Peter Kreeft Quote #3

The modern mind was born when [Francis] Bacon trumpeted "man's conquest of nature" as the new summum bonum [highest good]. Nearly everyone hopped on his bandwagon, but not Pascal. Today nearly everyone can plainly see that Pascal was right and Bacon wrong; that man's conquest of nature by science and technology, despite its spectacular success, has not made us happier, has not made us wiser and has not made us holier. It has not even made us more powerful; the individual feels a far greater sense of impotence today than ever before.

Peter Kreeft, Christianity for Modern Pagans, p. 126

I deal with technology and technology professionals in my work, and my observation is that many people are so enamored with the "spectacular success" of technology that they would not see the problems Kreeft is describing in this quote. To such people, I will just point out that our current problems with the environment spring from this idea of the "conquest of nature".