I vividly recall my first visit, as a boy of twelve, to a big town. I had hardly been outside the confines of the village where I was born and I had met and talked to no more than a few hundred people; but those few hundred I knew very well. Of course, we did sometimes meet a strange face but visitors from the outside world, whose coming always aroused great excitement, were few and far between. When I reached the town that I mentioned I was first overcome by the striking change from the slow and quiet life I had been used to. Surely those swiftly moving vehicles must inevitably collide with each other – or with us – at any moment, and those tall buildings collapse and crush us all! But I soon forgot those fears and began to notice something even more amazing – the crowds of people on the pavements who were hurrying past each other without a smile. It gradually dawned on me that not only were they not interested in one another; they were strangers, and apparently quite content to remain so. It was the lack of friendliness among them which most deeply distressed me.
I know that if we are to profit from the many mechanical inventions of this scientific age, it is necessary for us to live together in large communities. We are thus enabled to provide and enjoy material benefits which are rarely available in small villages – such amenities as good sanitation, cheap transport, and in addition, the very fact of our living together in large numbers makes it possible for us to live a richer social and cultural life. Yet it seems to me that the mechanical inventions demand from ordinary folks so much of time and attention that they have no time left for their fellow human beings.