Principles of western civilisation

II PROJECTED EFFICIENCY 57

towards particular ends over vast periods of time.

If we take up the subject at any point and read between the lines of existing controversies it may be noticed how marked this feature has become. In the discussion, for instance, of the phenomena of sexual reproduction as related to a principle of massive utility in the phenomenon of variation, there has been brought into view the principle of Natural Selection operating under conditions in which we have continually before us this fact of the interests of the future weighting all the processes of the present. Whatever may be the outcome of conflicts of opinion to which particular views or assertions have given rise, there can be no doubt as to the main outlines of the order of progress as it is now presented in this matter. We see it as a process in which generations, species, and entire types have been matched against each other in a function of selection, weighted always by a meaning in the future, to which the interests of individuals and generations alike have become entirely subordinate. We see the problem of reproduction as it now prevails amongst the higher forms of life, approached by many devious and tentative paths amongst the early types, as the principle of utility lying behind it begins to make itself felt in the rivalry of existence. We watch the outlines of the immense problem gradually revealing themselves, and notice how it is the burden of the generations to come which, in reality, controls the direction of the whole process.

Apart from all outstanding controversies the fundamental features of the problem are now clearly apparent. To combine together the hereditary