The air we
breathe is hardly more necessary for our animal life than the use of any
machine, on the strength of which we have increased our numbers, is to
our civilisation; it is the machines which act upon man and make him man,
as much as man who has acted upon and made the machines; but we must
choose between the alternative of undergoing much present suffering, or
seeing ourselves gradually superseded by our own creatures, till we rank
no higher in comparison with them, than the beasts of the field with
ourselves.
"Herein lies our danger. For many seem inclined to acquiesce in so
dishonourable a future. They say that although man should become to the
machines what the horse and dog are to us, yet that he will continue to
exist, and will probably be better off in a state of domestication under
the beneficent rule of the machines than in his present wild condition.
We treat our domestic animals with much kindness. We give them whatever
we believe to be the best for them; and there can be no doubt that our
use of meat has increased their happiness rather than detracted from it.
In like manner there is reason to hope that the machines will use us
kindly, for their existence will be in a great measure dependent upon
ours; they will rule us with a rod of iron, but they will not eat us;
they will not only require our services in the reproduction and education
of their young, but also in waiting upon them as servants; in gathering
food for them, and feeding them; in restoring them to health when they
are sick; and in either burying their dead or working up their deceased
members into new forms of mechanical existence.
Pages:
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298