EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY 



Consequently it can be argued that consciousness does 

 not really require a structure more complex than that 

 of a single human brain. This is true enough as long 

 as it is applied to a static condition of human con- 

 sciousness, once such a condition has already been es- 

 tablished. However the objection does in no way indi- 

 cate that consciousness could possibly have developed 

 independently in any human being who has always 

 been completely isolated from society. 



There is no question that the total knowledge ef- 

 fectively available to society today, greatly exceeds that 

 contained in any single human brain. Even though 

 the knowledge of individuals has increased during the 

 past few thousand years, the total knowledge of society 

 has increased at a faster rate. This means that the ratio 

 of societal knowledge to average (or even maximum) 

 individual knowledge has been getting larger. It is 

 likely that this ratio will keep increasing at a faster rate 

 in the future, as the potential of a single human brain 

 structure has its limits. Already today, from twenty to 

 twenty-five years are required for the education of a 

 scientist. Unless individual man grows vastly more in- 

 telligent, the detailed knowledge available to any one 

 person cannot become much greater, although there 

 seems to be considerable room for improvements in 

 the quality of that knowledge. Further intellectual 

 progress therefore depends more than ever on the so- 

 cietal integration process. The stage for the develop- 



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