[2] The trigger behind these considerations were the potential of new technology, notably the possibility of a doomsday scenario due to nuclear warfare or developments following James Watson's and Francis Crick's 1953 publication of the structure of the DNA molecule.

Jünger leaves open whether mankind will be able to make a leap over the "time wall", or if it ultimately will be repelled by the Earth.

[3] Unlike in The Worker, which relies on the nihilist conceptions of Friedrich Nietzsche and the eternal return, Jünger here supports a "spiral theory of history".

[4] Hermann Hesse reviewed the book for Stuttgarter Zeitung in 1960 and recognised in its pages his own worries about the destructive dimension of technology.

Hesse wrote: "To what extent now Jünger's writings and prognoses are 'correct', or what valid points can be brought against them for this or that position, does not affect me.