The Human Equation
“YOU are, then, opposed to any fixed plan for the betterment of the world. You would simply work by bettering material conditions?”
“I am not opposed to any fixed plan. I only say this, that all the fixed plans I have seen are unworkable, and from one cause.”
“What is that?”
“The framers of them have forgotten that any plan for betterment of the world is absolutely unworkable that leaves out the Human Equation.
“That is not a saying of mine. It is a Law. And, what is more, it is part of a universal law. You cannot improve the condition of vegetation unless you allow for the weakness as well as the virtues and strength of vegetable life, nor can you improve the condition of mankind unless you allow for its weaknesses and sins and follies as well as for its virtues and its strength.
“What I have said to you about Socialism is not an ex-parte statement by a man opposed to Socialism. I am opposed to nothing but error, and when I see Laws as fixed and as immutable as Bode’s Law or the law of gravity disregarded by men who are proposing to reform the world, and when I point out these fatal flaws in their reasoning, that does not mean that I am opposed to all plans for reforming the world, but it does mean that I would test by everyday logic any plan for everyday use.
“Will it work? Will it perform the work for which it was invented as a kinetic engine?
“Those are the two questions on which the capitalist satisfies himself first before he invests his money in any invention in mechanics.