Doctor Charles P. Steinmetz has given in his _America and the New Epoch_ a
most correct engineering picture of the political situation in the world,
with a fine characterization of the psychological peculiarities of the
different races. Although this book was written in 1916, that is, before
the end of the World War, it will be of permanent value; because of its
deep psychological analysis of the peoples and their institutions which
ultimately shape the development of any nation and which do not change
with victory or defeat.
“My tribute to the memory of Gantt will be, not only the homage of
a friend and admirer, but the proof that his philosophy is
scientifically true. A rigorous proof is necessary, because the
word ‘service’ belongs to that category of words, the meaning of
which can be completely reversed by the verb, be it ‘give’ or
‘take.’ Gantt took ‘rendering service’ as an axiom; my
observation, shared with many others, is that our civilization had
quite another axiom, ‘we preach give, we practice take.’ The
problem which interested me, was how to find a way out of this
contradiction that would be irrefutable. If one of them is true
and natural law for humans, then the other is not; if our words
are true, then our deeds are not true, or if our deeds are true
then the words are camouflage. I found the solution, by applying
mathematically rigorous thinking. Mathematics, with its exact
concept of dimensions, gave me the method. The method we use in
studying phenomena is analysis, or speaking mathematically,
differentiation. I soon found, that the methods of differentiation
are mostly correct, but our synthesis, or process of integration
made by the use of metaphysics was faulty. The differentiation
correctly lowered the dimensions, but our faulty integration did
not restore the original dimensions. The investigation had to be
made from the beginning, by defining the phenomena of life, in a
specific way, which would not permit of any blunders in
dimensions.
“I defined the classes of life by emphasizing their incontestable,
dimensional characteristics: plants are ‘Chemistry-binding,’
animals are ‘Space-binding,’ Humans are ‘Time-binding’ classes of
life.
“These definitions have the peculiarity that they make it obvious,
that: 1. The classes of life have different dimensions, and that
the intermixing of dimensions, as in mathematics it makes a
correct solution impossible, so in life, the results of such
elementary mistakes, produce tragic consequences.
“2. The old formula on which our civilization is built, HUMAN
equal ANIMAL plus or multiplied by SPARK OF DIVINITY is basically
and elementarily wrong, and is mathematical nonsense, which is
identical to such an absurdity as _x_ square inches equal _y_
linear inches plus or multiplied by _z_ cubic inches.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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