FEEDBACK Vol. 1, No. 5, p. 1 May 1961 MAN IN SOCIETY by Jack Catran The text and drawings on page 6 were prepared exclusively for FEEDBACK by Jacque Fresco - engineer, architect, social scientist. Aside from his masterful drawing style, Fresco's visualizations generate sheer power mainly because of their startling reality. According to Fresco, the scientist of today is involved in a conflict between two value systems: 1. The orderly world of scientific methodology; 2. The non-scientific culture (and language) which surrounds him on all sides, but in which is embodied the embryo of the future. It is difficult, says Fresco, for non-scientific man to grasp the full implications of science because of the limitations imposed on him by his social environment. New forces, inherent in the framework of his present culture, are continually acting upon him, forces which are by their very nature unidirectional and irreversible, and tending always toward higher technical and social achievement. Fresco is currently attempting to systematically evaluate the forces that are shaping our destiny, a destiny in which he envisions socially integrated computers which will determine the most favorable decisions in the conduct of human affairs, machines more than human that will accelerate science and government to the highest levels of efficiency, millions of electronic social servants that will control the production and distribution of goods and services, and devices that will serve man in medicine and agriculture to help him attain a dynamic equilibrium between himself and his environment. This is not the world of tomorrow of the science fiction writer. Page 6 is a look at the world as it is being shaped today, a world dedicated to the well being of the individual and his relationship to society; a world that is certainly inevitable, barring catastrophic war. |