MAN IN A WORLD OF INSECTS — DE LONG 439 



natural world around him. At the moment his greatest efforts seem 

 to be in the direction of producing mechanisms of all kinds, including 

 missiles, bombs, and devices for the exploration of outer space. 



His intelligence drives him to an expanding horizon of activity so 

 that he vigorously competes with other men and other races in order 

 to control greater resources and materials in the world and command 

 greater areas of influence. This leads to cold and other types of war, 

 and to the potential destruction of man and his valuable possessions 

 and international relationships. 



Could it be possible that man has not been here long enough to be 

 properly established, since only about half a million years have elapsed 

 from Pithecanthropus to present-day man, and modern man has been 

 here a comparatively short time? At the present moment in world 

 affairs a sudden misunderstanding or misstep might, in view of the 

 world's present stockpile of bombs, eliminate man from large areas of 

 the world in a single stroke. The insect populations under similar 

 conditions would have a much greater chance of survival. 



If this does not happen, what will be the fate of man in the next 

 million years, attempting to live in a world full of established insects? 

 The laws of evolution should work to improve the human race, but 

 will this happen or can it happen in the world as we know it? In 

 order to meditate upon this thought it is necessary to recall that man 

 is dual in nature. He must conform to his animal nature in order to 

 meet his physical requirements, but he wishes at tlie same time to be 

 a spiritual creature in order to survive the physical world. Pie thus 

 becomes involved in religious theories and doctrines, and he becomes 

 confused and perplexed by biological laws, theories, and concepts. 

 How far will religious prejudice, archaic concepts, and ecclesiastical 

 dictatorship deter man from a sane pattern or philosophy of biological 

 existence? Can intelligence direct the religious to augment the bio- 

 logical ? If so, when may we expect it ? 



The biologist in his rational moments studies the laws of genetics 

 as they apply to insects. He experiments with these in order to obtain 

 and study certain gene combmations and marvels at what has hap- 

 pened in their evolution and adaptation. He applies the principles 

 he discovers for the improvement of f aiTn crops and farm and domestic 

 animals, but he has not applied these basic biologic laws when he 

 considers the human species and the possible and certain improvement 

 of the peoples of the world. In the present world, he dares not. 



Man, then, has not competed and cannot compete with the insect 

 upon the same plane. It is a case of man's intelligence against biolog- 

 ical adaption, and repeatedly intelligence has lost skirmish after 

 skirmish. 



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