Dr. Dubos believes that if we continue to make choices for our future only in relation to negative issues such as pollution or overpopulation, our civilisation will become dreary and meaningless. Instead, we could learn to cultivate the positive values that exist in Man's nature and in the external world. These positive values cannot be introduced from the outside. All ancient civilisations have believed that every person or group of people,k every place or region is endowed with attributes and potentialities which confer a 'genius' or 'spirit' that give each its uniqueness. The 'god within' accounts for the unique creative expressions of every person, place and period. Human personalities, landscapes and civilisations are created through the interplay between man's nature and external nature. Modern science will not really be meaningful to the creative life of the individual until it learns to relate his innate genius to the spirit of the place in which he lives. First published in 1972, Dubos foresaw the day we would have to live with the harmful by-products of technology and offered an optimistic philosophy which yet may rescue the world.