Modern Man Is Obsolete
E502942
Modern Man Is Obsolete is a 1945 essay by Norman Cousins that reflects on the implications of nuclear weapons and modern warfare for humanity’s future and moral responsibility.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Modern Man Is Obsolete canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T5208427 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Modern Man Is Obsolete Context triple: [Norman Cousins, notableWork, Modern Man Is Obsolete]
-
A.
A Modern Man
A Modern Man is a rapid-fire comedic monologue by George Carlin in which he satirically lists the traits, contradictions, and buzzwords of contemporary life and identity.
-
B.
Man Equals Man
Man Equals Man is a satirical play by Bertolt Brecht that explores themes of identity, dehumanization, and the malleability of the individual within militaristic and capitalist systems.
-
C.
Mirror of Man
Mirror of Man is a Middle English moral and religious poem by John Gower that explores human sin, virtue, and salvation in an encyclopedic, allegorical form.
-
D.
Man on His Past
Man on His Past is a historical work by British historian Herbert Butterfield that reflects on the nature, methods, and interpretation of history.
-
E.
Ages of Man
Ages of Man is an ancient Greek myth, famously recounted by Hesiod, that divides human history into successive declining eras from a Golden Age to an Iron Age.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Modern Man Is Obsolete Target entity description: Modern Man Is Obsolete is a 1945 essay by Norman Cousins that reflects on the implications of nuclear weapons and modern warfare for humanity’s future and moral responsibility.
-
A.
A Modern Man
A Modern Man is a rapid-fire comedic monologue by George Carlin in which he satirically lists the traits, contradictions, and buzzwords of contemporary life and identity.
-
B.
Man Equals Man
Man Equals Man is a satirical play by Bertolt Brecht that explores themes of identity, dehumanization, and the malleability of the individual within militaristic and capitalist systems.
-
C.
Mirror of Man
Mirror of Man is a Middle English moral and religious poem by John Gower that explores human sin, virtue, and salvation in an encyclopedic, allegorical form.
-
D.
Man on His Past
Man on His Past is a historical work by British historian Herbert Butterfield that reflects on the nature, methods, and interpretation of history.
-
E.
Ages of Man
Ages of Man is an ancient Greek myth, famously recounted by Hesiod, that divides human history into successive declining eras from a Golden Age to an Iron Age.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (42)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
essay
ⓘ
non-fiction work ⓘ |
| addressesEvent | use of atomic bombs in World War II ⓘ |
| advocatesFor |
international control of atomic energy
ⓘ
peaceful resolution of conflicts ⓘ strengthening of world law ⓘ |
| author | Norman Cousins NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| criticizes |
arms race mentality
ⓘ
moral complacency about mass destruction ⓘ nationalistic approaches to security ⓘ |
| genre |
philosophical essay
ⓘ
political essay ⓘ |
| hasPerspective |
humanist
ⓘ
pacifist-leaning ⓘ |
| historicalContext |
beginning of the nuclear age
ⓘ
end of World War II ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
World War II
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| intendedAudience |
general public
ⓘ
policy makers ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
ethics of war
ⓘ
global security ⓘ humanity’s future ⓘ modern warfare ⓘ moral responsibility ⓘ nuclear weapons ⓘ survival of civilization ⓘ |
| notableFor |
early reflection on nuclear-age ethics
ⓘ
linking survival of humanity to global cooperation ⓘ |
| philosophicalTheme |
human capacity for self-destruction
ⓘ
necessity of global ethical standards ⓘ tension between technological power and moral development ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1945 ⓘ |
| relatedWorkOfAuthor | Norman Cousins’s later writings on peace and nuclear disarmament ⓘ |
| workFocus |
impact of scientific and technological progress on war
ⓘ
incompatibility of modern weapons with traditional concepts of war ⓘ moral obligations of political leaders ⓘ need for new forms of international cooperation ⓘ need for supranational authority to control nuclear weapons ⓘ responsibility of citizens in a nuclear world ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Modern Man Is Obsolete Description of subject: Modern Man Is Obsolete is a 1945 essay by Norman Cousins that reflects on the implications of nuclear weapons and modern warfare for humanity’s future and moral responsibility.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.