106 THE SCIENCE OF POWER 



civilization has almost nothing to do with the facts 

 of inborn heredity. So far from civilization being 

 practical!}' unchangeable or only changeable 

 through influences operating slowly over long 

 periods of time, the world can be changed in a brief 

 space of time. Within the life of a single genera- 

 tion it can be made to undergo changes so profound, 

 so revolutionary, so permanent, that it would almost 

 appear as if human nature itself had been completely 

 altered in the interval. 



The mechanism and the forces, moreover, capable 

 of producing changes of this nature already exist 

 in the world. They are to be witnessed at work 

 on every side of us. The science of the organiza- 

 tion of this mechanism and of the control of these 

 forces is the real science of civilization. It repre- 

 sents, at present, an almost unexplored world of 

 knowledge. If but one-half the intelligence and 

 effort which nations have hitherto directed towards 

 the collective organization of society <for war were 

 directed towards the study and collective organiza- 

 tion of society in the light of this knowledge, it 

 would result in it becoming visible on all hands that 

 civilization can be altered so radically and so 

 quickly that the outlook of humanity on nearly 

 every fundamental matter can be changed in a 

 single generation. 



