[H]e is only the logical outcome of the type of humanity that exists at present....

Although it is possible that man has far to go before his inherent physiological and psychological make-up becomes the limiting factor to his development, this must happen sooner or later, and it is then that the mechanized man will begin to show a definite advantage. Normal man is an evolutionary dead end; mechanical man, apparently a break in organic evolution, is actually more in the true tradition of a further evolution.

Need it be pointed out that this is balderdash? As Bernal admits, flexible mechanisms could be just as easily controlled by normal humans as by his transformed ``new men''; this eliminates the physiological argument. Nor is it at all clear what Bernal could have meant by box-man surpassing normal psychological limits, since they will have the same brains. In fact, it is very likely that they would think much worse than normal people, if constructed on Bernal's plan, since the brain has evolved in tandem with the normal body, and the two are disrupted together: as should be evident to anyone who has had a fever or used intoxicants. His box-men would most likely go insane, or become autistic, or have quite perverted emotions, neither of which is conducive to ``psychological efficiency.'' True, it may be better than death: but it may not, and in any case is a high price to pay for the dubious privilege of turning your nose into a spectrometer.

It is, in any case, strange that Bernal was lead into thinking such useless and disgusting developments necessary; for as he pointed out, our tools are already, effectively, parts of the human species, and if we wish to continue in the ``true tradition of a further evolution,'' they can certainly be the part to evolve; human bodies need change no more than, say, the DNA code has changed over the last few billion years.


[CRS]