THE EVOLUTIONARY CAREER 321 



present knowledge only. It can be argued that what we call our 

 *' knowledge " is rather to be regarded as our power of control 

 of natural events. (" In the Beginning was the Act," and thought 

 came after action.) Therefore it may be that we do not, as 

 scientists, search for " absolute truth " but really for power. 

 And so the limitations that we have suggested above may not 

 exist, and since there is mental evolution the barriers that cosmic 

 processes impose upon our power may be illusory ones. 



Still we have to think, just yet at all events, of Man, the Mammal. 

 As such we have inherited modes of mentality, acquisitiveness, 

 the predatory instinct, etc. How very strong these inherited 

 modes of action are the history of the scientific-industrial-capital- 

 istic civilization shows us. The argument against a communal 

 civilization that both its protagonists and anatagonists recognize 

 is the improbability that men will " do their best " for any other 

 than individualistic motives. Individual motive, we see clearly, 

 is very powerful in the building of civilizations. We do not deal 

 only with the primary urges that are active in the origin and 

 maintenance of gregariousness but also with the impulses of greed, 

 acquisition and the lust for power and here we can see clearly the 

 ways in which civilizations based on the acquirement of unlimited 

 energy may be WTCcked. So the evolutionary history of the earth 

 during the next thousands of millions of years may still be that 

 of man, the dominant animal, but also that of civilizations that 

 are episodial, self- destructive and recurrent. 



