Evening star., 1938-09-11

IacIS, leaYlnS Lne UTILIZATION 70 0tner1.
Science has served willingly.
But during the past generation scientists
have seen some Of their discoveries turned
into horrible instruments for the destruc-
ton Of humanity. They have produced
the most glorious chapter In human his
tory. They have heightened life, eased
pain, made living richer and more secure
They have, on the other hand. apparently
increased economic pressure on popula-
tions and provided the means for the ruin
Of the civilization they have built up.
Not the Result Of Intention.
Neither result has been a matter of de-
liberate intention, so far as science is con-
cerned. 1t never has sought to control the
uses made of the new things it has brought
into the world. This it has left to indus
trialists, to healers, tc rulers to soldiers
and in some cases, as it now appears to
many, to madmen. In the field OF use
the scientist has been content to be an
onlooker to benefit or suffer with the rest
OF mankind. Angels Of mercy have used
its discoveries. Fiends out of hell also
have used them
The World War was an eye-opener. The
faithful, unquestioning servant of society
found that his master was using the very
tools he had placed in its hands for the
purpose Of killing his children, his brothers,
his friends, himself His brain children
had been transformed into horrible in
struments of death. He saw Europe strewn
with the corpses of millions, churches and
cities laid in ruins, fertile 1elds reduced
to debrls-strewn waste How far was he
himself responsible? Was there anything
he could have done to forestall such a
Use OF his findings? Could he have pre-
dlcted it? Was it his duty to try to pre-
dict such things?
up to now the answer has been eouivocal
1t still is in most Of the world. But night
after night at meetings Of liberal groups
among the British scientists at Cambridge
these questions We're considered, sometimes
nationally and sometimes irrationally. Pos
sibilities of destruction have increased
enormously since World War days. The
man in the street in Great Britain, per-
sonally asking only to be let alone, is OBJ
sessed by fear Of the next great world con-
migration. This fear is shared by the
scientific group for the scientist Is himself
man on the street. Has he unwittingly
during the past 20 years forged the weapons
which will bring about his own destruction
as an individual and the destruction of his
wife. his children and his neighbors? The
enemy aviator, dropping bombs on London,
will have no concern whatsoever lest one of
his bombs hit the house Of the professor
of chemistry who may Fave contributed to
the knowledge of explosives which made
the weapon possible
But is there anything to be done about
it? Already the American Association for
the Advancement, of Science the largest
scientific organization in the world, may
have shown the way. 1t has orranized a
survey OF the effects OF science on society,
seeking to predict tie potentialities of the
future in the various fields Of research and
to appraise the possible results Of these
potentialities on the lives of men and vom.
en-. But in the United States and Canada,
from which this association draws its mem-
bershlp. such matters are largely academic,
however interesting. Any repercussions Of
science on society, however far-reaching,
will be gradual. "A
A far-off danger is not 80 stimulating to
the conscience. The Americans are vaguely
worried over economic effects. They have
seen tia effects Of so-csled archaeological