47.2 "The twin aims that have animated man since the dawn of history are the conquest of nature and the conquest of drudgery. Now they seem in a fair way to be achieved. And the achievement seems destined, at the same time, to end in the trivialization of life. It is impossible to believe that man can long be satisfied with the kind of recreations that now occupy the bulk of their free time. After all, they are men. Man, though an animal, is not all animal. He is rational and he cannot live by animal gratifications alone; still less by amusements that animals have too much sense to indulge in. A man must use his mind; he must feel he is doing something that will develop his highest powers and contribute to the development of his fellow men, or he will cease to be a man."
His point about the twin conquests of man is fascinating. I have a sort of mental pastime that involves thinking what ancient minds would think of our modern world - of things like cars, electricity, running water, grocery stores, etc. I think most of these differences that would astound the ancient come down to differences in degree of the twin conquests. We have, as he says, done a fair job of conquering nature. Hurricanes, forest fires and volcanoes still prove that we aren't the masters of the winds and waves. However, most people in this country don't have to worry about extremes of temperature or heavy rains and we turn rocks into power for our stoves and refrigerators. As for drudgery, we no longer have to walk behind the plow (or even steer the tractor) and we have automated nearly all the mind numbing, dehumanizing jobs. It seems that all this has led to, however, is a seemingly endless stream of new video games, gaming systems, newer and flashier movies and 8000 TV channels. We have RVs, dirt bikes and motor boats but such things are not the end toward which mankind has striven for thousands of years. Entertainment is nice, but we must use our minds at least occasionally and maybe even serve our neighbor. If we do not, we are no better than the animals.
Now, I wonder: Is mere entertainment animalistic? By which I mean, a-musing oneself cannot happen to animals, because they can't be "mused" in the first place. But because it is particularly human, does that make it particularly good, evil, or inert?
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