Electricity and the senses by Cornelis van Dalen 1924. “You must consider the whole part played by electricity in Nature. … to the effect that human beings cannot go on developing in the same way in an atmosphere permeated on all sides by electric currents and radiations. It has an influence on the whole development of man. This is true; man’s inner life will become different if these things are carried as far as now intended. [1] It makes a difference whether you simply supply a certain district with steam engine or electrify the railway lines. Steam works more consciously, whereas electricity has an appalling unconscious influence; people simply do not know where certain things are coming from. Without a doubt, there is a trend in evolution in the following direction. Consider how electricity is now being used above the earth as radiant and as conducted electricity, to carry news as quickly as possible from one place to another. This life of men in the midst of electricity, notably radiant electricity, will presently affect them is such a way that they will no longer be able to understand the news which they receive so rapidly. The effect is to damp down their intelligence. Such effects are already to be seen today. Even today you can notice how people understand the things that come to them with far greater difficulty than they did a few decades ago. …. "
