Arthur Miller Quotes
There is unquestionably a contradiction between an efficient technological machine and the flowering of human nature, of the human personality.
Miller, Arthur. Conversations with Arthur Miller. Edited by Matthew C. Roudane, University Press of Mississippi, 1987.
Modern science establishes that aptitude and skill with machines is not instinctual nor is it genetic. It is experiential based on upbringing and education. Also, note the fact that the quotation refers to “Americans” as non-Indians. Indians are somehow not Americans. It is not clear that Saroyan personally believed this or did not. He wrote the dialog for a character of the play in the citation. Based on his outlook and other writings, it is probable that he was just trying to depict a relatively ignorant bigot. With Novelists and playwrights, separating the characters from their authors can sometimes be a challenge.
The nation was in the midst of a long debate over whether or not new bio-technology was appropriate and desirable for use and there were various efforts to legally curtail their application. These included cloning, stem cell research, radiated foods, fish farming, hydroponic agriculture, hybrid development and cross species organ replacement.
See Eigen {633625} for a more explicit personal statement of the choice for the individual.
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), and A View from the Bridge (1955, revised 1956). He wrote several screenplays and was most noted for his work on The Misfits (1961). The drama Death of a Salesman has been numbered on the short list of finest American plays in the 20th century.
