Evening star., 1957-12-22

The lawyer In the social scien-
tist. rejecting on the ideas Of his
colleagues. suggests that the Big
Change came when the Western
World began to translate the
moral force released at Bethlehem
into a legal code by which men
were willing to abide. Not that
he conceives Of Christ as a law
giver in the sense OF Moses or
Justinian or Edward I. He is
simply conscious Of the fact that
good law In today's world is gen.
orally the application Of some
basic Christian teaching reduced
through political process to legal
formula. Until this kind Of law
reached q relatively advanced
state. science did not truly -four
ish. Thus where 2.200 years
elapsed between the three -dimen-
sional findings of Archimedes and
the invisible telegraph Of Mar
conf. less than 80 years separates
the incandescent lamp from the
.nuclear power plant. and the
span between Kitty Hawks aero
plane and Russia's space satellite
is exactly 81 years.
Source Of Progress
This concept OF scientific de-
velopment. while much over-sim-
plified. is meaningful to many
nonphysical scientists--and per-
haps to some physical scientists,
too.
The former, at least. are con-
vinced Euclid could have under
stood Einstein. that there would
have been rapport between AriS-
totle and Oppenheimer. that the
collective genius and imagination
Of the GalileoS. the Da Vincis,
the Keplers and the Newtons--
under different circumstances
might have put man on the moon
hundreds Of years ago.
But the fruition Of physical
science did not happen until the
kind of moral integrity which is
symbolized in the West by Christ
mas was accepted and codified In
q large part Of the world. Until
then. 1t could not grow: for men
were expending their greatest en-
ergies in wasteful directions. often
working at cross purposes and in
diStrust of each other.
Az tho e0raa fffsna tha eorfal
scientist. conscious as he Is Of
history and the vagarieS Of man.
recognizes that surges OF great
progress may be sandwiched be-
tween periods Of recession. The
story Of all Europe, and especially
OF Germany. is a graphic case IN
point.
This is what worries the nom
physical scientist as he looks
about him at Christmas. 1857.
From every quarter he is bonn
barded with talk Of atoms. cosmic
rays. missiles. space tech
nology with a capital 7. Physical
science is on the ascendancy.
There is no question Of that. And
the social scientist does not resent
1t. He Is at least Is aware as his
neighbor Of the need for staying
up" in the technological world
and Of the great promise tech
nolpgy offers.
But he fears q loss Of perspec-
tive which. in view Of the tre-
mendous challenges Of the age
and the unequalled forces being
turned loose by today's physical
scientists. could mean--if not de-
struction-the end Of human free
dom for cons to come.
Why the journey?
What is the use. he asks. Of q
journey TO Mars or Venus II the
voyager and his civilization
become as bound as the galley
slaves Of ancient Rome? And he
believes that in the vast world
Of physical science We are now
approaching. this could happen
unless there is a concomitant ad-
vance in the social sciences. the
humanities and law.
So he worries as he listens to
fiat assertions that the future Of
the world rests on technology. TO
demands that America channel all
! its best brains" into a Gargan-
tuan physical science effort.
Many Of them certainly. but
not all.
For he thinks Americas great
est contribution TO the future. as
it has been to the pasti may be
the translation Of Yuletide ethics
into social and political reality.
Freedom. fairness. compassion.
help.
This is going to take quite a
few Of the best brains"-without
which, as Edmund Spenser OBJ
served, the world lin striving TO
touch a star. may stumble at a
straw"