The Mind of the West

Since the Middle Ages, the mind of the West has lifted off like a rocket, starting slowly to raise itself above the ground, then picking up speed exponentially. ... No other civilization shows this self-propelling explosive development. Seen in this light, the atom bombs and missles of this century do not look like accidental by-products of our culture ... but more like the symbol of the West as a whole.

--Wolfgang Giegerich from "Das Begrabnis der Seele in die technische Zivilisation" (1983)