CHAPTER 31 • BIOLOGY AND WEALTH 



1 Do all things exist for the use of man ? 



2 What do people need besides food, clothing and shelter? 



3 Are people better off today than they were in the past? 



4 Are people better off under our kind of civilization than they are 



in simpler cultures? 



5 How can we make better use of our resources? 



6 If there is overpopulation for other species, can there not also be 



for man? 



7 Can we produce enough to supply everybody's needs? 



8 Can our country support a larger population? 



9 Should we not be better off if our population were smaller? 



10 Should we be better off if we tried to live on what we have with- 



out importing or exporting? 



11 Is there not a necessary limit to the earth's human population? 



Under simple conditions of living people accumulate very few material 

 things. It takes about all the time there is to get the bare necessities and to 

 fight enemies of one kind or another. The only surplus is Hkely to consist of 

 weapons, simple tools, and trophies of the chase or of war. 



With increasing division of labor and with the growth of agriculture, in- 

 dustry and commerce, more and more is produced. It becomes possible to 

 construct more permanent buildings and bridges, ships and roads. People 

 can store up large accumulations of food, cloth, fuel, tools, raw materials, 

 ornaments. These usable objects and materials constitute a people's wealth — 

 the physical basis of their welfare. 



In considering the wealth of a people we sometimes include all the natural 

 resources, such as fertile soils, rninerals, forests, waterfalls, wild life of land 

 and water, and so on. All these things can be converted into usable wealth by 

 means of people's skill and science. How much of our material welfare depends 

 upon Uving things? How far does our control of material wealth depend upon 

 our understanding of life — our biology? 



How Has Science Changed Our Management of the Earth? 



Undermining Ourselves^ Ages ago men learned that the land upon 

 which they dwelt is the very source of their Hvelihood, and not merely stand- 

 ing room. By becoming farmers men found ways to obtain food with more 

 certainty and from a smaller area. But the more effectively they raised and 

 removed crops, the more quickly did they exhaust the soil, sometimes literally 



iSeeNo. 1, p. 656. 

 641 



