From the Spirit of St. Louis to the SST: Charles Lindbergh, Technology, and Environment

摘要

In June 1970, forty-three years after he completed the transatlantic flight that made him an international hero and symbol of American technological prowess, Charles A. Lindbergh (1902—74) penned a letter on what he viewed as the central challenge to Western civilization. Unable to testify personally before Congressman Emilio Dad-dario's House Subcommittee on National Science Policy because he was then in the Philippines working to save endangered wildlife, Lindbergh wrote for the record, "The very survival of our civilization, if not that of mankind, depends on our ability to foresee and control the fantastic forces of the various technologies our scientific knowledge has released. . . . Much as I believe in the utmost practical freedom and independence for man, I do not see how his essential environment can be maintained in this technological era through commercial organizations acting independently. . . . The survival of Western civilization is likely to depend on how intelligently we apply its sciences and technology to our human environment within the next decade."