Original text - English - Later people spoke to me of a new science, the...

Later people spoke to me of a new science, the science of voices or phonology, stimulated by developments in radio and methods of indirect persuasion used in advertising. Would such a science be possible? Surely. But desirable? I'm afraid not, for if the time should come when men mastered the art of the human voice, knew how to decipher it and modulate it at will, all that is left of liberty would be lost. Such men would have their hand on the hidden tiller. They would be like a latter-day Orpheus, charming the beasts and making the stones come to life. But remember that Orpheus had the right to his secret only as long as he refrained from abusing it.