ABSTRACT
The very possibility of human life is governed by contradictions. Consider this: In the last three decades, the average life span of a human being has lengthened by ten years or more. In the poorest parts of the world, it has grown from fortyeight years to sixty-three years. The causes are various, but any account would include the increased application of science to agriculture (the so-called green revolution), improvements in medical provision, and the consequent halving of the infant mortality rate. Progress, by any criterion.
