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rure. He wrires: "In rhc near furure,
rbe normal human being will be a
rownsman; all bur a fracrion of man–
kind wi11 be living wirhin rbe con–
fines of a World-Ciry rbar will occupy
only a fracrion of rhe planer's land
surface....
"The coming of rhe World-Ciry is
going ro makc a global federarion of
all rhc now existing local sovereign
srares. a necessary condirion for rhe
survival of mankind."
(Ciúes
on
the
Move,
Oxford Universiry Press,
1970,
pp.
200. 216.)
A world ciry wirhour a powerful
world governmem would indeed be
chaos. lt would suffer from che same
problems facing ciries roday.
Man can accomplish grear rech–
nological fears: rocker himself ro che
moon, devclop elaborare defense
mechanisms, and consrrucr world–
wide communicarion and rrans–
porrarion sysrems. Bur he cannor
seem ro undersrand himself. He
knows very lirrle abom solving
human philosophical problems - es–
pecially rhose relared ro social con–
duce and srrucrure.
Ncw York City, one of che world's
mosr populous merropoliran areas.
has a generous share of urban prob–
lems. [es leadcrs askcd rhe Rand Cor–
poration, a "'rhink tank" noted for
succcss in solving defense problems
by sysrems analysis procedures, ro
srudy New York Ciry.
Rand's conclusion, afrer a year of
srudy by over forry expcres:
"The complexiry of the human ele–
mene, rhe complexity of rhe fiscal and
polirical elemenr, che plain com–
plexiry of New York Ciry, are some–
thing we haven't encountered
befo
re."
(A Que.rlion of Priorities.
Edward Higbee.
~Iorrow
and Co.,
Inc., .
Y., 1970,
p.
30.)
Nacional defense sysrems, RanJ
concluded, are simple compared with
urban analysis. Yer man muse under–
srand his cides and che forces which
creared rhem if he is cver ro creare a
srable world communiry.
The rural exodus is intcnsifying
ciries' problerm. Wherher che world's
38
popul:nion can ever rcach a srare of
urban
s~abiliry
wirhour coming so–
cially unglued is yer ro be seen. Racial
prejudice. polirical rurmoil, thc spec–
rer of srarvarion rhroughouc much of
rhe developing world - all chcsc are
explosivc elemcnts which rhrearcn che
formarion of a srable world ciry.
Thc conseanr flow of people inro
rhe ciries of rhe world roday is like
che righrening of a violín scring. The
more pressure rhac is exerred, rhe
righrcr che scring becomes. Evcn–
rually. if enough pressure is applied,
the scring breaks.
Ci ríes are
experiencin~
a financia]
ming righrening in che form of "dis–
economies of scale." This
mean~
rhar
rhe larger a ciry becomes, rhe more
expensive serviccs become. unril indi–
viduals and local governmenrs can no
longer afford che gianr cosrs of opcra–
rion. Ciries stand on che brink of
bankruprcy. This economic problem
is inrcnsified as more people flood
inro ciries. Urban planning becomes
impo~sible.
If the Machine Age
Collapses
Sorne scientisrs do nor agrcc rhar
che ul rimare configura rion of world
PLAIN TRUTH December 1972