Tolkien, Technology, and... War

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Saucepan Man says:

'Fallen Man' is no less (and no more) capable of using the 'infernal combustion engine' for good than he is the horse and cart.

While that is true, I would like to add a negative aspect that Tolkien also mentions in connection with Middle-earth technological advance - environmental pollution. The end products left over from a horse and cart are biodegradable, to use a modern word. Though it is of course possible to use modern technology for good purposes, the pollution remains. The exhaust of an ambulance (fired by an internal combustion engine) is no less harmful than that of a robber's getaway car...