16 We are all now aware that some new scientific or technological advances, though useful, may have unpleasant side effects. More and more, the tendency is to expert caution before committing the world to something that may not be reversible.
The trouble is, it"s not always easy to tell what the side effects will be. In 1846, a man called Sobrero produced the first nitroglycerine (硝化甘油). When heated, a drop of it exploded. The Italian chemist realized in horror its possible application to warfare and stopped his research at once. It didn"t help, of course. 17 Others followed his research and other high explosives were indeed being used in warfare by the close of the 19th century.
Did that make high explosives entirely bad In 1867, Alfred Nobel learned how to mix nitroglycerine with other substances to produce a safer-to-handle mixture he called "dynamite". With dynamite, earth could be moved at a rate far beyond that of pick and shovel.
We can"t abandon industrialization, because our food supply depends on it. If everyone decided to grow food without chemical fertilizers or insecticides or machinery, it would mean that only one quarter of the world population could be fed.
Can we abandon some of our industrial technology and hold onto the rest That would be very difficult, since it all hangs together.
We can save, conserve, cut out waste, but what we have we must keep. 18 The only solution, as always in the history of mankind, is to solve problems by still further advances in technology.