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More and more Americans feel threatened by runaway technology, by large-scale organization, by overcrowding. More and more Americans are appalled by the ravages of industrial progress, by the defacement of nature, by man-made ugliness. If our society continues at its present rate to become less livable as it becomes more affluent, we promise all to end up in sumptuous misery.
John W. Gardner
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote expresses concern over the negative impacts of technological advancement and industrial progress on society and nature.

John W. Gardner highlights the anxiety many Americans feel regarding the adverse effects of unchecked technological and industrial growth. He warns that while society may become wealthier, the quality of life could deteriorate, leading to a paradoxical state of 'sumptuous misery' where affluence does not equate to happiness or livability.

Themes

TechnologyProgressSocietyNatureAffluence

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in discussions about sustainable technology practices.

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I think that all human systems require continuous renewal. They rigidify. They get stuff in the joints. They forget what they cared about. The forces against it are nostalgia and the enormous appeal of having things the way they always have been, appeals to a supposedly happy past. But we've got to move on.
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What leaders have to remember is that somewhere under the somnolent surface is the creature that builds civilizations, the dreamer of dreams, the risk taker. And remembering that, the leader must reach down to the springs that never dry up, the ever-fresh springs of the human spirit.
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