Background
Korman, Nathaniel Irving was born on February 23, 1916 in Providence. Son of William and Tillie (Jacobs) Korman.
(Ever since the 1859 publication of Darwin's "....Origin o...)
Ever since the 1859 publication of Darwin's "....Origin of Species.......", the notion gained currency that human society, like animals and plants, has also been evolving over the ages. That notion immediately became the subject of intense study and discussion. In the end, however, the direct application of Darwin's principles of biological evolution to the evolution of human societies has proven to be unsatisfactory. In the study which led to this book we have approached the problem differently. We have looked at the nature of human society at its various stages of development; and we have looked to anthropology, to archeology, to sociology and to history to try to discover the rules which have governed its development. The concepts which have emerged from this study not only fit together into a coherent whole, but also accord quite well with accepted historical accounts. In addition they point to some perplexing problems as well as to possible solutions. In short, the concepts arising from the study are: 1) As a result of biological evolution, humans have become the most adaptable of the animals and thus the best able to survive the effects of rapid environmental changes. The source of human adaptability is in man's intel- lect, in his ability to think, innovate and communi- cate with others to a degree unmatched by any other animal. 3) The price paid for his superior intellect is his complete dependence upon intimate association with other humans. This dependence is so pro- found that it is the human societal units and their cultures which are survivable, not the individual humans; just as with the lower animals, it is the genes which are survivable, not the individual animals. 4) The competition which dictates which groups are to survive is driven by a force known as "xenophobia". However, when and if the xenopho- bic forces start to operate within a group, they can act as a kind of cancer to destroy that group. The historical facts supporting the concepts are: 1) In the last ten millennia the human's societal units have grown in size from a hundred or so individuals to hundreds of millions. As they have grown in size, they and their cultures, correspondingly, have grown in complexity. 2) The societal units have always been in competi- tion with each other; only the strongest units sur- vive. 3) As the societal units have grown in size from small egalitarian clans into tribes, then villages, kingdoms and empires, they have had to abandon the egalitarian ethic and accept the discipline of some form of government. The forms of govern- ment have varied from chiefdoms, to monarchies and empires. 4) However, in the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- turies AD a unique set of circumstances changed the pattern of evolution. Earlier, Western European countries had resorted to feudalism as a protection against tribal invasions from the East. That feudal- istic system, stabilized by the Roman Catholic Church, had endured for almost a millennium. Then a virtual explosion in the growth of trade and technology resulted in the replacement of feudal- ism first by absolute monarchies and empires and then, in the past two centuries, by democracies. The study has concluded that there is a problem with the current democracies. While they seem to serve mankind's current needs better than earlier forms of government, the problem is severe and must be solved before their eventual success is assured. The problem is the internal threat to the security of the multicultural society that can arise from the xenophobia among its subcultures. It arises when the loyalties of the citizens to their respective subcultures becomes greater than their loyalty to the country and its culture as a whole. The keys to loyalty are respect, trust and confi- dence. When the political leaders of a country habitually try to trash the characters of their oppo- sition, they create a lack of respect for all of the leaders. When the political leaders accept contri- butions from those who want to advance their own selfish interests, they destroy all trust in their objectivity and even-handedness. When political debate regularly descends to the level of a bar- room brawl, confidence in the ability of the brawl- ers to think through and solve the country's prob- lems is likely to vanish. Thus, citizens who wish their country to be strong enough to protect them from xenophobia as well as from foreign aggression must demand a government able to command their respect, trust and confi- dence.
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research and development company executive
Korman, Nathaniel Irving was born on February 23, 1916 in Providence. Son of William and Tillie (Jacobs) Korman.
Bachelor of Science summa cum laude, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 1937; Master of Science (Coffin fellow), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1938; Doctor of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania, 1958.
Director advance military systems, Radio Corporation of America Corporation, 1958-1967. Chairman radar panel United States Research and Development Board, 1948-1956. Lecturer University of Pennsylvania Evening Graduate School, 1967-1968.
Consultant in field Color Science, 1968-1983. President Ventures R&DGroup. Consultant to Satellite Wholesales of New Mexico, since 1991.
(Ever since the 1859 publication of Darwin's "....Origin o...)
Member Citizens Committee for Better Schools, Moorestown, New Jersey, 1958. Fellow Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Member Sigma Xi. M C.
Married Ruth C. Kaplan, April 6, 1941. Children— Michael, Robert.