On the Old and the New Man

"The nineteenth century earned a loud title: ‘the age of progress.’ The title was well deserved. In this century, reason, scientifically studying the phenomena of nature and subordinating its untamed elemental forces to economic interests, reached an unprecedented height—and created many ‘wonders of technology.’ Studying organic life, reason discovered the invisible world of bacteria—an discovery that was not used to its full extent due to the shameful and cynical conservatism of social class conditions…"