The Impact of Science on Society new magazine, Impact, published by UNESCO, is A devoted to the promotion of further study of the impact of the physical sciences on society.
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The editor states in the foreword, “The task of the publication is to collect information on the various aspects of the international and social implications of science and to present the material in the form of abstracts so that it is readily available.” That the physical sciences have caused revolutionary changes in our mode of living, in our family life, in our economics, and our social and political relationships is a truth that no one will deny. Life today is very different than it was 50 or 100 years ago. The differences stem largely, if not entirely, from scientific and technological advances. When one stops to reflect on the effect of the telegraph, telephone, radio, television, electricity, the steamship, the -railroad, explosives, the atom bomb, and the hundreds of other scientific and technological developments which could be added to this list, one is forced to the definite conclusion that we have been living under a much different set of conditions in the past century than prevailed for thousands of years. Man has been quick to learn how to use these facilities, but obviously he has failed to learn how to live with them. The introductory article in Impact, Volume 1, No. 1, states: “It may well be that ultimately the intellectual impact of science will be far more important to humanity than its contribution to material welfare. But ‘man must eat before he can think,’ and in the present state of the world it is not practical politics to envisage the spreading of the scientific attitude to mankind as a whole. A necessary prelude is to feed the starving millions, and even in the advanced countries to provide those greatly improved conditions of life and leisure which, as history shows, are the necessary basis for scientific thinking. It is therefore natural that discussion about the social impact and social function of science concentrates mostly on the material and technological aspects. This need not damage the intellectual progress of science, since even from the most material point of view fundamental research pays the largest dividends.” It is vitally necessary for scientists and technologists to accept roles of greater responsibility in the social, political, and economic life, but in so doing, we must exercise extreme caution in how we attempt to influence society as a whole. We talk about the “objective method” or the “scientific approach” with little appreciation of the connotation that is given these phrases by the vast majority of people. To a large segment of society the definite impression is conveyed that scientists believe only in those truths which can be demonstrated experimentally and quantitatively. We have placed such great emphasis on this facet of tbe physical
sciences that we have created the impression with the public that we are “disbelievers.” There are many basic and fundamental beliefs held by millions of people that cannot be proved true or false in a scientific experiment. Whether we realize it or not, we have offended the thinking of millions without in any way convincing them that the “scientific approach” is the only path to the truth. It would be extremely difficult to set up a series of Scientific experiments to demonstrate the truth or falsity of the Sermon on the Mount or the Ten Commandments. When we leave the ivory tower of the physical sciences and enter into the day-by-day discussions of social, economic, and political questions, we are dealing with a very nebulous thing called pubHc opinion. Too frequently this simple truth is ignored in our intense urge to sell the “scientific approach” to those who have little or no understanding of the true sense in which the phrase is used by scientists, In a conscious approach to the problems raised by the social impact of science, a large number of basic types of questions must be posed. The editor of Impact has performed a distinct service in outlining a t least six such questions. They are : 1. What are the more important problems of material welfare today? 2. What lines of research are most likely to contribute to their solution? (Of course, the results of fundamental research cannot be predicted in detail, but it is possible to make certain probable predictions about them.) 3. A discovery or invention seldom has only the effects that were intended. Hence the more general question that must be answered before taking decisions based on 2: What are the probable to@ social effects of a given scientific discovery or of a proposed line of investigation? 4. What changes in the organiration of scientific effort are required in order that the inveatigations suggested by 2 and 3 may be efficiently pursued and the results quickly applied? 5. As a basis for answering 4, what is the present organiration and how efficient is it? And more generally, what factors, social or individual, ultimately decide the course of scientific advance? 6. What changes in general social organization are made advisable by advance of science? The questions posed are very broad in nature. The answers will not be found today or tomorrow. It is certainly obvious, however, that we cannot continue to ignore the social impacts of the physical sciences. Solutions to these problems must be found reasonably soon or the world may destroy itself through the use of the very knowledge that it was given for creating a better way of life.
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