Summarises some of the deep-seated anxieties of modern life, the sense of disorder and dehumanisation which so many people feel, in spite of all our immense powers and knowledge.
Argues that materialism so dominates our lives that we have lost sight of ethical and spiritual values, and conflict and hatred permeate our social life.
As the source of this dehumanisation it identifies technology, which no longer serves us but we have become enslaved to it: it now shapes our lives, in particular through electronic media.
The culture of the past, philosophy, spirituality and respect for nature have become the great casualties of the modern age, and their loss has profoundly impoverished us.
The current crises in our social and political life will never be healed, indeed will deepen, unless we face these truths, that wealth and power do not bring us peace and fulfilment.
The Tunnel at the End of the Light
We used to speak proverbially of “Seeing the light at the End of the Tunnel.” But this controversial book reverses that proverb and sets out to show that we are leaving the light behind us and are entering a dark tunnel of anxiety, disorder and inevitable dehumanisation. This book argues that Western civilisation has taken a profoundly wrong turning which we need to set right if our civilisation and our lives are not to descend into chaos. It identifies the domination of our lives by science and technology as lying at the heart of the deep malaise in our society. In the light of modern history, it has become clear that our immense scientific knowledge and skills cannot bring us the gift of happiness, personal or social. On the contrary, our enslavement to technology has poisoned our lives and corrupted our ethical values. Materialism, in the form of wealth, power and pleasure, is the creed of our time, chanted by so-called democratic governments the world over, and this is precisely what the sci-tech obsession offers us. This book analyses how we have been sleepwalking into this critical situation, and why we must retrace our steps if we wish to recover our true humanity. We must understand that if we accept life in a virtual reality, we shall end as being virtual people in a virtual world, for the truth is that we are currently engaged in programming mankind for self-destruction.
