By adopting the control strategy, the nation's environmental program has created a built-in antagonism between environmental quality and economic growth.
Barry CommonerRead
Despite the dazzling successes of modern technology and the unprecedented power of modern military systems, they suffer from a common and catastrophic fault. While providing us with a bountiful supply of food, with great industrial plants, with high-speed transportation, and with military weapons of unprecedented power, they threaten our very survival.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Modern technology brings great conveniences but also poses serious threats to our survival.
In this quote, Barry Commoner highlights the paradox of modern advancements; while technology has provided humanity with immense benefits, such as increased food production and advanced weaponry, it simultaneously poses existential risks that could undermine the very foundations of our existence. He calls attention to the idea that we must be cautious of the consequences of our technological innovations and their potential to harm rather than help us.
Themes
TechnologySurvivalSocietyProgressThreat
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech on the impact of technology on society, one could quote Barry Commoner to emphasize the need for sustainable innovations.
More from Barry Commoner
All quotes →Environmental quality was drastically improved while economic activity grew by the simple expedient of removing lead from gasoline - which prevented it from entering the environment.
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We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation.
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The first law of ecology is that everything is related to everything else.
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What is new is that environmentalism intensely illuminates the need to confront the corporate domain at its most powerful and guarded point - the exclusive right to govern the systems of production.
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Sooner or later, _x000D_ wittingly or unwittingly, _x000D_ we must pay _x000D_ for every intrusion _x000D_ on the natural environment.
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