10/14/2026
“Considered on its own merits, as a legitimate human activity, technology is neither good nor bad, neither harmful nor harmless.
Whether it be used for good or ill depends entirely on man’s own attitude, which in turn depends on technology. The technologist has something of the same problem as the factory worker. Since he has
to do mainly with mechanical factors, there is a danger of his other mental capacities atrophying. Just as an unbalanced diet is injurious to the body, any psychic imbalances have injurious effects in the long run and need compensating. In my practice I have observed how engineers, in particular, very often developed philosophical interests, and this is an uncommonly sound reaction and mode of compensa-tion. For this reason I have always recommended the institution of Humanistic Faculties at the Federal Polytechnic, to remind students that at least such things exist, so that they can come back to them if ever they should feel a need for them in later life.
Technology harbors no more dangers than any other trend in the development of human consciousness. The danger lies not in technology but in the possibilities awaiting discovery. Undoubtedly a new discovery will never be used only for good, but will certainly be used for ill as well. Man, therefore, always runs the risk of discovering something that will destroy him if evilly used. We have come very close to this with the atom bomb. Faced with such menacing developments, one must ask oneself whether man is sufficiently equipped with reason to be able to resist the temptation to use them for destructive purposes, or whether his constitution will allow him to be swept into catastrophe. This is a question which experience alone can answer.” (CW 18, PAR. 1403-7)
