Evening star., 1945-09-02
Undigested Facts
Endonger Society
Organized Effort Needed for
Wise Use of New knowledge
By William, H. Harrison.

Wise Use of New knowledge
By William H. Harrison.
Now that the luridly fantastic has
become the real-made SO by the atomic
bomb-the fundamental law of self
preservation doubtless demands that
the Nation set up permanent organi-
zation of research and development to
direct the exploration and exploitation
of the endless and somewhat harrow
ing frontier of science.
1t is a question, however, whether
such an organization is all that we
need. To be sure, untiring research
and development in the field OF atomic
energy and electronics will lead to tre-
mendous new wonders, and man will
have at his fingertips facts capable of
completely revolutionizing his life. But
these facts, not having minds, souls or
scruples of their own and containing
potential evil as well as potential good,
will be so Indifferent to the, way in
which we use them that unless they
are handled with exceptional intelli-
gence and foresight, they may in time
in the not-too-distant future-bewitch
and bewilder us to the point of literal
self-destruction.
Accordingly, it must be seriously
asked whether the knowledge-pro-
ducing agencies of this country and the
world ought not to be counterbalanced
by some kind of wisdom promoting
ythN f,,y
be to safeguard men and nations from
being fatally stricken by too much un-
assimilated learning. knowledge and
wisdom. of course. are not the same
thing. knowledge, as the dictionary
defines 1t and as science accumulates
it, is merely acquaintance with fact, or
the state of being aware of something.
Wisdom, on the other hand, is the quail
ity of being wise; 1t is knowledge plus
the capacity to make proper use of it;
it is the right perception of the best
ends and the best means; 1t is the abil-
ity to judge soundly and deal saga
ciously with facts, especially as they
relate to life and conduct.
Scientists like DR.. Conant of Harvard
and DR.. Bush of the Office of Scientific
Research and Development apparently
are gifted with the ability to do highly
specialized work without losing sight
of the broad, everyday problems of hu-
man society. BY and large, however,
the men who tinker with cyclotrons
and test tubes are too busy to think
of their labors in terms of politics, eco
nomics, sociology or spiritual or moral
values. Their job is simply to be know
ing: they do not have enough time to
devote to the task of being wise as
well-the task of reorienting humanity
to their discoveries lest the startling
new facts be socially undigested and
thus do all of us more harm than good.
In the past, fltful efforts on the part
of governments to plan in line with
chronological changes have In many
ways been less than wise and less than
successful. Nevertheless, If even but
half of the implications of such things
as the atomic bomb are to be taken
seriously, it is unrealistic to suppose
that our American society or any other
society will do anything but increase its
planning in the future. Actually, when
human knowledge advances as it is ad-
vancing today, far faster than human
wisdom, something has to be done
about it by somebody, whether on gov
ernmental initiative. private initiative,
or mixture of both.
Thus, in this age of fantasy, it does
not seem fantastic to suggest that in
addition to organized scientific fact
finding, we need-whether under the
aegis of government or not-an organ
lied effort to evaluate, integrate and
employ the facts wisely. In short, it
does not seem fantastic to suggest that
we need national and international
councils of political scientists, econo-
mists, sociologists, educators, theologians
and philosophers to give some intelli-
gent and orderly direction to the imper-
sonal things Of science and to offer bet
ter guidance to the mind and spirit of
man in the new era opening up.
From wholly sane and authoritative
sources we are now hearing such un-
qualified statements as these: Cd That
atomic rockets, moving at supersonic
speed and with extraordinary accuracy,
can be hurled against targets in any
part of the world from any part of the
world; 90 that the United States must
begin at once to build vast communities
deep underground; (3) that atomic
energy can be used at this moment to
heat entire cities and will, "in the FORE
seeable future" power our means Of
transport, and az that today We have
the wherewithal to destroy every living
thing on the face of the earth. These
are but a few Of the realities and poten-
tialities we must face now, and many of
our habits of thought are just too old
to cope with them; we must think diff
ferently henceforth, anticipating the
fantastic as much as we can and pre-
pairing our society for it.
X y X
We must think, for instance. of revo-
lutionized military science We must
wonder whether 1t is any longer absurdly
visionary to talk of merger of Britain
and America, or of federation of
Europe. e even of the formation of a
world state. We must expect far-reach-
ing educational revisions, of which the
proposals to revamp the elective system
at Harvard and revive religion at Yale
are merely straws in the wind. We must
look forward to changing economic
era-perhaps to 30-hour work week
in. our, lifetime, possibly to one of 20
hours in a generation or two. We must
tackle afresh the problem of so synthe-
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