional producing but not consumingpopulation, has been produced mainly by the work of all our past generations. It is said“mainly”because, if we were the first generation, we would be just aboriginal savages having nothing and progressing very slowly. The reason why we progress very rapidly, in this stage of civilization, is explained very clearly by the mathematical law of a geometrical progression, with an ever increasing number of terms, the magnitude of the terms increasing more rapidly all the time.11[pg 128]This fact is the reason why the old unscientific and artificial social system requires and must undergo profound transformation. Human progress, in many directions, is so far advanced that social institutions can not much longer continue to lag so far behind. Static ethics, static jurisprudence, static economics, and the rest must become dynamic; if they do not continue to progress peacefully in accordance with the law of the progress of science, they will be forced by violent readjustments, recurring with ever increasing frequency.Here we have a problem of very high importance and enormous magnitude. To serve 1,600,000,000 living men, we have 11,600,000,000 dead man-powers and all the sun man-powers—seven servants to each living man, woman and child[pg 129]included. It looks like the millennium. It would be so if we but used all this power in a constructive way, eliminating waste and controversy and all those factors which hamper production and progress. The present economic system does not realize even the beginning of the magnitude of this truth and the tremendous results which are to be achieved through the adjustment of it. The problem will be solved by Human Engineering, for this will establish the right understanding of values and will show how to manage world problems scientifically; it will give a scientific foundation to Political Economy and transform so-called“scientific shop management”into genuine“scientific world management.”12There is a chasm between“Capital”and“Labor,”but nature does not know“Capital”or“Labor”at all. Nature knows only matter, energy,“space,”“time,”potential and kinetic use-values, forces in all their direct and indirect expression, the energies of living men, living powers of dead men, and the bound-up powers of Time and the ancient Sun. Nature made man an increasing exponential function of time, a time-binder, a power able to transform and direct basic powers. Sometimes we hypocritically like to delude ourselves, if our delusions are agreeable—and profitable. We call human work“manual labor”and we pretend that we need the laborer for[pg 130]his muscular service, but when we thus speak, we are thoughtless, stupid, or insincere. What we look for in the worker is hiscontrolof his muscles; mechanical work is or can be replaced almost entirely by machinery. What we will never be able to replace by machinery is a Man, because man belongs to the level of a dimension above machinery. Engine-power, sun man-power, and capital—mainly the work of the dead—are inanimate; they become productive only when quickened by the time-binding energies of living men and women. Then only are the results proportional to the ever growing magnitude of exponential power. In nature's economy the time-binders are the intelligent forces. There is none else known to us, and from the engineer's point of view, Edison and the simplest laborer, Smith or Jones, are basically the same; their powers or capacities are exponential, and, though differing in degree, are the same in kind. This may seem optimistic but all engineers are optimists. They deal only with fact and truth. If they make mistakes, if their bridges break down, then, no matter how clever their sophistry, they are adjudged criminal. Like severity must be made the rule and practice toward all those who control the institutions and great affairs of human society. Periodical break-downs must be prevented. The engineers of human society must be held responsible, as the bridge engineer is held to-day.[pg 131]Things are often simpler than they appear at the first glance. There may be fire and plenty of coal in a stove, yet no heat; the fire does not burn well; an engineer will remove the natural causes of obstruction of the natural process; even such a simple thing as the removal of ashes may solve the problem. It seems simple enough. The truth is often clear and simple, if only it be not obscured and complicated by sophistry.“Capitalistic”reasoning and“Socialistic”reasoning—Nature does not know such things. Nature has only one“reasoning”in all its functions. Our falsifying of nature's laws makes the controversy. Socialism exists as anismbecause Capitalism exists as anism; the clash is only an expression of the eternal law of action and reaction.We are living in a world of wealth, a world enriched by many generations of dead men's toil; between the lust of the one tokeepand the lust of others toget, there is little to choose; such contentions of lust against lust aresub-human—animalistic; such ethics is zoological ethics—the righteousness of tooth and claw; below the human dimensions of life, utterly unworthy of the creative energy—the time-binding capacity—of humanity. Socialism feels keenly and sees dimly that human affairs are not conducted in conformity with natural laws. Capitalism neither sees it nor keenly feels it. Neither[pg 132]the one nor the other stops to investigate natural laws—nature's laws—laws of human nature—scientifically. They both of them use the same speculative methods in their arguments, and there can be no issue. Against one old-fashioned, speculative argument, there is always a speculative answer. They both speak about the truth, but their methods can not find the truth nor their language express it. They speak of“justice,”“right”and so forth, not knowing that their conceptions of those terms are based on a wrong understanding of values. There is one and but one remedy, and that remedy consists in applying scientific method to the study of the subject. Sound reasoning, once introduced, will overrun humanity as the fields turn green in the spring; it will eliminate the waste of energy in controversies; it will attract all forces toward construction and the exploitation of nature for the common weal.There are capitalists and capitalists; there are socialists and socialists. Among the capitalists there are those who want wealth—mainly the fruit of dead men's toil—for themselves. Among the socialists there are those—the orthodox socialists—who seek to disperse it. The former do not perceive that the product of the labor of the dead is itself dead if not quickened by the energies of living men. The orthodox socialists do not perceive the tremendous[pg 133]benefits that accrue to mankind from the accumulation of wealth, ifrightly used.Whether we be capitalists or socialists or neither, we must learn that to prey upon the treasury left by the dead is to live, not the life of a human being, but that of aghoul. Legalistic title—documentary ownership—does not alter the fact. Neither does lust for the same.When we have acquired the just conception of what a human being is we shall get away from the Roman conception according to which a human being isinstrumentum vocale; an animal,instrumentum semivocale: and a tool,instrumentum mutum. To regard human beings as tools—as instruments—for the use of other human beings is not only unscientific but it is repugnant, stupid and short sighted. Tools are made by man but have not the autonomy of their maker—they have not man's time-binding capacity for initiation, for self-direction, and self-improvement In their own nature, tools, instruments, machines belong to a dimension far lower than that of man.Talk of dimensions or dimensionality is by no means theoretical rubbish. The right understanding of dimensions is of life-and-death importance in practical life. The intermixing of dimensions leads to wrong conclusions in our thought and wrong conclusions lead to disasters.[pg 134]Consider the classes of life as representing three dimensions (as explained in an earlier chapter), then human production belongs essentially to the human or as I call it the third dimension. With the base of (say) 5, we produce in the third dimension a result of 125 units, and so when humans are paid but 25 units in accordance with the standards of the second dimension (that of animals), humanity is deprived of the benefit of 100 units of produced wealth. That is an illustration of what a part dimensions play in practical life. The reflective reader may analyse for himself what effect these same rules would have, if expressed and applied in the human“time-binding”dimension, time being the supreme test. The following table gives the visual shock:1st Dimension2nd Dimension3rd Dimension525125101001,00010010,0001,000,0001,0001,000,0001,000,000,000This explains why the intermixing of dimensions is the source of tremendous evil.Who can now assert that the problem of dimensions is one only of theory? It is not even a question of limitation of mind, but it becomes a question of limitation of eyesight, not to be able to see the overwhelming differences between the laws of development of the first, second, and the third dimension.[pg 135]Dollars, or pounds sterling, or other units of money follow the same rules: the strength and in fact the source of power of modern capitalism, is found in just this difference in dimensions—in the difference between what is given and what is taken, in the difference between what is earned and what is“made.”The problem of dimensions is, therefore, a key which unlocks the secrets of the power of capitalism and opens the door to a new civilization where the understanding of dimensions will establish order out of the chaos.We have seen that kinetic and potential use-values, produced mainly by the dead, are bound up in wealth, which is measured and symbolized by money. This being true, it is obvious that money is a measure and symbol of power, of work done, of bound-up time.Thespace-bindinganimalstandard of miscivilization has brought us to an impasse—a blind alley—for the simple physical reason that there is no more space to“bind.”Practically all the habitable lands, and practically all the natural resources, are already divided among private legalistic owners. What hope is there for the ever increasing population?But we have these 1,600,000,000 living men; 10,000,000,000 living man-powers of the dead; and 1,600,000,000 sun man-powers: that is indeed a tremendous power toproduce wealth for all, if wisely directed, but to-day it is ignorantly and[pg 136]shamefully misdirected, because human beings are not treated in accordance with their nature as the time-binding class of life.Much more is to be gained in exploiting nature aimfully, all the time, with a full mobilization of our living, dead, and sun-powers, than by exploiting man all the time and nature occasionally. Selfishness and ignorance—is it these that prevent full mobilization of the producing powers of the world?Such as contribute most to human progress and human enlightenment—men like Gutenberg, Copernicus, Newton, Leibnitz, Watts, Franklin, Mendeleieff, Pasteur, Sklodowska-Curie, Edison, Steinmetz, Loeb, Dewey, Keyser, Whitehead, Russell, Poincaré, William Benjamin Smith, Gibbs, Einstein, and many others—consume no more bread than the simplest of their fellow mortals. Indeed such men are often in want. How many a genius has perished inarticulate because unable to stand the strain of social conditions where animal standards prevail and“survival of the fittest”means, not survival of the“fittest in time-binding capacity,”but survival of the strongest in ruthlessness and guile—in space-binding competition!Wealth is produced by those who work with hand or brain and by no others. The great mass of the wealth of the world has been thus produced by generations that have gone. We know that the greatest[pg 137]wealth producers—immeasurably the greatest—have been and are scientific men, discoverers and inventors. If an invention, in the course of a few years after it is made, must become public property, then the wealth produced by theuseof the invention should also become public property in the course of a like period of years after it is thus produced. Against this proposition no sophistry can avail.One of the greatest powers of modern times is the Press; it commands the resources of space and time; it affects in a thousand subtle ways the form of our thoughts. It controls the exchange of news throughout the world. Unfortunately the press is often controlled by exploiters of the“living powers of the dead,”and so what is presented as news is frequently so limited, colored and distorted by selfish interests as to be falsehood in the guise of truth. Honest, independent papers are frequently starved by selfish conspirators and forced to close down. Thus the press, which is itself the product in the main of dead men's toil, is made a means for the deception and exploitation of the living. Indeed the bitter words of Voltaire seem to be too true:“Since God created man in his own image, how often has man endeavored to render similar service to God.”Those who want to use such“God-like”powers to rule the world are modern Neros, who in their wickedness and folly fancy themselves divine. To[pg 138]deceive, and through deception, to exploit, rob and subjugate living men and women, and to do it by prostituting the living powers created by the dead, is the work, I will not say of men, but ofmadmen, greedy, ignorant and blind. What is the remedy? Revolution? Revolution is also mad. The only remedy is enlightenment—knowledge, knowledge of nature, knowledge of human nature, scientific education, science applied to all the affairs of man—the science and art of Human Engineering.[pg 139]Chapter VII. Survival of the FittestHumanity is a dynamic affair, nay, the most dynamic known, because it is able to transform and direct basic powers. Where power is produced there must be an issue for it. Power must perforce express itself in some form. Electricity produced in the skies comes down in an often disastrous manner. Electricity, produced aimfully, runs our railroads; just so the enormous power produced by humanity must be used aimfully, in a constructive way or it will burst into insurrections, revolutions and wars.Hitherto we have been guided by those bottomless sciences having only mythological ideas of power—by ideas moulded by personal ambitions, personal interests, or downright ignorance. Periodically we have had all the evils of the lack of a common aim and scientific guidance. Power has been held by the“God-given”or the“cleverest”; seldom has the power been given to the“fittest”in the sense of the most capable“to do.”Those who speak of the“survival of the fittest,”as in the Darwinian theory of animals, bark an animal language. This rule, being natural only in the life of plants and animals[pg 140]and appropriate only to the lower forms of physical life, cannot, except with profound change of meaning, be applied to the time-binding class of life, without disaster.The modern vast accumulation of wealth for private purposes, justifies itself by using the argument of the“survival of the fittest.”Very well, where there is a“survival,”there must be victims; where there are victims, there has been fighting. Is this what the users of this argument mean? Like the Kaiser, they talk peace and make war. This method of doing things is not in any way new. The world has been accustomed to it for a very long while.Personally I believe that most of the masters of speculative semi-sciences, such as economics, law, ethics, politics and government are honest in their beliefs and speculations. Simply the right man believes in the wrong thing; if shown the right way out of the mess he will cease to hamper progress; he will be of the greatest value to the new world built by Human Engineers, where human capacities, exponential functions of time, will operate naturally; where economy, law, ethics, politics and government will bedynamic, notstatic. There is a world of difference between these two words.The immediate object of this writing is to show the way to directing the time-binding powers of mankind for the benefit of all. Human technology, as an[pg 141]art and science, does not yet exist; some basic principles were required as a foundation for such a science. Especially was it necessary to establish ahumanstandard, and thus make it certain and clear that“space-binders”—the members of theanimalworld—are“outside of the human law”—outside the natural laws for the human class of life.Present civilization is a very complicated affair; although many of our social problems are very badly managed, sudden changes could not be made without endangering the welfare and life of all classes of society. In the meantime, changes must be made because the world can not proceed much longer under pre-war conditions; they have been too well exposed by facts for humanity to allow itself to be blindly led again.In the World War humanity passed through a tremendous trial and for those years was under the strain of an extensive mobilization campaign. The necessity of increasing power was manifest; the importance of a common base or aim became equally manifest. In this case the base, the common aim, was found in“war patriotism.”This common base enabled all the states to add up individual powers and build maximum efficiency into acollectivepower. This expression is used, not only as a social truth, but as a known mathematical truth. Those high ideals, which were given“Urbi et orbi”in thousands[pg 142]of speeches and in millions of propaganda papers, had a much greater educational importance and influence than most people are aware of. People have been awakened and have acquired the taste for those higher purposes which in the past were available only for the few.Many old worn-out idols, ideas and ideals have fallen; but what is going to take their place? We witness an unrest which will not be eliminated until something essential is done to adjust it. Calm often betokens a coming storm. The coming storm is not the work of any“bad man,”but it is the inevitable consequence of a“bad system.”It is dangerous to hide our heads in the sand, like an ostrich, and fancy we are safe.“Survival of the fittest”in the commonly used animal sense is not a theory or principle for a“time-binding”being. This theory is only for the physical bodies of animals; its effect upon humanity is sinister and degrading (seeApp. II). We see the principle at work all about us in criminal exploitation and profiteering. As a matter of fact, the ages-long application of this animal principle to human affairs has degraded the whole human morale in an inconceivably far-reaching way. Personal greed and selfishness are brazenly owned as principles of conduct. We shrug our shoulders in acquiescence and proclaim greed and selfishness to be the very core of human[pg 143]nature, take it all for granted, and let it pass at that. We have gone so far in our degradation that the prophet of capitalistic principles, Adam Smith, in his famousWealth of Nations, arrives at the laws of wealth, not from the phenomena of wealth nor from statistical statements, but from the phenomena of selfishness—a fact which shows how far-reaching in its dire influence upon all humanity is the theory that human beings are“animals.”Of course the effect is very disastrous. The preceding chapters have shown that the theory is false; it is false, not only because of its unhappy effects, but it belies the characteristic nature of man. Human nature, this time-binding power, not only has the peculiar capacity for perpetual progress, but it has, over and above all animal propensities, certain qualities constituting it a distinctive dimension or type of life. Not only our whole collective life proves a love for higher ideals, but even our deadgiveus the rich heritage, material and spiritual, of all their toils. There is nothing mystical about it; to callsucha class anaturallyselfish class is not only nonsensical but monstrous.This capacity for higher ideals does not originate in some“supernatural”outside factor; it isnotof extraneous origin, it is the expression of the time-binding element which weinherentlypossess, independently of our“will”; it is an inborn capacity—a[pg 144]giftof nature. We simply are made this way and not in any other. There is indeed a fine sense in which we can, if we choose, apply the expression—survival of the fittest—to the activity of the time-binding energies of man. Having the peculiar capacity to survive in our deeds, we have an inclination to use it and we survive in the deeds of our creation; and so there is brought about the“survival in time”of higher and higher ideals. The moment we consider Man in his proper dimension—active intime—these things become simple, stupendous, and beautiful.“Note the radical character of the transformation to be effected. The world shall no longer be beheld as an alien thing, beheld by eyes that are not its own. Conception of the whole and by the whole shall embraceusaspart, really, literally, consciously, as the latest term, it may be, of an advancing sequence of developments, as occupying the highest rank perhaps in the ever-ascending hierarchy of being, but, at all events, as emerged and still emergingnatura naturatafrom some propensive source within. I grant that the change in point of view is hard to make—old habits, like walls of rock, tending to confine the tides of consciousness within their accustomed channels—but it can be made and, by assiduous effort, in the course of time, maintained. Suppose it done. By that reunion, the whole regains, while the part retains, the consciousness the latter purloined.... In the whole universe of events, none is more wonderful than the birth of wonder, none more curious than the nascence of curiosity itself, nothing to compare with the dawning of consciousness in the ancient dark and the gradual[pg 145]extension of psychic life and illumination throughout a cosmos that before had onlybeen. An eternity of blindly acting, transforming, unconscious existence, assuming at length, through the birth of sense and intellect, without loss or break of continuity, the abiding form of fleeting time.”(C. J. Keyser, loc. cit.)It must be emphasized that the development of higher ideals is due to thenaturalcapacity of humanity; the impulse is simply time-binding impulse. As we have seen, by analysing the functions of the different classes of life, every class of life has an impulse to exercise its peculiar capacity or function. Nitrogen resists compound combinations and if found in such combinations it breaks away as quickly as ever it can. Birds have wings—they fly. Animals have feet—they run. Man has the capacity of time-binding—he binds time. It does not matter whether we understand the very“essence”of the phenomenon or not, any more than we understand the“essence”of electricity or any other“essence.”Life shows that man has time-binding capacity as a natural gift and is naturally impelled to use it. One of the best examples is procreation. Conception is a completely incomprehensible phenomenon in its“essence,”nevertheless, having the capacity to procreate we use it without bothering about its“essence.”Indeed neither life nor science bothers about“essences”—they leave“essences”to metaphysics, which is neither life nor science. It is sufficient for[pg 146]our purpose that idealization is in fact a natural process of time-binding human energy. And however imperfect ethics has been owing to the prevalence of animal standards, such merits as our ethics has had witness to the natural presence of“idealization”in time-binding human life.“It is thus evident that ideals are not things to gush over or to sigh and sentimentalize about; they are not what would be left if that which is hard in reality were taken away; ideals are themselves the very flint of reality, beautiful no doubt and precious, without which there would be neither dignity nor hope nor light; but their aspect is not sentimental and soft; it is hard, cold, intellectual, logical, austere. Idealization consists in the conception or the intuition of ideals and in the pursuit of them. And ideals, I have said, are of two kinds. Let us make the distinction clearer. Every sort of human activity—shoeing horses, abdominal surgery, or painting profiles—admits of a peculiar type of excellence. No sort of activity can escape from its own type but within its type it admits of indefinite improvement. For each type there is an ideal—a dream of perfection—an unattainable limit of an endless sequence of potential ameliorations within the type and on its level. The dreams of such unattainable perfections are as countless as the types of excellence to which they respectively belong and they together constitute the familiar world of our human ideals. To share in it—to feel the lure of perfection in one or more types of excellence, however lowly—is to be human; not to feel it is to be sub-human. But this common kind of idealization, though it is very important and very precious, does not produce the great events in the life of mankind. These are produced by the kind of idealization that corresponds to what we have called in the mathematical prototype, limit-begotten generalization—a kind[pg 147]of idealization that is peculiar to creative genius and that, not content to pursue ideals within established types of excellences, creates new types thereof in science, in art, in philosophy, in letters, in ethics, in education, in social order, in all the fields and forms of the spiritual life of man.”(Quoted from the manuscript of the forthcoming book,Mathematical Philosophy, by Cassius J. Keyser.)“Survival of the fittest”has a different form for different classes of life. Applying animal standards to time-binding beings is like applying inches to measuring weight. As a matter or fact, we cannot raise one class to a higher class, unless we add an entirely new function to the former; we can only improve their lower status; but if we apply the reverse method, we can degrade human standards to animal standards.Animal standards belong to a class of life whose capacity isnotanexponentialfunction ofTime. There is nothing theological or sentimental in this fact; it is a purely mathematical truth.It is fatal to apply the“survival of the fittest”theory in the same sense to two radically different classes of life. The“survival of the fittest”for animals—forspace-binders—is survivalin space, which means fighting and other brutal forms of struggle; on the other hand,“survival of the fittest”for human beingsas such—that is, fortime-binders—is survivalin time, which means intellectual or spiritual competition, struggle for excellence, for making the[pg 148]bestsurvive. The-fittest-in-time—those who make the best survive—are those who do the most in producing values for all mankind includingposterity. This is the scientific base for natural ethics, and ethics from which there can be no side-stepping, or escape.Therefore time-binders can not use“animal”logic without degrading themselves from their proper status as human beings—their status as established by nature.“Animal”logic leads to“animal”ethics and“animal”economics; it leads inevitably to a brutalized industrial system in which cunning contrives to rob the living of the fruit of the dead.Humanlogic points to human ethics and human economics; it will lead to a humanized industrial system in which competition will be competition in science, in art, in justice: a competition and struggle for the attainment of excellence in human life. The time-binding capacity, which manifests itself in drawing from thepast, through thepresentfor thefuturegives human beings the means of attaining a precious kind of immortality; it enables them to fulfill the law of their own class of life and to survive everlastingly in the fruits of their toil, a perpetual blessing to endless generations of the children of men. This is the truth we instinctively recognize when we call a great man“immortal.”We mean that he has[pg 149]done deeds thatsurvive in timefor the perpetual weal of mankind.Human logic—mathematical logic, the logicnaturalfor man—will thus show us that“good”and“just”and“right”are to have their significance defined and understood entirely in terms of humannature. Human nature—not animal nature—is to be the basis and guide of Human Engineering. Thus based and guided, Human Engineering will eliminate“wild-cat schemers,”gamblers and“politicians.”It will put an end to industrial violence, strikes, insurrections, war and revolutions.The present system of social life is largely built upon misconceptions or misrepresentations. For all work we need the human brain, the human time-binding power, yet we continue to call it“hand-labor”and treat it as such. Even in mechanical science, in the use of the term“horse-power,”we are incorrect in this expression. How does this“horse”look in reality? Let us analyse this“horse.”All science, all mechanical appliances have been produced by“man”and man alone. Everything we possess is the production of either dead men's or living men's work. The enslavement of the solar man-power is purely a human invention in theory and practice. Everything we have is evidently therefore a time-binding product. What perfect nonsense to call a purely human achievement the equivalent of so much[pg 150]“horse-power”! Of course it does not matter mathematically what name we give to a unit of power; we may call it a Zeus or a Zebra; but there is a very vicious implication in using the name of an animal to denote a purely human product. Everything in our civilization was produced byman; it seems only reasonable that this unit of power which is the direct product of Man's work, should be correctly named after him. The educational effect would be wholesome and tremendous. The human value in work would be thus emphasized again and again, and respect for human work would be taught, from the beginning in the schools. This“horse-power”unit causes us to forget the human part in it and it degrades human work to the level of a commodity. This is an example of the degrading influence of wrong conceptions and wrong language. I said“educational”because even our subconscious mind is affected by this. (SeeApp. II.)Human Engineering will not interfere with any scientific research; on the contrary, it will promote it in many ways. Grown-ups, it is to be hoped, will stop the nonsense of intermixing dimensions, for which we chastise children. It is the same kind of blundering as when we intermix phenomena—measuring“God”by human standards, or human beings by animal standards. The relationship, if any, between these phenomena or the overlapping of different[pg 151]classes, is interesting and important; but in studying such relationships of classes, it is fatal to mix the classes; for example, if we are studying the relations between surfaces and solids, it is fatal to mistake solids for surfaces; just so, too, if we stupidly confuse humans with animals.In the reality of life, we are interested only in the values of the function of the phenomena by themselves and to arrive at right conclusions we have to use units appropriate to the phenomena. The intermixing of units gives us a wrong conception of the values of each phenomenon; the results of our calculations are wrong and the outcome is a misconception of the process of human life. The fact once realized, we will cease applying animal measures to man; even theology will abandon the monstrous habit.Animal units and standards are to be applied to animals, human standards to man,“Divine”standards to“God.”In the dark ages, with the complete innocence or misunderstanding of science, the“why”of things was explained by the“who”of things; therein investigation culminated; man was regarded ashomo sapiensand homo sapiens = animal × spark ofsupernatural; this monstrous formula was accepted as a final truth—as an answer to the question: What is Man? This type of answer became in the hands of church[pg 152]and state a powerful instrument for keeping the people in subjection.The tendency of the masses to let others think for them is not really anaturalcharacteristic—quite the opposite. The habit of not thinking for one's self is the result of thousands of years of subjection. Those in authority, in general, used their ingenuity to keep the people from thinking. The most vital reason why many humans appear to be, and are often called,“stupid,”is that they have been spoken to in a language of speculation which they instinctively dislike and distrust; thus there arose the proverb that speech was made to conceal the truth. It is no wonder that they appear“stupid,”the wonder is that they are not more“stupid.”The truth is that they will be found to be far less stupid when addressed in the natural language of ascertainable fact. My whole theory is based upon, and is in harmony with, the natural feelings of man. The conceptions I introduce are based on humannature. Natural language—so different from the speech of metaphysical speculation—will lead to mutual understanding and the disappearance of warring factions.“Discrimination, as the proverb rightly teaches, is the beginning of mind. The first psychic product of that initial psychic act isnumerical: to discriminate is to producetwo, the simplest possible example of multiplicity. The discovery, or better the invention, better still the production, best of all the creation, of multiplicity with its correlate of[pg 153]number, is, therefore, the most primitive achievement or manifestation of mind.... Let us, then, trust the arithmetic instinct as fundamental and, for instruments of thought that shall not fail, repair at once to the domain of number.”(C. J. Keyser, Loc. Cit.)The thinking few knew the power there is in“thinking”; they wanted to have it and to keep the advantage of it for themselves; witness the late introduction of public schools. Belief in the inferiority of the masses became the unwritten law of the“privileged classes”; it was forced upon, rubbed into, the subconscious mind of the masses by church and state alike, and was humbly and dumbly accepted by the“lower orders”as their“destiny.”Ignorance was proclaimed as a bliss.As time went on, this“coefficient of ignorance”became so useful to some people and some classes of people that no effort was spared to keep the world in ignorance. It gave a legalistic excuse to imprison, burn and hang people for expressing an opinion which the ruling classes did not like. The elimination from church, from school, from universities, of any teacher, any professor or any minister who dared to exemplify or encourage fearless investigation and freedom of speech became very common. It is less common in our generation, but there remains much to win in the way of freedom.Freedom, rightly understood, is the aim of Human[pg 154]Engineering. But freedom is not license, it is not licentiousness. Freedom consists inlawfulliving—in living in accord with the laws of humannature—in accord with thenaturallaws of Man. A plant is free when it is not prevented from living and growing according to the natural laws of plant life; an animal is free when it is not prevented from living according to the natural laws of animal life; human beings are free when and only when they are not prevented from living in accord with the natural laws of human life. I say“when not prevented,”for human beings will livenaturallyand, therefore, in freedom, when they are not prevented from thus living by ignorance of what human nature is and by artificial social systems established, maintained, and protected by such ignorance. Human freedom consists in exercising the time-binding energies of man in accordance with the natural laws of such natural energies. Human freedom is thus the aim of Human Engineering because Human Engineering is to be the science of human nature and the art of conducting human affairs in accordance with the laws of human nature. Survival of the fittest, wherefittestmeansstrongest, is anaturallaw for brutes, for animals, for the class of merespace-binders. Survival of the fittest, wherefittestmeansbestin science and art and wisdom, is anaturallaw for mankind, the time-binding class of life.[pg 155]

The immortal work done by Descartes, Newton and Leibnitz was to discover powerful methods for mathematics—the only fit language for expressing the laws of nature.

Human Engineering will be the science by which the great social problems will be solved. For the first time since the first day of man, humanity will really understand its own nature and status; and will learn to direct scientifically the living and the non-living forces for construction, avoiding unnecessary destruction and waste.

It may seem strange but it is true that the time-binding exponential powers, called humans, do not die—their bodies die but their achievements live forever—a permanent source of power. All of our precious possessions—science, acquired by experience, accumulated wealth in all fields of life—are kinetic and potential use-values created and left by by-gone generations; they are humanity's treasures produced mainly in the past, and conserved for our use, by that peculiar function or power of man for the binding of time. That the natural trend of life[pg 120]and the progress of the development of this treasury is so often checked, turned from its natural course, or set back, is due to ignorance of human nature, to metaphysical speculation and sophistry. Those who, with or without intention, keep the rate of humanity's mental advancement down to that of an arithmetic progression are the real enemies of society; for they keep the life-regulating“sciences”and institutions far behind the gallop of life itself. The consequence is periodic social violence—wars and revolutions.

Let us carry the analysis of potential and kinetic use-values a little further. All potential use-values left to us by the dead are temporal and differ in utility. Many potential use-values are found in museums and have very limited value to-day in practical life. On the other hand some roads or water-ways built by the ancients have use-value to-day; and an almost endless list of modern potential use-values have or will have use-values for a long time to come, such as buildings, improved lands, railroad tracks, certain machines or tools; the use-value of some such items of material wealth will last for more than one generation. Kinetic use-values are permanent in their character, for, though they may become antiquated, they yet serve as the foundation for the developments that supersede them, and so they continue to live in that to which they lead.

I would draw attention at this point to one of the[pg 121]most important kinetic and potential use-values produced by humanity—the invention of the steam engine. Through this invention, humanity has been able to avail itself, not only of the living fruits of dead men's toil, but also of the inconceivably vast amounts of solar energy and time bound up in the growth of vegetable life and conserved for use in the form of coal and other fuels of vegetable origin. This invention has revolutionized our life in countless directions. To be brief, I will analyse only the most salient effects. Human Engineering has never existed except in the most embryonic form. In remote antiquity the conception and knowledge of natural law was wholly absent or exceedingly vague. Before the invention of the steam engine, people depended mainly upon human powers—that is, upon“living powers”—the powers of living men, and the living fruits of the labor of the dead. Even then there were manifold complications.

The invention of the steam engine released for human use a new power of tremendous magnitude—the stored-up power of solar energy and ages of time. But we must not fail to note carefully that we to-day are enabled to use this immense new power of bound-up solar energy and time by a human invention, a product of the dead.

The full significance of the last statement requires reflection. The now dead inventor of the steam[pg 122]engine could not have produced his ingenious invention except by using the living powers of other dead men—except by using the material and spiritual or mental wealth created by those who had gone before. In the inventor's intellectual equipment there was actively present the kinetic use-value of“bound-up-time,”enabling him to discover the laws of heat, water, and steam; and he employed both the potential and kinetic use-values of mechanical instruments, methods of work, and scientific knowledge of his time and generation—use-values of wealth created by the genius and toil of by-gone generations. This invention was not produced, let us say 6000 years ago, because civilization was not then sufficiently advanced: mathematically considered, the production of this great use-value had to await all the accumulated work of six thousand years of human ingenuity and human labor. So, if we choose, the steam engine may be considered a kinetic use-value in which the factor of time is equal to something like 6000 years, or let us say roughly 200 generations.

It is obvious that, in one life time, even a genius of the highest order, could not, in aboriginal conditions, have invented and built a steam engine, when everything, even iron, was unknown. Of course if the same inventor could have had a life of several thousands of years and could have consecutively followed up all the processes, unhampered by the prejudices[pg 123]of those days, and been able to make all of these inventions by himself, he would represent in himself all the progress of civilization.

By this illustration we see the profound meaning of the words—the living powers of the dead; we see the grave importance in human life of the factortime; we behold the significance of the time-binding capacity of man. The steam engine is to be seen anew, as in the main the accumulated production of dead-men's work. The life of one generation is short, and were it not for our human capacity to inherit the material and spiritual fruit of dead men's toil, to augment it a little in the brief span of our own lives, and to transmit it to posterity, the process of civilization would not be possible and our present estate would be that of aboriginal man. Civilization is a creature, its creator is the time-binding power of man. Animals have it not, because they belong to a lower type or dimension of life.

Sophistry avails nothing here; a child, left in the woods, would be and remain a savage, matching his wits with gorillas. He becomes a civilized man only by the accumulation of, and acquaintance with dead men's work; for then and only then can he start where the preceding generation left off. This capacity is peculiar to men; the fact can not be repeated too often.

It is untrue to say thatAstarted his life aided[pg 124]exclusively by the achievements of (say) his father, for his father's achievements depended on the achievements ofhisimmediate predecessors; and so on all the way back through the life of humanity. This fact, of supreme ethical importance, applies toallof us; none of us may speak or act as if the material or spiritual wealth we have were produced by us; for, if we be not stupid, we must see that what we callourwealth,ourcivilization, everything we use or enjoy, is in the main the product of the labor of men now dead, some of them slaves, some of them“owners”of slaves. The metal spoon or the knife which we use daily is a product of the work of many generations, including those who discovered the metal and the use of it, and the utility of the spoon.

And here arises a most important question: Since the wealth of the world is in the main the free gift of the past—the fruit of the labor of the dead—to whom does it of right belong? The question can not be evaded. Is the existing monopoly of the great inherited treasures produced by dead men's toil a normal and natural evolution?

Or is it an artificial status imposed by the few upon the many? Such is the crux of the modern controversy.

It is generally known that the invention of the steam engine and other combustion engines which release sun-power for mechanical use, has revolutionized[pg 125]the economic system; for the building of engines in the scale of modern needs, it is necessary to concentrate a great number of living men in one place, to build factories, to set up machines used in producing the engines, and all this requires the use of vast amounts of money. That is why this era is called the capitalistic era. But it is necessary to stop here and analyse the factors of value in the engine to be made and in the money used for the purpose of making use of the stored-up energies of the sun. We have found that the major part of the engine and all factors connected with its production are the combined power of dead men's labor. We have found that wealth or capital and its symbol, money, are also, in the main, the bound-up power of dead men's labor; so that the only way to obtain the benefit in the release of sun-power, is by using the product of the toil of the dead. It is further obvious that only the men or organizations that are able to concentrate the largest amounts of money, representing the work of the dead, can have the fullest use of the stored-up energies of time and the ancient sun. Thus the monopoly of the stored-up energies of the sun arises from monopolizing the accumulated fruits of dead men's toil. These problems will, in the future, be the concern of the science and art of Human Engineering.

Let us glance briefly at the problems from another[pg 126]angle. The power developed in the combustion of one pound of coal is theoretically equal to 11,580,000 foot pounds. But by our imperfect methods of utilization, not more than 1,500,000 foot pounds are made available. This is about the amount of physical power exerted by a man of ordinary strength during a day's work. Hence 300 pounds of coal will represent the labor of a man for a year. The current production of coal in the world is about 500,000,000 tons (1906). If we suppose that only half of this coal goes for mechanical use, this will give us approximately the number as 1,600,000,000 man-powers that are producers but not consumers.

Let us take a still broader view of resources; we have approximately 1,600,000,000 living human beings (all censuses available between 1902 and 1906); a wealth of approximately $357,000,000,000 (Social Progress, 1906, page 221) which in our analysis is dead men's work; and sun-power equal, in work, to the work of our whole living population, or equal to 1,600,000,000 sun man-powers. Taking, for simplicity's sake, $35.70 as the average living expenses per annum for each one of theworld'spopulation, we will have:

(1) 1,600,000,000 living men.

(2) 10,000,000,000 living man-powers of the dead.

(3) 1,600,000,000 sun man-powers.

Such classification needs a reflection: man is intrinsically an increasing exponential power and always produces two use-values—the potential and the kinetic. All living men have in some degree this type of power;they are able to direct and use basic powers.

So we see that this world is really populated to-day by three different populations, all of them dynamic and active: to wit, 1,600,000,000 living men; 10,000,000,000 living man-powers of the dead; 1,600,000,000 sun man-powers.

Thus it is obvious beyond any argument,that this additional producing but not consumingpopulation, has been produced mainly by the work of all our past generations. It is said“mainly”because, if we were the first generation, we would be just aboriginal savages having nothing and progressing very slowly. The reason why we progress very rapidly, in this stage of civilization, is explained very clearly by the mathematical law of a geometrical progression, with an ever increasing number of terms, the magnitude of the terms increasing more rapidly all the time.11

This fact is the reason why the old unscientific and artificial social system requires and must undergo profound transformation. Human progress, in many directions, is so far advanced that social institutions can not much longer continue to lag so far behind. Static ethics, static jurisprudence, static economics, and the rest must become dynamic; if they do not continue to progress peacefully in accordance with the law of the progress of science, they will be forced by violent readjustments, recurring with ever increasing frequency.

Here we have a problem of very high importance and enormous magnitude. To serve 1,600,000,000 living men, we have 11,600,000,000 dead man-powers and all the sun man-powers—seven servants to each living man, woman and child[pg 129]included. It looks like the millennium. It would be so if we but used all this power in a constructive way, eliminating waste and controversy and all those factors which hamper production and progress. The present economic system does not realize even the beginning of the magnitude of this truth and the tremendous results which are to be achieved through the adjustment of it. The problem will be solved by Human Engineering, for this will establish the right understanding of values and will show how to manage world problems scientifically; it will give a scientific foundation to Political Economy and transform so-called“scientific shop management”into genuine“scientific world management.”12

There is a chasm between“Capital”and“Labor,”but nature does not know“Capital”or“Labor”at all. Nature knows only matter, energy,“space,”“time,”potential and kinetic use-values, forces in all their direct and indirect expression, the energies of living men, living powers of dead men, and the bound-up powers of Time and the ancient Sun. Nature made man an increasing exponential function of time, a time-binder, a power able to transform and direct basic powers. Sometimes we hypocritically like to delude ourselves, if our delusions are agreeable—and profitable. We call human work“manual labor”and we pretend that we need the laborer for[pg 130]his muscular service, but when we thus speak, we are thoughtless, stupid, or insincere. What we look for in the worker is hiscontrolof his muscles; mechanical work is or can be replaced almost entirely by machinery. What we will never be able to replace by machinery is a Man, because man belongs to the level of a dimension above machinery. Engine-power, sun man-power, and capital—mainly the work of the dead—are inanimate; they become productive only when quickened by the time-binding energies of living men and women. Then only are the results proportional to the ever growing magnitude of exponential power. In nature's economy the time-binders are the intelligent forces. There is none else known to us, and from the engineer's point of view, Edison and the simplest laborer, Smith or Jones, are basically the same; their powers or capacities are exponential, and, though differing in degree, are the same in kind. This may seem optimistic but all engineers are optimists. They deal only with fact and truth. If they make mistakes, if their bridges break down, then, no matter how clever their sophistry, they are adjudged criminal. Like severity must be made the rule and practice toward all those who control the institutions and great affairs of human society. Periodical break-downs must be prevented. The engineers of human society must be held responsible, as the bridge engineer is held to-day.

Things are often simpler than they appear at the first glance. There may be fire and plenty of coal in a stove, yet no heat; the fire does not burn well; an engineer will remove the natural causes of obstruction of the natural process; even such a simple thing as the removal of ashes may solve the problem. It seems simple enough. The truth is often clear and simple, if only it be not obscured and complicated by sophistry.

“Capitalistic”reasoning and“Socialistic”reasoning—Nature does not know such things. Nature has only one“reasoning”in all its functions. Our falsifying of nature's laws makes the controversy. Socialism exists as anismbecause Capitalism exists as anism; the clash is only an expression of the eternal law of action and reaction.

We are living in a world of wealth, a world enriched by many generations of dead men's toil; between the lust of the one tokeepand the lust of others toget, there is little to choose; such contentions of lust against lust aresub-human—animalistic; such ethics is zoological ethics—the righteousness of tooth and claw; below the human dimensions of life, utterly unworthy of the creative energy—the time-binding capacity—of humanity. Socialism feels keenly and sees dimly that human affairs are not conducted in conformity with natural laws. Capitalism neither sees it nor keenly feels it. Neither[pg 132]the one nor the other stops to investigate natural laws—nature's laws—laws of human nature—scientifically. They both of them use the same speculative methods in their arguments, and there can be no issue. Against one old-fashioned, speculative argument, there is always a speculative answer. They both speak about the truth, but their methods can not find the truth nor their language express it. They speak of“justice,”“right”and so forth, not knowing that their conceptions of those terms are based on a wrong understanding of values. There is one and but one remedy, and that remedy consists in applying scientific method to the study of the subject. Sound reasoning, once introduced, will overrun humanity as the fields turn green in the spring; it will eliminate the waste of energy in controversies; it will attract all forces toward construction and the exploitation of nature for the common weal.

There are capitalists and capitalists; there are socialists and socialists. Among the capitalists there are those who want wealth—mainly the fruit of dead men's toil—for themselves. Among the socialists there are those—the orthodox socialists—who seek to disperse it. The former do not perceive that the product of the labor of the dead is itself dead if not quickened by the energies of living men. The orthodox socialists do not perceive the tremendous[pg 133]benefits that accrue to mankind from the accumulation of wealth, ifrightly used.

Whether we be capitalists or socialists or neither, we must learn that to prey upon the treasury left by the dead is to live, not the life of a human being, but that of aghoul. Legalistic title—documentary ownership—does not alter the fact. Neither does lust for the same.

When we have acquired the just conception of what a human being is we shall get away from the Roman conception according to which a human being isinstrumentum vocale; an animal,instrumentum semivocale: and a tool,instrumentum mutum. To regard human beings as tools—as instruments—for the use of other human beings is not only unscientific but it is repugnant, stupid and short sighted. Tools are made by man but have not the autonomy of their maker—they have not man's time-binding capacity for initiation, for self-direction, and self-improvement In their own nature, tools, instruments, machines belong to a dimension far lower than that of man.

Talk of dimensions or dimensionality is by no means theoretical rubbish. The right understanding of dimensions is of life-and-death importance in practical life. The intermixing of dimensions leads to wrong conclusions in our thought and wrong conclusions lead to disasters.

Consider the classes of life as representing three dimensions (as explained in an earlier chapter), then human production belongs essentially to the human or as I call it the third dimension. With the base of (say) 5, we produce in the third dimension a result of 125 units, and so when humans are paid but 25 units in accordance with the standards of the second dimension (that of animals), humanity is deprived of the benefit of 100 units of produced wealth. That is an illustration of what a part dimensions play in practical life. The reflective reader may analyse for himself what effect these same rules would have, if expressed and applied in the human“time-binding”dimension, time being the supreme test. The following table gives the visual shock:

This explains why the intermixing of dimensions is the source of tremendous evil.

Who can now assert that the problem of dimensions is one only of theory? It is not even a question of limitation of mind, but it becomes a question of limitation of eyesight, not to be able to see the overwhelming differences between the laws of development of the first, second, and the third dimension.

Dollars, or pounds sterling, or other units of money follow the same rules: the strength and in fact the source of power of modern capitalism, is found in just this difference in dimensions—in the difference between what is given and what is taken, in the difference between what is earned and what is“made.”The problem of dimensions is, therefore, a key which unlocks the secrets of the power of capitalism and opens the door to a new civilization where the understanding of dimensions will establish order out of the chaos.

We have seen that kinetic and potential use-values, produced mainly by the dead, are bound up in wealth, which is measured and symbolized by money. This being true, it is obvious that money is a measure and symbol of power, of work done, of bound-up time.

Thespace-bindinganimalstandard of miscivilization has brought us to an impasse—a blind alley—for the simple physical reason that there is no more space to“bind.”Practically all the habitable lands, and practically all the natural resources, are already divided among private legalistic owners. What hope is there for the ever increasing population?

But we have these 1,600,000,000 living men; 10,000,000,000 living man-powers of the dead; and 1,600,000,000 sun man-powers: that is indeed a tremendous power toproduce wealth for all, if wisely directed, but to-day it is ignorantly and[pg 136]shamefully misdirected, because human beings are not treated in accordance with their nature as the time-binding class of life.

Much more is to be gained in exploiting nature aimfully, all the time, with a full mobilization of our living, dead, and sun-powers, than by exploiting man all the time and nature occasionally. Selfishness and ignorance—is it these that prevent full mobilization of the producing powers of the world?

Such as contribute most to human progress and human enlightenment—men like Gutenberg, Copernicus, Newton, Leibnitz, Watts, Franklin, Mendeleieff, Pasteur, Sklodowska-Curie, Edison, Steinmetz, Loeb, Dewey, Keyser, Whitehead, Russell, Poincaré, William Benjamin Smith, Gibbs, Einstein, and many others—consume no more bread than the simplest of their fellow mortals. Indeed such men are often in want. How many a genius has perished inarticulate because unable to stand the strain of social conditions where animal standards prevail and“survival of the fittest”means, not survival of the“fittest in time-binding capacity,”but survival of the strongest in ruthlessness and guile—in space-binding competition!

Wealth is produced by those who work with hand or brain and by no others. The great mass of the wealth of the world has been thus produced by generations that have gone. We know that the greatest[pg 137]wealth producers—immeasurably the greatest—have been and are scientific men, discoverers and inventors. If an invention, in the course of a few years after it is made, must become public property, then the wealth produced by theuseof the invention should also become public property in the course of a like period of years after it is thus produced. Against this proposition no sophistry can avail.

One of the greatest powers of modern times is the Press; it commands the resources of space and time; it affects in a thousand subtle ways the form of our thoughts. It controls the exchange of news throughout the world. Unfortunately the press is often controlled by exploiters of the“living powers of the dead,”and so what is presented as news is frequently so limited, colored and distorted by selfish interests as to be falsehood in the guise of truth. Honest, independent papers are frequently starved by selfish conspirators and forced to close down. Thus the press, which is itself the product in the main of dead men's toil, is made a means for the deception and exploitation of the living. Indeed the bitter words of Voltaire seem to be too true:“Since God created man in his own image, how often has man endeavored to render similar service to God.”Those who want to use such“God-like”powers to rule the world are modern Neros, who in their wickedness and folly fancy themselves divine. To[pg 138]deceive, and through deception, to exploit, rob and subjugate living men and women, and to do it by prostituting the living powers created by the dead, is the work, I will not say of men, but ofmadmen, greedy, ignorant and blind. What is the remedy? Revolution? Revolution is also mad. The only remedy is enlightenment—knowledge, knowledge of nature, knowledge of human nature, scientific education, science applied to all the affairs of man—the science and art of Human Engineering.

Chapter VII. Survival of the FittestHumanity is a dynamic affair, nay, the most dynamic known, because it is able to transform and direct basic powers. Where power is produced there must be an issue for it. Power must perforce express itself in some form. Electricity produced in the skies comes down in an often disastrous manner. Electricity, produced aimfully, runs our railroads; just so the enormous power produced by humanity must be used aimfully, in a constructive way or it will burst into insurrections, revolutions and wars.Hitherto we have been guided by those bottomless sciences having only mythological ideas of power—by ideas moulded by personal ambitions, personal interests, or downright ignorance. Periodically we have had all the evils of the lack of a common aim and scientific guidance. Power has been held by the“God-given”or the“cleverest”; seldom has the power been given to the“fittest”in the sense of the most capable“to do.”Those who speak of the“survival of the fittest,”as in the Darwinian theory of animals, bark an animal language. This rule, being natural only in the life of plants and animals[pg 140]and appropriate only to the lower forms of physical life, cannot, except with profound change of meaning, be applied to the time-binding class of life, without disaster.The modern vast accumulation of wealth for private purposes, justifies itself by using the argument of the“survival of the fittest.”Very well, where there is a“survival,”there must be victims; where there are victims, there has been fighting. Is this what the users of this argument mean? Like the Kaiser, they talk peace and make war. This method of doing things is not in any way new. The world has been accustomed to it for a very long while.Personally I believe that most of the masters of speculative semi-sciences, such as economics, law, ethics, politics and government are honest in their beliefs and speculations. Simply the right man believes in the wrong thing; if shown the right way out of the mess he will cease to hamper progress; he will be of the greatest value to the new world built by Human Engineers, where human capacities, exponential functions of time, will operate naturally; where economy, law, ethics, politics and government will bedynamic, notstatic. There is a world of difference between these two words.The immediate object of this writing is to show the way to directing the time-binding powers of mankind for the benefit of all. Human technology, as an[pg 141]art and science, does not yet exist; some basic principles were required as a foundation for such a science. Especially was it necessary to establish ahumanstandard, and thus make it certain and clear that“space-binders”—the members of theanimalworld—are“outside of the human law”—outside the natural laws for the human class of life.Present civilization is a very complicated affair; although many of our social problems are very badly managed, sudden changes could not be made without endangering the welfare and life of all classes of society. In the meantime, changes must be made because the world can not proceed much longer under pre-war conditions; they have been too well exposed by facts for humanity to allow itself to be blindly led again.In the World War humanity passed through a tremendous trial and for those years was under the strain of an extensive mobilization campaign. The necessity of increasing power was manifest; the importance of a common base or aim became equally manifest. In this case the base, the common aim, was found in“war patriotism.”This common base enabled all the states to add up individual powers and build maximum efficiency into acollectivepower. This expression is used, not only as a social truth, but as a known mathematical truth. Those high ideals, which were given“Urbi et orbi”in thousands[pg 142]of speeches and in millions of propaganda papers, had a much greater educational importance and influence than most people are aware of. People have been awakened and have acquired the taste for those higher purposes which in the past were available only for the few.Many old worn-out idols, ideas and ideals have fallen; but what is going to take their place? We witness an unrest which will not be eliminated until something essential is done to adjust it. Calm often betokens a coming storm. The coming storm is not the work of any“bad man,”but it is the inevitable consequence of a“bad system.”It is dangerous to hide our heads in the sand, like an ostrich, and fancy we are safe.“Survival of the fittest”in the commonly used animal sense is not a theory or principle for a“time-binding”being. This theory is only for the physical bodies of animals; its effect upon humanity is sinister and degrading (seeApp. II). We see the principle at work all about us in criminal exploitation and profiteering. As a matter of fact, the ages-long application of this animal principle to human affairs has degraded the whole human morale in an inconceivably far-reaching way. Personal greed and selfishness are brazenly owned as principles of conduct. We shrug our shoulders in acquiescence and proclaim greed and selfishness to be the very core of human[pg 143]nature, take it all for granted, and let it pass at that. We have gone so far in our degradation that the prophet of capitalistic principles, Adam Smith, in his famousWealth of Nations, arrives at the laws of wealth, not from the phenomena of wealth nor from statistical statements, but from the phenomena of selfishness—a fact which shows how far-reaching in its dire influence upon all humanity is the theory that human beings are“animals.”Of course the effect is very disastrous. The preceding chapters have shown that the theory is false; it is false, not only because of its unhappy effects, but it belies the characteristic nature of man. Human nature, this time-binding power, not only has the peculiar capacity for perpetual progress, but it has, over and above all animal propensities, certain qualities constituting it a distinctive dimension or type of life. Not only our whole collective life proves a love for higher ideals, but even our deadgiveus the rich heritage, material and spiritual, of all their toils. There is nothing mystical about it; to callsucha class anaturallyselfish class is not only nonsensical but monstrous.This capacity for higher ideals does not originate in some“supernatural”outside factor; it isnotof extraneous origin, it is the expression of the time-binding element which weinherentlypossess, independently of our“will”; it is an inborn capacity—a[pg 144]giftof nature. We simply are made this way and not in any other. There is indeed a fine sense in which we can, if we choose, apply the expression—survival of the fittest—to the activity of the time-binding energies of man. Having the peculiar capacity to survive in our deeds, we have an inclination to use it and we survive in the deeds of our creation; and so there is brought about the“survival in time”of higher and higher ideals. The moment we consider Man in his proper dimension—active intime—these things become simple, stupendous, and beautiful.“Note the radical character of the transformation to be effected. The world shall no longer be beheld as an alien thing, beheld by eyes that are not its own. Conception of the whole and by the whole shall embraceusaspart, really, literally, consciously, as the latest term, it may be, of an advancing sequence of developments, as occupying the highest rank perhaps in the ever-ascending hierarchy of being, but, at all events, as emerged and still emergingnatura naturatafrom some propensive source within. I grant that the change in point of view is hard to make—old habits, like walls of rock, tending to confine the tides of consciousness within their accustomed channels—but it can be made and, by assiduous effort, in the course of time, maintained. Suppose it done. By that reunion, the whole regains, while the part retains, the consciousness the latter purloined.... In the whole universe of events, none is more wonderful than the birth of wonder, none more curious than the nascence of curiosity itself, nothing to compare with the dawning of consciousness in the ancient dark and the gradual[pg 145]extension of psychic life and illumination throughout a cosmos that before had onlybeen. An eternity of blindly acting, transforming, unconscious existence, assuming at length, through the birth of sense and intellect, without loss or break of continuity, the abiding form of fleeting time.”(C. J. Keyser, loc. cit.)It must be emphasized that the development of higher ideals is due to thenaturalcapacity of humanity; the impulse is simply time-binding impulse. As we have seen, by analysing the functions of the different classes of life, every class of life has an impulse to exercise its peculiar capacity or function. Nitrogen resists compound combinations and if found in such combinations it breaks away as quickly as ever it can. Birds have wings—they fly. Animals have feet—they run. Man has the capacity of time-binding—he binds time. It does not matter whether we understand the very“essence”of the phenomenon or not, any more than we understand the“essence”of electricity or any other“essence.”Life shows that man has time-binding capacity as a natural gift and is naturally impelled to use it. One of the best examples is procreation. Conception is a completely incomprehensible phenomenon in its“essence,”nevertheless, having the capacity to procreate we use it without bothering about its“essence.”Indeed neither life nor science bothers about“essences”—they leave“essences”to metaphysics, which is neither life nor science. It is sufficient for[pg 146]our purpose that idealization is in fact a natural process of time-binding human energy. And however imperfect ethics has been owing to the prevalence of animal standards, such merits as our ethics has had witness to the natural presence of“idealization”in time-binding human life.“It is thus evident that ideals are not things to gush over or to sigh and sentimentalize about; they are not what would be left if that which is hard in reality were taken away; ideals are themselves the very flint of reality, beautiful no doubt and precious, without which there would be neither dignity nor hope nor light; but their aspect is not sentimental and soft; it is hard, cold, intellectual, logical, austere. Idealization consists in the conception or the intuition of ideals and in the pursuit of them. And ideals, I have said, are of two kinds. Let us make the distinction clearer. Every sort of human activity—shoeing horses, abdominal surgery, or painting profiles—admits of a peculiar type of excellence. No sort of activity can escape from its own type but within its type it admits of indefinite improvement. For each type there is an ideal—a dream of perfection—an unattainable limit of an endless sequence of potential ameliorations within the type and on its level. The dreams of such unattainable perfections are as countless as the types of excellence to which they respectively belong and they together constitute the familiar world of our human ideals. To share in it—to feel the lure of perfection in one or more types of excellence, however lowly—is to be human; not to feel it is to be sub-human. But this common kind of idealization, though it is very important and very precious, does not produce the great events in the life of mankind. These are produced by the kind of idealization that corresponds to what we have called in the mathematical prototype, limit-begotten generalization—a kind[pg 147]of idealization that is peculiar to creative genius and that, not content to pursue ideals within established types of excellences, creates new types thereof in science, in art, in philosophy, in letters, in ethics, in education, in social order, in all the fields and forms of the spiritual life of man.”(Quoted from the manuscript of the forthcoming book,Mathematical Philosophy, by Cassius J. Keyser.)“Survival of the fittest”has a different form for different classes of life. Applying animal standards to time-binding beings is like applying inches to measuring weight. As a matter or fact, we cannot raise one class to a higher class, unless we add an entirely new function to the former; we can only improve their lower status; but if we apply the reverse method, we can degrade human standards to animal standards.Animal standards belong to a class of life whose capacity isnotanexponentialfunction ofTime. There is nothing theological or sentimental in this fact; it is a purely mathematical truth.It is fatal to apply the“survival of the fittest”theory in the same sense to two radically different classes of life. The“survival of the fittest”for animals—forspace-binders—is survivalin space, which means fighting and other brutal forms of struggle; on the other hand,“survival of the fittest”for human beingsas such—that is, fortime-binders—is survivalin time, which means intellectual or spiritual competition, struggle for excellence, for making the[pg 148]bestsurvive. The-fittest-in-time—those who make the best survive—are those who do the most in producing values for all mankind includingposterity. This is the scientific base for natural ethics, and ethics from which there can be no side-stepping, or escape.Therefore time-binders can not use“animal”logic without degrading themselves from their proper status as human beings—their status as established by nature.“Animal”logic leads to“animal”ethics and“animal”economics; it leads inevitably to a brutalized industrial system in which cunning contrives to rob the living of the fruit of the dead.Humanlogic points to human ethics and human economics; it will lead to a humanized industrial system in which competition will be competition in science, in art, in justice: a competition and struggle for the attainment of excellence in human life. The time-binding capacity, which manifests itself in drawing from thepast, through thepresentfor thefuturegives human beings the means of attaining a precious kind of immortality; it enables them to fulfill the law of their own class of life and to survive everlastingly in the fruits of their toil, a perpetual blessing to endless generations of the children of men. This is the truth we instinctively recognize when we call a great man“immortal.”We mean that he has[pg 149]done deeds thatsurvive in timefor the perpetual weal of mankind.Human logic—mathematical logic, the logicnaturalfor man—will thus show us that“good”and“just”and“right”are to have their significance defined and understood entirely in terms of humannature. Human nature—not animal nature—is to be the basis and guide of Human Engineering. Thus based and guided, Human Engineering will eliminate“wild-cat schemers,”gamblers and“politicians.”It will put an end to industrial violence, strikes, insurrections, war and revolutions.The present system of social life is largely built upon misconceptions or misrepresentations. For all work we need the human brain, the human time-binding power, yet we continue to call it“hand-labor”and treat it as such. Even in mechanical science, in the use of the term“horse-power,”we are incorrect in this expression. How does this“horse”look in reality? Let us analyse this“horse.”All science, all mechanical appliances have been produced by“man”and man alone. Everything we possess is the production of either dead men's or living men's work. The enslavement of the solar man-power is purely a human invention in theory and practice. Everything we have is evidently therefore a time-binding product. What perfect nonsense to call a purely human achievement the equivalent of so much[pg 150]“horse-power”! Of course it does not matter mathematically what name we give to a unit of power; we may call it a Zeus or a Zebra; but there is a very vicious implication in using the name of an animal to denote a purely human product. Everything in our civilization was produced byman; it seems only reasonable that this unit of power which is the direct product of Man's work, should be correctly named after him. The educational effect would be wholesome and tremendous. The human value in work would be thus emphasized again and again, and respect for human work would be taught, from the beginning in the schools. This“horse-power”unit causes us to forget the human part in it and it degrades human work to the level of a commodity. This is an example of the degrading influence of wrong conceptions and wrong language. I said“educational”because even our subconscious mind is affected by this. (SeeApp. II.)Human Engineering will not interfere with any scientific research; on the contrary, it will promote it in many ways. Grown-ups, it is to be hoped, will stop the nonsense of intermixing dimensions, for which we chastise children. It is the same kind of blundering as when we intermix phenomena—measuring“God”by human standards, or human beings by animal standards. The relationship, if any, between these phenomena or the overlapping of different[pg 151]classes, is interesting and important; but in studying such relationships of classes, it is fatal to mix the classes; for example, if we are studying the relations between surfaces and solids, it is fatal to mistake solids for surfaces; just so, too, if we stupidly confuse humans with animals.In the reality of life, we are interested only in the values of the function of the phenomena by themselves and to arrive at right conclusions we have to use units appropriate to the phenomena. The intermixing of units gives us a wrong conception of the values of each phenomenon; the results of our calculations are wrong and the outcome is a misconception of the process of human life. The fact once realized, we will cease applying animal measures to man; even theology will abandon the monstrous habit.Animal units and standards are to be applied to animals, human standards to man,“Divine”standards to“God.”In the dark ages, with the complete innocence or misunderstanding of science, the“why”of things was explained by the“who”of things; therein investigation culminated; man was regarded ashomo sapiensand homo sapiens = animal × spark ofsupernatural; this monstrous formula was accepted as a final truth—as an answer to the question: What is Man? This type of answer became in the hands of church[pg 152]and state a powerful instrument for keeping the people in subjection.The tendency of the masses to let others think for them is not really anaturalcharacteristic—quite the opposite. The habit of not thinking for one's self is the result of thousands of years of subjection. Those in authority, in general, used their ingenuity to keep the people from thinking. The most vital reason why many humans appear to be, and are often called,“stupid,”is that they have been spoken to in a language of speculation which they instinctively dislike and distrust; thus there arose the proverb that speech was made to conceal the truth. It is no wonder that they appear“stupid,”the wonder is that they are not more“stupid.”The truth is that they will be found to be far less stupid when addressed in the natural language of ascertainable fact. My whole theory is based upon, and is in harmony with, the natural feelings of man. The conceptions I introduce are based on humannature. Natural language—so different from the speech of metaphysical speculation—will lead to mutual understanding and the disappearance of warring factions.“Discrimination, as the proverb rightly teaches, is the beginning of mind. The first psychic product of that initial psychic act isnumerical: to discriminate is to producetwo, the simplest possible example of multiplicity. The discovery, or better the invention, better still the production, best of all the creation, of multiplicity with its correlate of[pg 153]number, is, therefore, the most primitive achievement or manifestation of mind.... Let us, then, trust the arithmetic instinct as fundamental and, for instruments of thought that shall not fail, repair at once to the domain of number.”(C. J. Keyser, Loc. Cit.)The thinking few knew the power there is in“thinking”; they wanted to have it and to keep the advantage of it for themselves; witness the late introduction of public schools. Belief in the inferiority of the masses became the unwritten law of the“privileged classes”; it was forced upon, rubbed into, the subconscious mind of the masses by church and state alike, and was humbly and dumbly accepted by the“lower orders”as their“destiny.”Ignorance was proclaimed as a bliss.As time went on, this“coefficient of ignorance”became so useful to some people and some classes of people that no effort was spared to keep the world in ignorance. It gave a legalistic excuse to imprison, burn and hang people for expressing an opinion which the ruling classes did not like. The elimination from church, from school, from universities, of any teacher, any professor or any minister who dared to exemplify or encourage fearless investigation and freedom of speech became very common. It is less common in our generation, but there remains much to win in the way of freedom.Freedom, rightly understood, is the aim of Human[pg 154]Engineering. But freedom is not license, it is not licentiousness. Freedom consists inlawfulliving—in living in accord with the laws of humannature—in accord with thenaturallaws of Man. A plant is free when it is not prevented from living and growing according to the natural laws of plant life; an animal is free when it is not prevented from living according to the natural laws of animal life; human beings are free when and only when they are not prevented from living in accord with the natural laws of human life. I say“when not prevented,”for human beings will livenaturallyand, therefore, in freedom, when they are not prevented from thus living by ignorance of what human nature is and by artificial social systems established, maintained, and protected by such ignorance. Human freedom consists in exercising the time-binding energies of man in accordance with the natural laws of such natural energies. Human freedom is thus the aim of Human Engineering because Human Engineering is to be the science of human nature and the art of conducting human affairs in accordance with the laws of human nature. Survival of the fittest, wherefittestmeansstrongest, is anaturallaw for brutes, for animals, for the class of merespace-binders. Survival of the fittest, wherefittestmeansbestin science and art and wisdom, is anaturallaw for mankind, the time-binding class of life.

Humanity is a dynamic affair, nay, the most dynamic known, because it is able to transform and direct basic powers. Where power is produced there must be an issue for it. Power must perforce express itself in some form. Electricity produced in the skies comes down in an often disastrous manner. Electricity, produced aimfully, runs our railroads; just so the enormous power produced by humanity must be used aimfully, in a constructive way or it will burst into insurrections, revolutions and wars.

Hitherto we have been guided by those bottomless sciences having only mythological ideas of power—by ideas moulded by personal ambitions, personal interests, or downright ignorance. Periodically we have had all the evils of the lack of a common aim and scientific guidance. Power has been held by the“God-given”or the“cleverest”; seldom has the power been given to the“fittest”in the sense of the most capable“to do.”Those who speak of the“survival of the fittest,”as in the Darwinian theory of animals, bark an animal language. This rule, being natural only in the life of plants and animals[pg 140]and appropriate only to the lower forms of physical life, cannot, except with profound change of meaning, be applied to the time-binding class of life, without disaster.

The modern vast accumulation of wealth for private purposes, justifies itself by using the argument of the“survival of the fittest.”Very well, where there is a“survival,”there must be victims; where there are victims, there has been fighting. Is this what the users of this argument mean? Like the Kaiser, they talk peace and make war. This method of doing things is not in any way new. The world has been accustomed to it for a very long while.

Personally I believe that most of the masters of speculative semi-sciences, such as economics, law, ethics, politics and government are honest in their beliefs and speculations. Simply the right man believes in the wrong thing; if shown the right way out of the mess he will cease to hamper progress; he will be of the greatest value to the new world built by Human Engineers, where human capacities, exponential functions of time, will operate naturally; where economy, law, ethics, politics and government will bedynamic, notstatic. There is a world of difference between these two words.

The immediate object of this writing is to show the way to directing the time-binding powers of mankind for the benefit of all. Human technology, as an[pg 141]art and science, does not yet exist; some basic principles were required as a foundation for such a science. Especially was it necessary to establish ahumanstandard, and thus make it certain and clear that“space-binders”—the members of theanimalworld—are“outside of the human law”—outside the natural laws for the human class of life.

Present civilization is a very complicated affair; although many of our social problems are very badly managed, sudden changes could not be made without endangering the welfare and life of all classes of society. In the meantime, changes must be made because the world can not proceed much longer under pre-war conditions; they have been too well exposed by facts for humanity to allow itself to be blindly led again.

In the World War humanity passed through a tremendous trial and for those years was under the strain of an extensive mobilization campaign. The necessity of increasing power was manifest; the importance of a common base or aim became equally manifest. In this case the base, the common aim, was found in“war patriotism.”This common base enabled all the states to add up individual powers and build maximum efficiency into acollectivepower. This expression is used, not only as a social truth, but as a known mathematical truth. Those high ideals, which were given“Urbi et orbi”in thousands[pg 142]of speeches and in millions of propaganda papers, had a much greater educational importance and influence than most people are aware of. People have been awakened and have acquired the taste for those higher purposes which in the past were available only for the few.

Many old worn-out idols, ideas and ideals have fallen; but what is going to take their place? We witness an unrest which will not be eliminated until something essential is done to adjust it. Calm often betokens a coming storm. The coming storm is not the work of any“bad man,”but it is the inevitable consequence of a“bad system.”It is dangerous to hide our heads in the sand, like an ostrich, and fancy we are safe.

“Survival of the fittest”in the commonly used animal sense is not a theory or principle for a“time-binding”being. This theory is only for the physical bodies of animals; its effect upon humanity is sinister and degrading (seeApp. II). We see the principle at work all about us in criminal exploitation and profiteering. As a matter of fact, the ages-long application of this animal principle to human affairs has degraded the whole human morale in an inconceivably far-reaching way. Personal greed and selfishness are brazenly owned as principles of conduct. We shrug our shoulders in acquiescence and proclaim greed and selfishness to be the very core of human[pg 143]nature, take it all for granted, and let it pass at that. We have gone so far in our degradation that the prophet of capitalistic principles, Adam Smith, in his famousWealth of Nations, arrives at the laws of wealth, not from the phenomena of wealth nor from statistical statements, but from the phenomena of selfishness—a fact which shows how far-reaching in its dire influence upon all humanity is the theory that human beings are“animals.”Of course the effect is very disastrous. The preceding chapters have shown that the theory is false; it is false, not only because of its unhappy effects, but it belies the characteristic nature of man. Human nature, this time-binding power, not only has the peculiar capacity for perpetual progress, but it has, over and above all animal propensities, certain qualities constituting it a distinctive dimension or type of life. Not only our whole collective life proves a love for higher ideals, but even our deadgiveus the rich heritage, material and spiritual, of all their toils. There is nothing mystical about it; to callsucha class anaturallyselfish class is not only nonsensical but monstrous.

This capacity for higher ideals does not originate in some“supernatural”outside factor; it isnotof extraneous origin, it is the expression of the time-binding element which weinherentlypossess, independently of our“will”; it is an inborn capacity—a[pg 144]giftof nature. We simply are made this way and not in any other. There is indeed a fine sense in which we can, if we choose, apply the expression—survival of the fittest—to the activity of the time-binding energies of man. Having the peculiar capacity to survive in our deeds, we have an inclination to use it and we survive in the deeds of our creation; and so there is brought about the“survival in time”of higher and higher ideals. The moment we consider Man in his proper dimension—active intime—these things become simple, stupendous, and beautiful.

“Note the radical character of the transformation to be effected. The world shall no longer be beheld as an alien thing, beheld by eyes that are not its own. Conception of the whole and by the whole shall embraceusaspart, really, literally, consciously, as the latest term, it may be, of an advancing sequence of developments, as occupying the highest rank perhaps in the ever-ascending hierarchy of being, but, at all events, as emerged and still emergingnatura naturatafrom some propensive source within. I grant that the change in point of view is hard to make—old habits, like walls of rock, tending to confine the tides of consciousness within their accustomed channels—but it can be made and, by assiduous effort, in the course of time, maintained. Suppose it done. By that reunion, the whole regains, while the part retains, the consciousness the latter purloined.... In the whole universe of events, none is more wonderful than the birth of wonder, none more curious than the nascence of curiosity itself, nothing to compare with the dawning of consciousness in the ancient dark and the gradual[pg 145]extension of psychic life and illumination throughout a cosmos that before had onlybeen. An eternity of blindly acting, transforming, unconscious existence, assuming at length, through the birth of sense and intellect, without loss or break of continuity, the abiding form of fleeting time.”(C. J. Keyser, loc. cit.)

It must be emphasized that the development of higher ideals is due to thenaturalcapacity of humanity; the impulse is simply time-binding impulse. As we have seen, by analysing the functions of the different classes of life, every class of life has an impulse to exercise its peculiar capacity or function. Nitrogen resists compound combinations and if found in such combinations it breaks away as quickly as ever it can. Birds have wings—they fly. Animals have feet—they run. Man has the capacity of time-binding—he binds time. It does not matter whether we understand the very“essence”of the phenomenon or not, any more than we understand the“essence”of electricity or any other“essence.”Life shows that man has time-binding capacity as a natural gift and is naturally impelled to use it. One of the best examples is procreation. Conception is a completely incomprehensible phenomenon in its“essence,”nevertheless, having the capacity to procreate we use it without bothering about its“essence.”Indeed neither life nor science bothers about“essences”—they leave“essences”to metaphysics, which is neither life nor science. It is sufficient for[pg 146]our purpose that idealization is in fact a natural process of time-binding human energy. And however imperfect ethics has been owing to the prevalence of animal standards, such merits as our ethics has had witness to the natural presence of“idealization”in time-binding human life.

“It is thus evident that ideals are not things to gush over or to sigh and sentimentalize about; they are not what would be left if that which is hard in reality were taken away; ideals are themselves the very flint of reality, beautiful no doubt and precious, without which there would be neither dignity nor hope nor light; but their aspect is not sentimental and soft; it is hard, cold, intellectual, logical, austere. Idealization consists in the conception or the intuition of ideals and in the pursuit of them. And ideals, I have said, are of two kinds. Let us make the distinction clearer. Every sort of human activity—shoeing horses, abdominal surgery, or painting profiles—admits of a peculiar type of excellence. No sort of activity can escape from its own type but within its type it admits of indefinite improvement. For each type there is an ideal—a dream of perfection—an unattainable limit of an endless sequence of potential ameliorations within the type and on its level. The dreams of such unattainable perfections are as countless as the types of excellence to which they respectively belong and they together constitute the familiar world of our human ideals. To share in it—to feel the lure of perfection in one or more types of excellence, however lowly—is to be human; not to feel it is to be sub-human. But this common kind of idealization, though it is very important and very precious, does not produce the great events in the life of mankind. These are produced by the kind of idealization that corresponds to what we have called in the mathematical prototype, limit-begotten generalization—a kind[pg 147]of idealization that is peculiar to creative genius and that, not content to pursue ideals within established types of excellences, creates new types thereof in science, in art, in philosophy, in letters, in ethics, in education, in social order, in all the fields and forms of the spiritual life of man.”(Quoted from the manuscript of the forthcoming book,Mathematical Philosophy, by Cassius J. Keyser.)

“Survival of the fittest”has a different form for different classes of life. Applying animal standards to time-binding beings is like applying inches to measuring weight. As a matter or fact, we cannot raise one class to a higher class, unless we add an entirely new function to the former; we can only improve their lower status; but if we apply the reverse method, we can degrade human standards to animal standards.

Animal standards belong to a class of life whose capacity isnotanexponentialfunction ofTime. There is nothing theological or sentimental in this fact; it is a purely mathematical truth.

It is fatal to apply the“survival of the fittest”theory in the same sense to two radically different classes of life. The“survival of the fittest”for animals—forspace-binders—is survivalin space, which means fighting and other brutal forms of struggle; on the other hand,“survival of the fittest”for human beingsas such—that is, fortime-binders—is survivalin time, which means intellectual or spiritual competition, struggle for excellence, for making the[pg 148]bestsurvive. The-fittest-in-time—those who make the best survive—are those who do the most in producing values for all mankind includingposterity. This is the scientific base for natural ethics, and ethics from which there can be no side-stepping, or escape.

Therefore time-binders can not use“animal”logic without degrading themselves from their proper status as human beings—their status as established by nature.“Animal”logic leads to“animal”ethics and“animal”economics; it leads inevitably to a brutalized industrial system in which cunning contrives to rob the living of the fruit of the dead.

Humanlogic points to human ethics and human economics; it will lead to a humanized industrial system in which competition will be competition in science, in art, in justice: a competition and struggle for the attainment of excellence in human life. The time-binding capacity, which manifests itself in drawing from thepast, through thepresentfor thefuturegives human beings the means of attaining a precious kind of immortality; it enables them to fulfill the law of their own class of life and to survive everlastingly in the fruits of their toil, a perpetual blessing to endless generations of the children of men. This is the truth we instinctively recognize when we call a great man“immortal.”We mean that he has[pg 149]done deeds thatsurvive in timefor the perpetual weal of mankind.

Human logic—mathematical logic, the logicnaturalfor man—will thus show us that“good”and“just”and“right”are to have their significance defined and understood entirely in terms of humannature. Human nature—not animal nature—is to be the basis and guide of Human Engineering. Thus based and guided, Human Engineering will eliminate“wild-cat schemers,”gamblers and“politicians.”It will put an end to industrial violence, strikes, insurrections, war and revolutions.

The present system of social life is largely built upon misconceptions or misrepresentations. For all work we need the human brain, the human time-binding power, yet we continue to call it“hand-labor”and treat it as such. Even in mechanical science, in the use of the term“horse-power,”we are incorrect in this expression. How does this“horse”look in reality? Let us analyse this“horse.”All science, all mechanical appliances have been produced by“man”and man alone. Everything we possess is the production of either dead men's or living men's work. The enslavement of the solar man-power is purely a human invention in theory and practice. Everything we have is evidently therefore a time-binding product. What perfect nonsense to call a purely human achievement the equivalent of so much[pg 150]“horse-power”! Of course it does not matter mathematically what name we give to a unit of power; we may call it a Zeus or a Zebra; but there is a very vicious implication in using the name of an animal to denote a purely human product. Everything in our civilization was produced byman; it seems only reasonable that this unit of power which is the direct product of Man's work, should be correctly named after him. The educational effect would be wholesome and tremendous. The human value in work would be thus emphasized again and again, and respect for human work would be taught, from the beginning in the schools. This“horse-power”unit causes us to forget the human part in it and it degrades human work to the level of a commodity. This is an example of the degrading influence of wrong conceptions and wrong language. I said“educational”because even our subconscious mind is affected by this. (SeeApp. II.)

Human Engineering will not interfere with any scientific research; on the contrary, it will promote it in many ways. Grown-ups, it is to be hoped, will stop the nonsense of intermixing dimensions, for which we chastise children. It is the same kind of blundering as when we intermix phenomena—measuring“God”by human standards, or human beings by animal standards. The relationship, if any, between these phenomena or the overlapping of different[pg 151]classes, is interesting and important; but in studying such relationships of classes, it is fatal to mix the classes; for example, if we are studying the relations between surfaces and solids, it is fatal to mistake solids for surfaces; just so, too, if we stupidly confuse humans with animals.

In the reality of life, we are interested only in the values of the function of the phenomena by themselves and to arrive at right conclusions we have to use units appropriate to the phenomena. The intermixing of units gives us a wrong conception of the values of each phenomenon; the results of our calculations are wrong and the outcome is a misconception of the process of human life. The fact once realized, we will cease applying animal measures to man; even theology will abandon the monstrous habit.

Animal units and standards are to be applied to animals, human standards to man,“Divine”standards to“God.”

In the dark ages, with the complete innocence or misunderstanding of science, the“why”of things was explained by the“who”of things; therein investigation culminated; man was regarded ashomo sapiensand homo sapiens = animal × spark ofsupernatural; this monstrous formula was accepted as a final truth—as an answer to the question: What is Man? This type of answer became in the hands of church[pg 152]and state a powerful instrument for keeping the people in subjection.

The tendency of the masses to let others think for them is not really anaturalcharacteristic—quite the opposite. The habit of not thinking for one's self is the result of thousands of years of subjection. Those in authority, in general, used their ingenuity to keep the people from thinking. The most vital reason why many humans appear to be, and are often called,“stupid,”is that they have been spoken to in a language of speculation which they instinctively dislike and distrust; thus there arose the proverb that speech was made to conceal the truth. It is no wonder that they appear“stupid,”the wonder is that they are not more“stupid.”The truth is that they will be found to be far less stupid when addressed in the natural language of ascertainable fact. My whole theory is based upon, and is in harmony with, the natural feelings of man. The conceptions I introduce are based on humannature. Natural language—so different from the speech of metaphysical speculation—will lead to mutual understanding and the disappearance of warring factions.

“Discrimination, as the proverb rightly teaches, is the beginning of mind. The first psychic product of that initial psychic act isnumerical: to discriminate is to producetwo, the simplest possible example of multiplicity. The discovery, or better the invention, better still the production, best of all the creation, of multiplicity with its correlate of[pg 153]number, is, therefore, the most primitive achievement or manifestation of mind.... Let us, then, trust the arithmetic instinct as fundamental and, for instruments of thought that shall not fail, repair at once to the domain of number.”(C. J. Keyser, Loc. Cit.)

The thinking few knew the power there is in“thinking”; they wanted to have it and to keep the advantage of it for themselves; witness the late introduction of public schools. Belief in the inferiority of the masses became the unwritten law of the“privileged classes”; it was forced upon, rubbed into, the subconscious mind of the masses by church and state alike, and was humbly and dumbly accepted by the“lower orders”as their“destiny.”Ignorance was proclaimed as a bliss.

As time went on, this“coefficient of ignorance”became so useful to some people and some classes of people that no effort was spared to keep the world in ignorance. It gave a legalistic excuse to imprison, burn and hang people for expressing an opinion which the ruling classes did not like. The elimination from church, from school, from universities, of any teacher, any professor or any minister who dared to exemplify or encourage fearless investigation and freedom of speech became very common. It is less common in our generation, but there remains much to win in the way of freedom.

Freedom, rightly understood, is the aim of Human[pg 154]Engineering. But freedom is not license, it is not licentiousness. Freedom consists inlawfulliving—in living in accord with the laws of humannature—in accord with thenaturallaws of Man. A plant is free when it is not prevented from living and growing according to the natural laws of plant life; an animal is free when it is not prevented from living according to the natural laws of animal life; human beings are free when and only when they are not prevented from living in accord with the natural laws of human life. I say“when not prevented,”for human beings will livenaturallyand, therefore, in freedom, when they are not prevented from thus living by ignorance of what human nature is and by artificial social systems established, maintained, and protected by such ignorance. Human freedom consists in exercising the time-binding energies of man in accordance with the natural laws of such natural energies. Human freedom is thus the aim of Human Engineering because Human Engineering is to be the science of human nature and the art of conducting human affairs in accordance with the laws of human nature. Survival of the fittest, wherefittestmeansstrongest, is anaturallaw for brutes, for animals, for the class of merespace-binders. Survival of the fittest, wherefittestmeansbestin science and art and wisdom, is anaturallaw for mankind, the time-binding class of life.

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