"ON TECHNOLOGY AND THE ARTS"
NO MAN CAN FULLY GRASP HOW FAR AND HOW FAST WE HAVE COME, BUT CONDENSE IF YOU WILL, THE FIFTY THOUSAND YEARS OF MAN'S RECORDED HISTORY IN A TIME SPAN OF BUT A HALF-CENTURY. STATED IN THESE TERMS, WE KNOW VERY LITTLE ABOUT THE FIRST FORTY YEARS, EXCEPT THAT AT THE END OF THEM ADVANCED MAN HAD LEARNED TO USE THE SKINS OF ANIMALS TO COVER HIMSELF.
THEN ABOUT TEN YEARS AGO, UNDER THIS STANDARD, MAN EMERGED FROM HIS CAVES TO CONSTRUCT OTHER KINDS OF SHELTER. ONLY FIVE YEARS AGO MAN LEARNED TO WRITE AND USE A CART WITH WHEELS. CHRISTIANITY BEGAN LESS THAN TWO YEARS AGO. THE PRINTING PRESS CAME THIS YEAR, AND THEN LESS THAN TWO MONTHS AGO, DURING THIS WHOLE FIFTY-YEAR SPAN OF HUMAN HISTORY, THE STEAM ENGINE PROVIDED A NEW SOURCE OF POWER...
LAST MONTH ELECTRIC LIGHTS AND TELEPHONES AND AUTOMOBILES AND AIRPLANES BECAME AVAILABLE. ONLY LAST WEEK DID WE DEVELOP PENICILLIN AND TELEVISION AND NUCLEAR POWER, AND NOW IF AMERICA'S NEW SPACECRAFT SUCCEEDS IN REACHING VENUS, WE WILL HAVE LITERALLY REACHED THE STARS BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT.
THIS IS A BREATHTAKING PACE, AND SUCH A PACE CAN NOT HELP BUT CREATE NEW ILLS AS IT DISPELS OLD -- NEW IGNORANCE, NEW PROBLEMS, NEW DANGERS. SURELY THE OPENING VISTAS OF SPACE PROMISE HIGH COSTS AND HARDSHIPS, AS WELL AS HIGH REWARDS.
THE POET, THE ARTIST, THE MUSICIAN, CONTINUE THE QUIET WORK OF CENTURIES, BUILDING BRIDGES OF EXPERIENCE BETWEEN PEOPLES, REMINDING MAN OF THE UNIVERSALITY OF HIS FEELINGS AND DESIRES AND DESPAIRS, AND REMINDING HIM THAT THE FORCES THAT UNITE ARE DEEPER THAN THOSE THAT DIVIDE.
WE CELEBRATE THE PAST TO AWAKEN THE FUTURE.
OUR PROBLEMS ARE MAN-MADE; THEREFORE THEY CAN BE SOLVED BY MAN.
MAN CAN BE AS BIG AS HE WANTS. NO PROBLEM OF HUMAN DESTINY IS BEYOND HUMAN BEINGS. MAN'S REASON AND SPIRIT HAVE OFTEN SOLVED THE SEEMINGLY UNSOLVABLE, AND WE BELIEVE THEY CAN DO IT AGAIN.
TODAY, WE RECOGNIZE INCREASINGLY THE ESSENTIALITY OF ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT. THIS IS PART, I THINK, OF A NATIONWIDE MOVEMENT TOWARD EXCELLENCE --A MOVEMENT WHICH HAD ITS START IN THE ADMIRATION OF EXPERTNESS AND SKILL IN OUR TECHNICAL SOCIETY, BUT WHICH NOW DEMANDS QUALITY IN ALL REALMS OF HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT.
WE KNOW THAT SCIENCE IS INDISPENSABLE -- BUT WE ALSO KNOW THAT SCIENCE, IF DIVORCED FROM A KNOWLEDGE OF MAN AND OF MAN'S WAYS, CAN STUNT A CIVILIZATION. AND SO THE EDUCATED MAN REACHES OUT FOR THE EXPERIENCE WHICH THE ARTS ALONE PROVIDE. HE WANTS TO EXPLORE THE SIDE OF LIFE WHICH EXPRESSES THE EMOTIONS AND EMBODIES VALUES AND IDEALS OF BEAUTY.
TOO OFTEN IN THE PAST, WE HAVE THOUGHT OF THE ARTIST AS AN IDLER AND DILETTANTE AND OF THE LOVER OF ARTS AS SOMEHOW SISSY OR EFFETE. WE HAVE DONE BOTH AN INJUSTICE. THE LIFE OF THE ARTIST IS, IN RELATION TO HIS WORK, STERN AND LONELY. HE HAS LABORED HARD, OFTEN AMID DEPRIVATION, TO PERFECT HIS SKILL. HE HAS TURNED ASIDE FROM QUICK SUCCESS IN ORDER TO STRIP HIS VISION OF EVERYTHING SECONDARY OR CHEAPENING. HIS WORKING LIFE IS MARKED BY INTENSE APPLICATION AND INTENSE DISCIPLINE.
WE MUST USE TIME AS A TOOL, NOT AS A COUCH.
**************************************************************************"JOHN F. KENNEDY: WORDS TO REMEMBER"
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