Chapter 3.                  (continued) 

The First World War shattered the optimism of the Golden Age prophets, but it also shattered much more deeply the confidence of the nations of the West, which had begun to believe that they had found the answers to life’s riddles. Pre-WWI, people in the West had come to believe that their wise men were in control: the ways of the West, with Science to lead them, were taking over the world, and thus the sufferings of the past would be gradually reduced until they became only dim memories recorded in books.

 

There had been wars and famines and depressions before, but people still believed in the traditional ideas of God and right and wrong, based on the Bible, because: first, the damage had been minor compared to that caused by WWI; second, the ways of the West had, for the most part, worked; and third, there hadn’t been a serious alternative set of beliefs to consider.

 

But now, with the rise of Science, all was changing. As we gained physical power, our ideas about how to handle all that power began to seem increasingly inadequate. Then, in the horrors of WWI, the moral systems of the Western societies seemed not just to fail but to unravel; people’s worst fears came true. The “guys at the top” were fools. Science was a monster and it was on the loose.

 

Science was providing new communications technologies that were giving the xenophobic, tribalistic forces and leaders in Western societies more power to mold people’s minds. It was also arming these forces and leaders with ever bigger and more terrible weapons – while the moral philosophers and social scientists dithered about what “right” was and what we “should” be doing. The outcome had a feeling of inevitability to it. An arms race became normal. Bigger warships, cannons. Weapons ever more effective. Poison gas. Flame throwers. The odds of the war starting kept rising. Sooner or later, it had to happen.

 

  

       Standard German soldier’s belt buckle (WWI (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

 

 

Descartes’ method, using Christian morals to control scientific technologies, wasn’t working. Not only were Christians doing unthinkable horrors, they were doing those horrors mostly to one another. Worst of all, in every one of the warring nations, these acts were being done expressly in the name of their God. Gott mit uns was embossed on nearly every German soldier’s belt buckle. “Onward Christian Soldiers” was sung at church services in nearly every English-speaking country in the world.

 

In the meantime, by the end of the fighting, the political, religious, and business leaders in every sector of society appeared to be out of answers. Most of the victors continued to spout the platitudes that had got their nations into the horror to begin with. To thoughtful observers, Western moral systems looked bankrupt. Paralyzing doubt began to haunt people in every level of society, from the rich and powerful to the middle classes to the poor.

 

If the morals of the West had led to this, people could not help but think maybe Science was right about the Bible. Maybe the moral beliefs that it recommended had all been a fraud. Maybe there were no moral rules at all. Disputes between cultures must always be settled by violence. Darwin’s model of the living world had portrayed “nature red in tooth and claw.” It seemed to be the final word. Survival of the fittest: wolves kill deer, spiders kill flies, big fish kill little fish. This seemed to be the only credible model left. Mere anarchy was loosed upon the world.