But remember, please, the Law by which we live, We are not built to comprehend a lie, We can neither love nor pity nor forgive, If you make a slip in handling us you die! We are greater than the Peoples or the Kings - Be humble, as you crawl beneath our rods! - Our touch can alter all created things, We are everything on earth - except The Gods!
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Kipling warns that powerful technologies like dynamite demand humility because humans cannot handle lies or mistakes safely.
- In plain terms
- Powerful technology requires respect and care.
- What can you take from it?
- Handle powerful tools with humility to avoid destruction.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How should society regulate powerful technology?
- What responsibilities come with powerful tools?
Another view
The personification of technology as sentient exaggerates its agency.
More from Rudyard Kipling
Now I possess and am possessed of the land where I would be, And the curve of half Earth's generous breast shall soothe and ravish me!
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