Introduction

Thought is born of failure. Only when action fails to satisfy human needs is there ground for thought. To devote attention to any problem is to confess a lack of adjustment which we must stop to consider. The entire human race now for the first time faces a single collective challenge. During the next few decades it must decide what kind of man and community is to survive on this planet. The blunt fact is that the species must now think harder and better than ever before if civilization is to be saved from progressive decline. The situation calls for a unique effort of courageous, realistic, and imaginative thought. What is necessary is better thought about nature as a whole, and in particular about human beings and the kind of society they require. Science alone has the technique to discover, and the authority to present, a view of nature and man which can be accepted by men and women everywhere.