ICARUS OR THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE BY THE SAME AUTHOR The A.B.C. OF ATOMS 12mo., cloth $2.00 In the last few years the study of Radioactivity has brought about amazing advances in our knowledge of the properties and nature of the Atom; and into this fascinating wonderland of the infinitely small yet infinitely complex and infinitely full of energy, Mr. Russell introduces us. E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 681 Fifth Avenue, New York ICARUS OR The Future of Science BY BERTRAND RUSSELL [Illustration] NEW YORK E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 681 FIFTH AVENUE Copyright, 1924 By E. P. Dutton & Company _All Rights Reserved_ First printing, April, 1924 Second printing, June, 1924 Third printing, October, 1924 Fourth printing, December, 1924 Fifth Printing, December, 1924 Sixth Printing, June, 1925 Seventh Printing, June, 1925 Printed in the United States of America CONTENTS PAGE I. Introductory 5 II. Effects of the Physical Sciences 15 III. The Increase of Organization 23 IV. The Anthropological Sciences 43 Conclusion 57 ICARUS OR THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE I. INTRODUCTORY Mr. Haldane’s _Daedalus_ has set forth an attractive picture of the future as it may become through the use of scientific discoveries to promote human happiness. Much as I should like to agree with his forecast, a long experience of statesmen and governments has made me somewhat sceptical. I am compelled to fear that science will be used to promote the power of dominant groups, rather than to make men happy. Icarus, having been taught to fly by his father Daedalus, was destroyed by his rashness. I fear that the same fate may overtake the populations whom modern men of science have taught to fly. Some of the dangers inherent in the progress of science while we retain our present political and economic institutions are set forth in the following pages. This subject is so vast that it is impossible, within a limited space, to do more than outline some of its aspects. The world in which we live differs profoundly from that of Queen Anne’s time, and this difference is mainly attributable to science. That is to say, the difference would be very much less than it is but for various scientific discoveries, but resulted from those discoveries by the operation of ordinary human nature. The changes that have been brought about have been partly good, partly bad; whether, in the end, science will prove to have been a blessing or a curse to mankind, is to my mind, still a doubtful question.