The fact remains that, if the supply of energy failed, modern civilization would come to an end as abruptly as does the music of an organ deprived of wind.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the essential role of energy in sustaining modern civilization.
Frederick Soddy highlights the critical dependence of contemporary society on energy sources, likening it to an organ that stops playing music when it runs out of wind. This metaphor illustrates how the sudden loss of energy supply would disrupt the functioning of modern life, underscoring the importance of energy in maintaining social stability and progress.
In practice
In a discussion about renewable energy initiatives, this quote can emphasize the necessity of energy for societal functioning.
The ruling passion of the age is to convert wealth into debt in order to_x000D_ derive a permanent future income from it - to convert wealth that perishes_x000D_ into debt that endures, debt that does not rot, costs nothing to maintain,_x000D_ and brings in perennial interest.
Mankind has always drawn from outside sources of energy. This island was the first to harness coal and steam. But our present sources stand in the ratio of a million to one, compared with any previous sources. The release of atomic energy will change the whole structure of society.
The real value of science is in the getting, and those who have tasted the pleasure of discovery alone know what science is. A problem solved is dead. A world without problems to be solved would be devoid of science.
So if the worth of the arts were measured by the matter with which they deal, this art-which some call astronomy, others astrology, and many of the ancients the consummation of mathematics-would be by far the most outstanding. This art which is as it were the head of all the liberal arts and the one most worthy of a free man leans upon nearly all the other branches of mathe matics. Arithmetic, geometry, optics, geodesy, mechanics, and whatever others, all offer themselves in its service.
Throughout history, people have studied pure science from a desire to understand the universe rather than practical applications for commercial gain. But their discoveries later turned out to have great practical benefits.
In science, you can say things that seem crazy, but in the long run, they can turn out to be right. We can get really good evidence, and in the end, the community will come around.
It is certain that there may be extraordinary mental activity with an extremely small absolute mass of nervous matter: thus the wonderfully diversified instincts, mental powers, and affections of ants are notorious, yet their cerebral ganglia are not so large as the quarter of a small pin's head. Under this point of view, the brain of an ant is one of the most marvelous atoms of matter in the world, perhaps more so than the brain of a man.
Crash programs fail because they are based on theory that, with nine women pregnant, you can get a baby in a month.
Science is the ultimate pornography, analytic activity whose main aim is to isolate objects or events from their contexts in time and space. This obsession with the specific activity of quantified functions is what science shares with pornography.
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