Dysfunctional adaptation to technological advance

Although technology is capable of providing for all material needs, all needs are not in fact being met. To actually meet all needs would mean commitment to changes in lifestyle in every nation. Responses to demand for such change tend to be: romantic about the ease "in principle" of solving the problem; or emotional about its scope; or an ignoring of the magnitude of the problem and of personal responsibility for it.

The great crisis in modern civilization is that science and technology have radically transformed the social order, while social mores and ethics remain bound to the traditional religious beliefs of pre-industrial societies.