to overcome reductionism through a kind of salvationwhich occurs in beauty and in those who behold
it. An authentic humanity, calling for a new synthesis, seems to dwell in themidst of our technological
culture, almost unnoticed, like a mist seeping gently beneath a closed door. Will the promise last, in
spite of everything,with all that is authentic risingup in stubborn resistance?
113. There is also the fact that people no longer seem to believe in a happy future; they no longer
have blind trust in a better tomorrow based on the present state of the world and our technical abilities.
There is a growing awareness that scientific and technological progress cannot be equated with the
progress of humanity andhistory, a growing sense that theway to abetter future lies elsewhere. This is
not to reject the possibilities which technology continues to offer us. But humanity has changed
profoundly, and the accumulation of constant novelties exalts a superficiality which pulls us in one
direction. It becomes difficult to pause and recover depth in life. If architecture reflects the spirit of an
age, ourmegastructures and drab apartment blocks express the spirit of globalized technology, where a
constant flood of new products coexists with a tedious monotony. Let us refuse to resign ourselves to
this, and continue to wonder about the purpose and meaning of everything. Otherwise we would
simply legitimate the present situation and need new forms of escapism to help us endure the
emptiness.
114. All of this shows the urgent need for us tomove forward in a bold cultural revolution. Science
and technology are not neutral; from the beginning to the end of a process, various intentions and
possibilities are in play and can take on distinct shapes. Nobody is suggesting a return to the Stone
Age, but we do need to slowdown and look at reality in a different way, to appropriate the positive and
sustainable progress which has been made, but also to recover the values and the great goals swept
awaybyour unrestraineddelusions ofgrandeur.
III.
THECRISISANDEFFECTSOFMODERNANTHROPOCENTRISM
115. Modern anthropocentrism has paradoxically ended up prizing technical thought over reality,
since “the technological mind sees nature as an insensate order, as a cold body of facts, as a mere
‘given’, as an object of utility, as rawmaterial to be hammered into useful shape; it views the cosmos
