64 Research and National Purpose 



where. In fact those societies which have succeeded in achiev- 

 ing a relatively close match between the rise of population 

 and of resources owe it to themselves to help the societies 

 which have not yet gained such control to do so. Yet in spite 

 of the seriousness of the issue I do not belive that the growth 

 of population remotely offers the threat to civilization that is 

 inherent in unlimited global war. We are long past the situa- 

 tion characteristic of primitive societies in which manpower 

 alone is a source of strength. In the main, the countries whose 

 populations are outsripping their resources are at a disadvan- 

 tage, since so much attention must be given to feeding the 

 hungry mouths of individuals who will contribute little to 

 society. Presumably the leaders in most countries will recog- 

 nize within the coming generation that the losses associated 

 with uncontrolled population growth greatly exceed the gains. 

 Among other things, a hungry nation is almost certain to be 

 politically unstable. Since the basic technical knowledge to con- 

 trol population growth is already at hand, I would expect to 

 see great progress in the control of world population in the 

 coming generation. 



The dangers inherent in total war are another matter. It 

 seems evident that the emotional impulses which make it pos- 

 sible for leaders to initiate great wars lie in substantial part 

 outside the rational aspects of our makeup. They seem to be 

 associated with portions of our hereditady code which were 

 inscribed when our pattern of life was far more animal-like 

 than it is at present. It is evident that we do have substantial 

 ability to bring our conscious wills sufficiently to the fore to 

 overcome much of this instinctive behavior, otherwise we 

 would never have managed to evolve relatively stable social 

 units containing several hundred million people. We must 

 recognize, however, that centuries and much trial and error 

 and anguish have been required to achieve such a state. More- 

 over, the stability of large groupings is still far from absolute. 

 We have neither the centuries at our disposal nor the oppor- 

 tunity for very extensive trial and error in dealing with the 



