The true purpose of science 

From page 111 in Satprem, My Burning Heart (New York: Institute for Evolutionary Research, 1989)

I think all [our] electronic and mechanical powers are being given extraordinary proofs of their powerlessness. We need only to remember American struggling with the problem of a few hostages in Iran to realize the impotence of that enormous power.
Indeed, our enormous power is totally impotent.
….
Actually, the real purpose of science is not to have invented all those “gadgets”; it isn’t to have produced superjets. Its REAL CONTRIBUTION (if one could step back and have a bird’s-eye view of history) is to have woven such a dense and tight network among all parts of the globe, all the groups of humanity, to have created such a unity, (p.112) such an inextricable network, that you can’t do the slightest thing in a remote corner of France without its having repercussions in Washington or Beijing. Everything is tied together in a single unity. You can’t do a thing or move a finger here without its moving everywhere.
This is the true purpose of science.
It has woven this humanity into a kind of unity – DESPITE ITSELF – a unity so compact that either we make it together or perish together.
In other words, science has been an instrument of global awareness. What used to be the privilege of a few individuals in their remote castles, Himalayas or Egyptian temple … is now perceived and experienced by humanity as a whole.

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