The going was rough, over a tortuous winding road. Many mistakes were committed but camouflaged by the explosive rate of development. As late as the end of the sixties, science policy in Europe was still in its infancy and seeking its terminology and methods. Though hardly symptomatic of the time, scientists in the USA often fret today that many bright people who would otherwise enter the science arena, are passing it by without any real exposure to its attractions. In the prodigious struggle of the North, one which is still continuing, there are lessons for Southern scientists.
Failures are a necessary prelude to success.
A whole-hog commitment, an unrelenting effort, should be their prime undertaking. Each one has a role to play. In a world of multi-polarity and increasing complexity, such a futuristic perspective appears fanciful, though rationally opportune, if one seriously contemplates the prospects for a livable world. But we believe that it is precisely in this time of crisis that basic world issues must be faced and bold issues taken . Divested of science, technology transfer alone would be a formalistic exercise in abstraction and would hardly accomplish anything of lasting value.