London 1962

X. 3. 3.

Tenth Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs

"Scientific Community and Human Community"

Pere Dubarle

The conference in which we are now taking part is an act by the scientific community aware of its responsibilities towards the human community. It could not have taken place had this twin feeling that there is a scientific community and that there is a human community to which scientists have a responsibility, not existed today among a sufficiently large number of scientists.

We are, however, only just entering a period in which these feelings are beginning to find active expression within our civilisation. The human community began to exist with its present imperatives only after the 1939-1945 war, not yet 20 years ago. The reality of the scientific community on a truly world-wide scale is an idea which is far from having established itself firmly among all those who devote themselves to research or to the teaching of science. Many of our scientific colleagues, it seems to me, still believe that their only responsibility to the human community to which they belong is to do their own individual work well, technically speaking. They feel that out of their immersion in these effective activities in their special fields and with the best of intentions in their own small sphere, something which they hope will prove favourable for the whole of mankind will emerge, but over which they feel no responsibility, in no way seeing that they as individuals have any control they can exercise.

It needed the adventure of the conquest of nuclear energy and the completely new human problems which resulted from it, for some people, including ourselves, to find this point of view, still frequently held today, is no longer admissible, and to recognise that the scientific mind should be open to considerations with which it had scarcely needed to concern itself in the previous generation. But, close as we are to this first collective awakening to a new spirit, we often hesitate over what we should do as a result of it. We are sometimes in danger of going astray on the real significance of the motives from which we begin. It is true that for fifteen

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years, experience and reflection have been making headway, and some of the Utopian naivities of the earlier years have doubtless already disappeared. I should like to try to make use of that experience to pin-point the nature of the relationship that has been established between the community of scientists and the world today.

It would be true to say that the human events of the past quarter of a century have affected the scientific mind less by teaching it something new than by recalling with increased sharpness and in the light of what has become established fact, the principles that it laid down for itself in that very period when, in the West, the initial foundations of modern science were laid. The scientific spirit which was born at the beginning of the 18th century in fact saw extremely clearly the universal vocation of science, both in knowledge and everyday life. Science was understood to be the knowledge which was capable of unifying the human spirit, without having to suffer from differences in language and culture, leading neither to misunderstandings nor to insoluble controversies between individuals or sections of the thinking world. In principle from one end of the earth to the other, the same mathematics, the same study of nature could be pursued, leading to the same results which, when reached, would of their own accord command the agreement of all. Science was destined to be the common possession of the human understanding, being that on which, in accordance with the proper meaning of the word 'understanding', men are naturally capable of understanding one another; that is to say, of understanding what they have to say to one another, and of uniting in taking common action.

Knowledge, but also human enterprise, taking advantage of knowledge acquired in order to act on the surrounding world and transform it for the benefit of all. The founders of modern science speak not only of knowledge but also of truth, "that practical philosophy" by which it is possible for man to make himself "the master and possessor of nature" so as to produce an infinite number of technical inventions useful for the purpose of living. They pictured, before it came into being, one world of mechanisation and industry. At the same time they also saw that the fruits of knowledge which had become the common good of men would also need to be a common practical good shared by all; a common good whose enjoyment could not be reserved for a small number of privileged people. In

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this way they laid down the principle of the modern link between
scientific progress itself and social wellbeing. The intermediary
operations may be manifold - technological development, indust-
rial production, economic organisation, collective education in the
new possibilities of human activity - but it remains none the less
true that modern scientific 'universalism' is very far from being
purely an intellectual universalism. It is a social universalism at
least as much as it is an intellectual one, and for many people it is
aimed at presenting a social image more than an intellectual one.

What the pioneers of modern science, in anticipating the
future, conceived only as principle, however, has more and more
come to pass in our world. Almost four centuries of scientific
thought have enormously increased the capital of knowledge and have
extended this form of thought and intellectual culture beyond Europe,
to the whole human race. Scientific techniques have developed, more
and more profoundly transforming work and the production of wealth,
and finally social organisation itself. Furthermore, the unity of
the earth, only just conceivable when Newton established the first
great modern synthesis of mechanics, has come about. Voyages and
exploration, conquests and colonisation everywhere brought to men
powers of mind which the European nations were the first to develop,
and examples of their modern mode of life. In this connection the
great fact of the 20th century is that what yesterday could still pass
for a prerogative of merely a proportion of the human race has
inevitably and urgently come to concern the whole of it. We are at
the present time seeing the final establishment of a world system
of states politically constituted on the model of the European states.
We are also witnessing, at the same time as this process, the
growth of the collective need of men to share in the benefits of
modern civilisation, which means that ahead of us lies the develop-
ment of science on a world scale to an even larger extent, in all
human fields in which it operates. Mankind is today going ahead
more strongly than ever before, towards those forms of society
in which science, scientific techniques and the systematic effort
to derive benefit from them play an absolutely basic part.

In the present situation, it is this destiny of science, its power
of human reason and creation, that the scientific community feels
bearing most directly upon it. Quite naturally, and because such
is, in fact, its spiritual function among men, it creates for itself
an ideal image of the human race, arriving at a fairly clear awareness

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of itself and its various parts, and in this way achieving a homogeneous development of mental and social life, adjusting itself rationally and harmoniously in collective activity by science and the enterprises it makes possible. For the human community the school of science is in itself a school of peace and a school of overall progress, dominating all fractional tendencies by individuals and their particular groups. The scientific mind likewise hopes for a society which will be made coherent from one end of the earth to the other, bringing the energies of the whole human race into a collective effort for the common improvement of life. This hope is being answered more and more by the lesson given by our present state of affairs. This lesson is in fact one of a human civilisation based on science, and can no longer function properly on earth if it does not do so comprehensively for the earth as a whole. The steps taken by the movement to which we belong, our meetings and our discussions have been constantly motivated by this hope, constantly supported by this evidence.

But at the same time the human world, as it in fact is, contains factors other than those which would naturally make it correspond to the wishes and hopes of the scientific mind. Our earth provides us with the spectacle of a human species divided into many groups, different in many respects, conscious not only of their membership of the human race but also, and more often than not even more so, of their own character by comparison with others. This character is connected with race, language, the balance between population and the different climates of the earth, ethnic traditions, temperatures and social customs, spiritual and ideological training. Nations and states are the very expression of the great units of this local character and this differentiation in the human species. And we should not have any illusions in this respect - this differentiation is accompanied among men by many divisions and antagonisms which destroy or threaten the continuity of human relations. The very conditions of our geography and our historical development inevitably compel the plurality of nations of the earth to establish a certain international community within which many exchanges take place among states. But the nature of the international community is very different from that hoped for by science. It is a competitive, at least as much as a co-operative, community, within which more value has so far been attached to particular units than to the whole, a community in which the state of war is as chronic, if not as basic, as the state of peace. It is precisely

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because this is true today of the international community, because the scientific progress of most nations is now an absolutely vital element in the apportionment of values of which I have just spoken, and because the uncontrolled use of this element in competition between particular units of mankind threatens to lead to disaster that we are meeting now in order to analyse this situation closely.

In this connection something extremely important for the community of scientists has happened over these past few years. When, with the first manufacture of nuclear weapons, the problem of the repercussion of scientific progress on the whole future of the human community was presented in its present form, the scientific mind was spontaneously aroused, without yet being clearly aware of the real human context of the step it was initiating. It immediately launched a struggle to bring about the ideal it had set itself - a world society made coherent by the generous use of scientific resources. The prime reason for this struggle was the instinctive feeling that henceforward, without establishing such a world society, the only long-term outcome could be disaster for mankind itself. The slogan at that time "One world or none" perfectly expresses this spontaneous conviction which has many times found political embodiment in the militant dream of a world government superimposing itself on the plurality of nations. Since that time, it seems to me, what we have done with regard to those very problems which caused us to act in the first place is clearly and specifically to encounter the political aspects and political expressions of the human community. We have looked at the most basic data of the international situation, as it presents itself directly to men and not as it is permissible for each and everyone to imagine as he likes. We have, whether we like it or not, learned something from the international system under which the human race lives at the present time. Whether we like it or not we have had a first experience of the fact that it cannot be reduced to the natural and simple system of the scientific society, which we wish to work for, for the time being at any rate. The fact that we have had this first experience seems to me of extreme importance for our future and for that of the activities of our movement.

I think two points at least need to be stressed. Firstly, what has been discovered has been about the political system as such, about what it represents in human terms, which is different from

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the universe of science, in which alone human life does not
allow itself to be made. In the political system the scientific
mind encounters as part of a host of motivations which remain
at least partially foreign to it, the will of large human groups.
Even more than a particular range of means of action, those
embodied in scientific techniques, the scientific mind must
envise the call that this will make on all available means of
action, whether they spring from science or not, whether they
be carried out in accordance with or against the ideals of the
scientific mind. This will of the nations and their states exists.
This range of means exists, Contained in them are many things
other than the exclusive purpose of achieving a scientific society,
even if this is part of the political purpose. The ideal which the
scientific community can live by, and its hopes of achieving a
more harmoniously scientific society cannot eliminate these human
facts, even more fundamental than those of science itself.

This is why, may I say in passing, I do not really believe that
the future is preparing for us the inauguration of a stable scientific
society on earth under the aegis of a world government. Instead
it seems to me that we are going to witness, probably through many
criss-cross currents, because these things do not come about of
their own accord, the progressive discrimination among nations
between on the one hand a social component of existence capable
of organising itself on a world-wide basis, relatively homogeneous
from one region to another and perhaps one day conducted by
authorities representing the earth as a whole, and on the other
hand a political component left on the basis of the particular
characters of nations and states. Just as in past centuries it
was necessary to discriminate between religious systems and
the system of national life, so that religious resolves and religious
differences should not hamper the natural unity of political
development, so in future it will be necessary to discriminate among
nations between the political system, properly so called, left to
its particular ethnic and geographical features, and the specifically
social systems capable of more universal and coherent developments.
There will doubtless one day be authorities to regulate the function-
ing of society throughout the earth as a whole, because this is in
the very nature of things in a world dedicated to scientific progress.
But in spite of this unification and probable introduction of a degree
of homogeneity into the earth's civilisation, I believe that the patch-
work of peoples, states and their particular political constitutions

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is destined to continue, and almost all of the units in it will be anxious to possess the means of prevailing within the whole, or at least of having its integrity respected by all its partners.

Similarly, when the members of the scientific community with to tackle interests basic to the human community, they are by the very force of things, brought to establish contact with the world of politics, or at least with the world of international politics, and to open up dialogue, discussion and activity of various kinds together with those who have the conduct of such politics in their hands. This encounter between scientists and politicians has now been made, not without preliminary groping and mutual misapprehension on both sides. One of the major considerations of importance to the life of the scientific community is, in fact, to link up anew the humanistic thinking of science and political thought, a link which has been achieved in the very process of holding our movement's series of meetings. Nothing of lasting human value can be achieved without the politicians, without taking into account the political aspects of the human community. We, as scientists, are now in the process of learning this much more closely and precisely than was the case previously. The politicians, on the other hand, have now seen that they cannot tackle their tasks without a new kind of assistance from the scientists, in turn creators of unprecedented means of power, experts and technical advisers, and as needs be the prime movers in initiative of all kinds.

Such meetings of scientists and politicians also have the effect of putting the scientific community and its members in a position which seems fairly paradoxical at first glance. The aims of the scientific community are universal in character and bear the print of a generous wish to bring about a better life for the human community as a whole. Encountering political reality, however, inevitably means encountering human affairs through the slant of particular national interests, taking action in association with the state of which one is a citizen, working first of all in association with those in political command of the state. This means taking note of human divisions and at the same time participating in the range of particular characteristics of all kinds which result from them. I know that there are a thousand ways, including all the political ideologies, of disguising the fact that all politics are a pursuit of particular interests in opposition to other particular interests, inside the world system of human enterprises. But

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disguises of this truth cannot sow illusions very long. Sooner
or later, the scientific mind, in its search for the general good
of all men must recognise the marriage it is making with a system
of human conduct, the nature of which is quite different from the
one it wishes to adopt in the image of its own ideal. How, in
relation to the action which nonetheless has to be undertaken with
the politicians, can what we could call the world socialism of
science be reconciled with the local nationalism of politicians?
This is a problem which, I believe, cannot fail to become an
immediate one for all of us in the years to come.

This brings me to the second point I wanted to stress. What
we have just discovered and are still discovering, is the international
political system, even more than the national political unit to
which we belong as citizens of one state or another and as people
trained in civic practices with regard to it. This means that we
are now obliged, as scientists, to take into consideration not only
our own country, the fact of its national state, its political system
and the aims it pursues, but also the fact of our own country
alongside other countries within humanity as a whole; we encounter
the multitude and antagonism of nations of which ours is only one
among many, the policy of our own country as the action of one part-
ner with regard to other partners who are pursuing their own acti-
vities on their own account. The very nature of our scientific
preoccupations and of the community we constitute leads us to have
this global view as soon as encounter the world of politics. It
also leads us, in principle at least, to make a constant double
evaluation of human affairs, that which one makes in the particular
light of some national interest and that which one makes from the
point of view of the sum total of all political action, including,
without any special privilege, that of the part of humanity to which
we belong. Face to face with the political process of today, the
scientific mind cannot ignore what that process is doing for mankind
as a whole - this was the very starting point of our movement after
the war, and since then in the presence of the nuclear arms race, it
has simply had to discover how important it is to take into account
the complexity of political action among men, in order to be able
to go ahead towards any favorable outcome.

I go on to ask myself whether, in so far as its members will
have to take it increasingly along the path of close collaboration
with politicians and those in whose hands the destiny of their

[lc]

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states lies, the scientific community will not need to retain firmly
the principle and operation of this double evaluation, never neg-
lecting the one which must be made from the overall point of view
of human society to the exclusive adoption of the one which embod-
ies' the particular point of view of a fraction of the human race.
This is to some extent, moreover, merely asking every scientist
called upon to deal with whatever is involved in the political
aspect of the human community, to continue to have a scientific
outlook, on the political aspect also, to adopt a viewpoint capable
of seeing the conditions, in which one is operating, in which one
has to operate as a member of a section of mankind, and the
relationship between these conditions and the human reality
which inevitably extends beyond. The day when the scientists of
the world have all learned to look with the objectivity of science
on even the human activities of politicians, including those
activities to which as men and citizens they lend their support,
something new will have been brought to the human community by
the scientific community.

London 1962

X.6.3.

TENTH PUGWASH CONFERENCE ON SCIENCE
AND WORLD AFFAIRS
---
SCIENCE IN ASSISTANCE TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

M. I. Rubinstein.

We live in an exceedingly dynamic epoch of great progressive changes in the destinies of mankind. The social and political complexion of the world is changing literally before our eyes. One of the highlights of our time is the liberation of a third of the world's population from colonialism and the emergence of a vast constellation of young sovereign states.

The XX century is not only an age of revolutionary changes in the lives of peoples and entire continents but also in the development of science and technology. The outstanding changes at the turn of the century provided a powerful impetus to the avalanche of development of natural sciences. During the past few decades science has made remarkable progress. It has penetrated into the mysteries of the microworld, opened a powerful source of energy for technology - the fission of the nuclei of heavy atoms. -is boldly blazing trails into the unexplored expanses of outer space and is mastering the synthesis of protein.

The creation and rapid development of many new sciences and, first and foremost, cybernetics, greatly solidifies man's power over nature, and opens up unlimited prospects for the automation of industrial processes.

Though many scientific problems are still awaiting their solution and practical implementation, one can safely declare that science has already reached a stage in its development where a real scientific and technological basis has been provided to assure the welfare of all people throughout the world.

As Norbert Wiener justly pointed out, further progress of technology provides unlimited possibilities both for good and for evil; we cannot blind ourselves to the fact that the achievements of modern science are being increasingly used to prepare thermonuclear war, as a result of which human civilization that has existed for thousands of years and the wonderful fruits of world science may come to the verge of destruction. It is a terrible paradox of our time that the harnessing of the forces of nature for the benefit of man proceeds side by side with the invention of new weapons to kill human beings and that even what seems to be the most "harmless" scientific discovery acquires a military significance. Militarism exerts an adverse influence on science. An ever greater number of scientists and engineers are constantly diverted from the humane duty of service to human progress and are assigned to develop weapons to destroy mankind. Their work is being utilized for non-productive purposes. The poison of militarism contaminates the minds of researchers turning some of them into soulless thinking machines indifferent to the destinies of peoples, into technical robots at the service of warmongers.

Vast sums are being spent not for the development of economy and culture and not for raising the living standards of the peoples but for armaments, not for schools but for military academies, but for hospitals, but for military bases, not for tractors but for missiles. That is the reason why one of themajor tasks confronting mankindis to put an end to the crippling of science, to curb its

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X.6.3.

... destructive force and use its great achievements and grandiose prospects fully for the benefit of mankind.

General and complete disarmament proposed by the head of the Soviet Government N.S. Khrushchev can rid science from the heavy burden of militarism, switch the vast army of scientists now working for war to peaceful constructive labour and release huge sums. One hundred and twenty billion dollars is the annual toll imposed by militarism on mankind. It will become an important source of improving the welfare of the peoples and ensuring further progress of science and culture.

Complete disarmament will open up vast opportunities for accomplishing grandiose scientific and technological problems gripping the minds of scientists. Scientists would join their hands in combating such diseases as cancer, cardiovascular and mental disorders. They would jointly explore outer space, and search for a better and more effective use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

It goes without saying that it is precisely in this trend of development - for universal peace rather than for war - that all economically underdeveloped countries are interested, countries that account for almost half of the world's population. General and complete disarmament will greatly increase assistance rendered to them by industrially developed countries. If this assistance has no political or any other strings attached to it, it may become one of the most important vehicles to boost the economy of underdeveloped countries. General and complete disarmament will release 5 - 6 billion dollars for economic and cultural purposes in those countries, that is, the sum that they are annually compelled to spend on their armies which are more than five million strong. Here is the sorely felt deficit of billions of dollars urgently needed by the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America! Only then will they be able to use the achievements of modern science for their progress on a much larger scale and much more effectively as well as to share in scientific development.

So far, as is well known, science and technology remain the privilege of developed countries. The peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America who made a tremendous contribution to world civilization, who enriched the world with great discoveries in many spheres of science and culture, were, by the ill-will of colonialists, isolated from the progress of modern science which hampered its development. It seems to me that one of the most important and noblest tasks of modern science and scientists who sometimes hold different social and political views is to render the necessary aid to scientists, intellectuals and the entire population of the underdeveloped world in mastering the achievements of modern science, technology and industry. Thus we shall do our duty to the peoples lagging behind in their development. What is more, we, scientists, are vitally interested in having these peoples reap the fruits of modern civilization. For it will broaden the front of science, give it a truly world-wide character and provide one of the most important prerequisites for its further progress.

In the past West European civilization had boasted of its profoundly scientific foundation brought destruction and degradation to the parts of the world with which it came into contact. That is what happened in the countries of Asia, Africa,

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Latin America and Oceana. West European civilization reduced to ruins the traditional economy of the majority of colonial countries. As a result of the compulsory "assimilation" of this civilization, the living standards of those countries were sharply reduced.

It is the duty of science to make a considerable contribution to the elimination of the grave consequences of colonialism in all spheres of the material and spiritual life of society, thus accelerating social economic and cultural progress, promoting the welfare of the broad masses and making the achievements of modern civilization available to it. It should be emphasized once again that owing to their economic backwardness the under-developed countries are in bad need of aid from advanced science for their national rebirth. It is necessary to mobilize the scientists of advanced countries to render comprehensive and concrete aid to the countries of the East and Latin America.

The time has come to profoundly and comprehensively tackle scientific problems of vital importance to the peoples of those countries, including agricultural and medical problems, to establish an effective system for the education and training of scientists, notably in the field of technology, to apply sciences for industrialization and improvement of farming, to use economics and statistics in order to draw most rational plans of development and establishment of mutually advantageous economic relations with other countries. Those are the problems without whose solution it is difficult and even impossible to ensure a speedy national rebirth of the newly liberated countries and the elimination of the grave social and economic consequences of prolonged colonial domination.

What are the specific problems of underdeveloped countries that modern science is called on to solve?

The main heritage of colonialism is the economic, technological and cultural backwardness of underdeveloped countries. Their share in the total industrial output of the capitalist world is just over 13 per cent and in the output of machines and equipment about 3 per cent, whereas they account for two-thirds of the population of the capitalist countries. Farming is at an extremely low level, even though the vast majority of their population are engaged in it. Underdeveloped countries continue to this day to occupy a disadvantageous position in the system of world capitalist economy and in the world capitalist market, acting as suppliers of agricultural and mineral raw materials for highly developed countries and suffering from a non-equivalent exchange

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and the growing gap in the prices of industrial commodities and raw materials.

The well-known Swedish economist and ex-President of the European Economic Commission of the UN, Gunner Myrdal, discussing the reasons for this state of affairs in his book "World Economy", correctly emphasizes that the "economic interests of the old colonial powers lay not in the development of economic independence and the creation of versatile industry in the colonies, but in perpetuating their position as an appendage to their domestic market and safeguarding their colonial spheres mainly in the mining industry and extending patronage to their own settlers."

That is the reason for the horrible gap in the living standards of the peoples of highly developed and underdeveloped countries. The annual per capita income in the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America averages eleven to twelve times less than that of the nations of WestEurope. What is the practical significance of this fact? It means that more than a billion people are not receiving the minimum 2700 calories per day and are living in horrible conditions of starvation, poverty and ignorance. Is it not a shame of the twentieth century, a century of nuclear energy and space ships? For the scientific and technical revolution that we all witness today makes it possible to put an end to poverty and ignorance forever and rapidly advance the economy and culture of all the countries of the world. One cannot but subscribe to the view of the ex-Director General of FAO, Lord Boyd-Orr, "Why not begin to carry out a certain plan to remove the two greatest evils: the first is the war danger and the second is the poverty of the vast masses in underdeveloped countries."

One can say without fear of contradiction that the most burning and urgent problem of the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America is the deliverance of the majority of their population from starvation.

"Starvation is the most tragic expression of the economic complex of backwardness", says the prominent Brazilian scientist and public figure, President of the World Hunger Fight Association and ex-President of the FAO Council, José de Castro. "Starvation is the most terrible and wide-spread disease in our world. It takes a heavy toll of human lives. It is precisely starvation that lies at the basis of demographic distinctions between the poor and rich countries. The world of the poor countries is a realm of starvation and poverty where people are born to migrate to heaven as angels."

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help considerably to solve the radical problem of the Nile land and the age-
old dream of the fellah will thus come true.

The water reservoir which will be built as a result of the construction of this dam and irrigation systems will make it possible to irrigate and use for farming an additional 840,000 hectares of land by irrigating new areas and reclaiming those that are now swamped during floods. The inflow of water to the Nile valley will be even all the year round after the construction of the water reservoir, floods and droughts will come to an end. As a result the agricultural output of the UAR will grow 50 per cent. A hydropower plant will be built along with the dam with a capacity of 2.5 million kW and an annual output of 10 billion kilowatt hours. Thus the developing industry of the United Arabic Republic will receive a source of power.

As is known, the entire construction project of the high Aswan dam is
being accomplished with the financial and technical aid of the Soviet Union
which provided for this purpose credits amounting to 1.6 billion roubles (in
old prices). This unique project will epitomize the highest achievements of
different branches of modern science and technology: hydrotechnology, power
engineering, agronomy. The project was elaborated by hundreds of Soviet
scientists in different research centres. It is implemented under the super-
vision of Soviet scientists, engineers and technicians. Skilled Soviet
workers teach Arabs the know-how of first-rate technology, passing on to them
the vast experience accumulated on Soviet hydropower projects such as the
Volga and Angara power plants, which are the largest in the world. The
sincere and friendly attitude of Soviet scientists and engineers to the needs
of the Egyptian people found its graphic expression in the fact that they
found ways of considerably reducing the construction costs of hydro nstalla-
tions. The Aswan dam will be a striking example of the scientific and tech-
nological aid of industrially developed countries to the economically under-
developed countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The construction of the Aswan dam is well under way. And yet there is
still so much to be done to place the riches of Africa at the service of her
peoples. One cannot but recall the various projects of the development of
the world's largest desert, the Sahara. Suffice it to mention the project
of engineer Sergel. He proposed the construction of a dam, 250 meters high,
in the lower Congo near the Livingstone waterfalls. This would form a
vast 900,000 sq. km. water reservoir, twice as large as the Black Sea, where
in former times there was a lake. The water reservoir would be filled very
soon since the precipitation in the Congo area is 1500 mm. a year. Sergel
suggested that the Congo-Shari watershed be divided by a canal that would
link the reservoir with Lake Chad which lies in a vast depression. The
entire mass of the water would then cover an area of 1 million sq. km., which
in turn would freely release water into the desert along the beds of streams
that used to flow there once upon a time, thus forming a river flowing into
the Mediterranean. According to Sergel, the amount of water in the river
would exceed that of the Nile 15-20 times, thus making it possible to irri-
gate an area of 60 million hectares in Niger, Chad, Libya, Algeria and Tunisia.
The Sergel project envisages the construction of a number of large hydro-
power plants and the establishment, inside Africa, of a navigable route more
than 6500 km. long. Technically this project is quite feasible.

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X 6.3

Of course, this project as any other will have its advocates and opponents, since these proposals are far from being indisputable. But what is the value of such projects? They reflect the ambition of scientists who set themselves the noble task of placing their minds, their experience and energy at the service of mankind and show the basic technical possibility of such vast projects focussing the attention of the world public. Finally, they imply the need for joint efforts of scientists and engineers of different countries to solve a number of important problems necessary to improve the economy of underdeveloped countries, and these problems are becoming ever more burning and urgent.

Science should exert every effort to eliminate the terrific death rate and vast incidence of diseases and various epidemics in underdeveloped countries, to improve the public health services there. For the fact remains that hundreds of millions in underdeveloped countries are denied any medical care, for no systematic struggle is waged there against the agents of contagious diseases. Tuberculosis, trachoma, brucellosis, smallpox, measles, and sleeping sickness are taking a heavy toll of the population of underdeveloped countries. Even now epidemics of cholera and plague, long-forgotten by the citizens of Europe and North America, are breaking out in underdeveloped countries.

According to the UN, the African population per one doctor amounts in Nigeria to 70,000, in Tanganyika to 28,000, in Uganda to 53,000, etc. The state of affairs in the countries of Asia is just as bad. Thus in Iran there is only one doctor per 25,000.

In an effort to improve the living conditions of their peoples, the governments of underdeveloped countries give a great deal of attention to the improvement of medical care and to the fight against epidemics. The solution of these problems requires the construction of hospitals and polyclinics, the availability of medical equipment and medications, the training of local medical personnel.

The Soviet Union is rendering great aid to the developing countries along these lines. According to Soviet designs, factories for antibiotics and pharmaceutic preparations, epidemiological stations and hospitals are being built and will be provided with the most up-to-date medical facilities.

Many outbreaks of dangerous epidemics of plague, smallpox, cholera and yellow fever in Asia and Africa were eliminated with the aid of Soviet doctors and with the use of high-quality medications provided by the USSR. It goes without saying that other highly developed countries, including the USA, are likewise rendering medical aid to the countries of Asia and Africa.

The problem of the eradication of illiteracy, of the high development of education and public health, hinges first and foremost on the training of local personnel. This is one of the most important questions for Asia, Africa and Latin America.

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X 6.3

For the development of a national industry providing the basis of an independent economy, for the improvement of agriculture and the technical equipment of all branches of national economy, for the large-scale development of education and public health and the improvement of the people's living standards, the underdeveloped countries need engineers and technicians, doctors and teachers, agronomists and skilled workers, a vast army of people of different professions.

The lack of local specialists in the countries of Asia and Africa is the natural consequence of continuous colonial oppression.

In 1957 UNESCO published its survey "Illiteracy in the countries of the world in the middle of the century". This valuable publication was the first systematic survey accomplished by an international organization and reflecting the state of education as of 1950 in 65 countries of the world. The figures cited in the UNESCO survey disclose a horrifying picture of education in underdeveloped countries. Is it not a shame of our time that in the mid-twentieth century in many underdeveloped countries the illiterate adult population exceeds 90 per cent! Think of these terrible figures and we shall realise the duty confronting us scientists.

In 43 countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America with an adult population of about 880 million (which accounts for more than half of the world's population aged over 15) the number of the illiterate amounts to the huge figure of 600-640 million. In many underdeveloped countries the native population is almost entirely illiterate. Tens of millions of children do not go to school. The gravity of the situation involved in the education of school-age children in Asian countries is illustrated by the data of the regional conference of the countries of Asia on compulsory elementary education held in Karachi early in 1960. This conference stated the fact that in 15 countries of Asia under survey - from Afghanistan to Japan - there are about 87 million children who do not attend schools and are unable to receive any education, and that the majority of the 65 million children who do go to schools are compelled to be content with a limited amount of knowledge owing to terrible poverty and misery.

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As to higher education, it was practically inaccessible for the population of under-developed countries. Only a few people out of millions received higher education.

Modern science can and should make a great and important contribution to the speedy solution of the problem of education in underdeveloped countries.

The scientists of the developed countries in Europe and America are called upon to assist underdeveloped countries in the establishment of modern research centres, a vast network of general type schools and technical colleges, experimental farms and teachers' colleges.

Is it not a noble idea to send to the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America doctors and agronomists, engineers and technicians, to give lectures on the urgent problems of modern science with a view to their application for the needs of those countries?

Our country is making its contribution to the improvement of education in underdeveloped countries. With the aid of the Soviet Union a number of Asian and African countries are building large educational institutions equipped with the latest in science and technology. The Soviet Union generously shares with underdeveloped countries its vast experience in the peaceful uses of atomic energy building nuclear reactors in a number of Asian countries, including India and the United Arab Republic. Many prominent Soviet scientists and specialists are lecturing in India, Indonesia, Burma and Afghanistan.

Students from many underdeveloped countries are undergoing practical training at Soviet enterprises, skilled workers, engineers and technicians are receiving the practical know-how. A striking example of the Soviet Union's aid in the training of local personnel is the establishment in Moscow of the Peoples' Friendship University named after Lumumba, where thousands of students from Asia, Africa and Latin America are receiving higher education with the aid of Soviet professors and instructors. The vast experience and knowledge accumulated by Soviet science during many years is becoming available to the peoples of underdeveloped countries.

The main task confronting the underdeveloped countries today is the attainment of economic independence and the elimination of poverty and backwardness. At the same time the peoples of underdeveloped countries do not want the solution of this task to be postponed indefinitely. They want to keep abreast with the century and overtake the advanced countries within the lifespan of one generation, that is during the next few decades. This calls for a huge rate of economic development, a sharp increase in the productivity of labour, the growth of national income and its fair distribution.

How can it be achieved? The laws of economy and the experience of highly developed countries graphically demonstrate that one can overcome backwardness only by eliminating the colonial character of economy, by establishing national control over the resources and industrial enterprises, by establishing a highly developed and versatile industry and, first and foremost, the heavy industry. Mr. Nehru, the Prime Minister of India, says that "without possessing a heavy industry of our own, we cannot survive as a nation over a long period of time. We must create a heavy

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industry within the next decade if we are to survive." Doctor Sukarno, the President of Indonesia, also emphasizes that industrialization is a problem of life and death for the Indonesian people.

The Latin American economist Raoul Prebish says that industrialization is not an end in itself but the main medium through which these countries can enjoy the blessings of technological progress and constantly raise the living standard of the world. (Raoul Prebish, *The Economic Development of Latin America and Its Problems*, New York, 1956).

Indeed, without industrialization it is impossible to ensure a high rate of the material production in all spheres of national economy, to eliminate the lag of agriculture and attain an equal status on the world market, overcoming poverty and putting an end to rural overpopulation. In full accordance with the laws of economy and the tasks of underdeveloped countries J. Nehru states: "We are convinced that the industrialization of the country should be based on the heavy industry and by this industry I mean engineering, not to mention non-ferrous metallurgy". Of course, one cannot apply the same yardstick to all underdeveloped countries. Here we refer to the presentation of the problem in principle.

Needless to say, the struggle of the developing countries for economic independence and industrialization poses a variety of problems for the scientists of the highly developed countries, notably, technical and economic ones opening a vast field for their noble activities.

The technical problems consist in making available to the developing countries vast experience and latest achievements of natural and applied sciences for the development of the basic industries, farming and transport. The developing countries can make use of the new achievements of science and technology creating most up-to-date enterprises that are in keeping with the modern standards of science. Figuratively speaking the underdeveloped countries are not shackled by the burden of outdated and unproductive equipments which still exist in the old industrial countries. A young runner can make a rapid start.

In this respect the direct transmission of knowledge and experience of the scientists of the highly developed countries to their colleagues in underdeveloped countries within the framework of technical assistance is of great importance. It will assume the form of familiarizing

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specialists from the countries of the East and Latin America with the achievements of science and technology in the industrially developed countries of Europe and North America, or on the spot through specially assigned scientists and engineers, the training of local students and specialists in European and American colleges or assistance in the establishment of technical colleges, training and research centres on the territory of underdeveloped countries. The practical steps already taken along those lines should be fully expanded and improved and the most advanced experience should be generalized. One can say without fear of being presumptuous that Soviet scientists have accumulated such experience passing on their knowledge to the technicians of under-developed countries.

Equally important is the transmission to developing countries of complex experience in the field of economy, organization, and financing of new branches of national economy, earmarking of investments, determination of their efficiency, priority and scope of construction of enterprises, provision of raw materials, power, labour, and markets, a study of their relationships with other enterprises and branches of economy, etc. In short, it is a very difficult and fundamentally important matter of economic planning including strictly theoretical and purely practical questions. The tremendous importance of this question may be seen from the fact that actually all the developing countries have adopted programmes of economic development on the basis of specially elaborated governmental plans.

Of course, not all these plans meet high scientific requirements, not all of them fully and correctly reflect the genuine tasks of economic development, or envisage the full mobilization of the available resources. What is more, not all of the previously adopted plans have been fully implemented. There are many reasons for it. One of them is lack of experience in this type of planning.

Besides many economists in the Western countries disseminate theories which in effect justify the perpetuation of a backward economic structure in underdeveloped countries and their disadvantageous position in the framework of world division of labour.

However, most of the economists in the developing countries are becoming increasingly aware of the inadmissibility and detrimental nature of such theories. Thus, for instance, a prominent Indian scientist, director of the Indian Institute of Statistics and member of India's planning board, Prof. P. Mahalanobis, says that "Economic theories evolved in highly developed countries probably apply to these countries, but are hardly useful in connection with the problems of economic development ... The economic theory of highly developed countries is essentially static and relates, first and foremost, to the most effective distribution of capital and other resources rather than to the problems of economic development through an increase in the accumulation of capital. This theory did not help in the economic development of India and other underdeveloped countries but on the contrary hampered it."

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One should not blindly rely on the experience of the developed countries bearing in mind only its origin. What is more the low rate of development of world capitalist economy on the whole is far from arousing enthusiasm among the peoples of the developing countries.

As to the experience of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, the achievements of their economic science are increasingly attracting the attention of the economists of the underdeveloped countries. It is only natural. On the basis of Marxist economic science and applying centralized scientific planning, the Soviet Union was able within a few decades to make a tremendous leap in its development - from backward Russia to a powerful industrial state.

Sharing Mahalanobis' view, Prof. B. Singh of the University of Lahore believes that the methods of economic development in the Soviet Union and other socialist countries exert a tremendous influence on the underdeveloped countries. Soviet economic development provides a unique example of transition from a backward economy to an advanced one without any import of foreign capital, with the aid of planning and without private enterprise. Soviet economic development undoubtedly confirmed the superiority of a planned economy over any other. It could not fail to exert influence on the countries that after winning political independence it began to consolidate its economic basis, embarking on the path of rapid industrialization. There is nothing in the classic bourgeois and Keynsian economic theory, that could even partially replace what is represented by the experience of Soviet planning.

As to the Soviet economic scientists, they are willing to share their knowledge and experience with their colleagues from the developing countries. A number of Soviet economists have repeatedly visited developing countries passing on their experience of economic planning as was the case in India and Afghanistan. Planning experts from developing countries are frequent visitors of Soviet planning bodies and research centres. More and more books on the principles and methods of Soviet planning and the experience of economic development of the Soviet Union are being translated into occidental and oriental languages. Soviet economists give lectures on these problems in the developing countries. We intend to promote still further our scientific contacts with the developing countries in the field of economy, planning, statistics and other social sciences.

Such, in my view, are some of the important problems arising out of the necessity to render scientific assistance to the developing countries. Of course, it was impossible in this paper to embrace all these problems in their entirety and discuss them comprehensively. The way I interpret my task is somewhat different: I wish to call your attention to these problems, to arouse a lively debate, to exchange views, and map out the most advisable ways of rendering scientific assistance in the future.

In conclusion, allow me to express my confidence that the scientists the world over will make a worthy contribution to the noble cause of economic and cultural progress of developing countries. It will bring benefits to all mankind.

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"Education for Humanity in a Developing World"

presented by Sir Julian Huxley

(on behalf of an ad hoc Group consisting of
C.H. Waddington (Chairman), Sir Eric Ashby,
Nigel Calder, Ritchie Calder, John Cohen,
Sir Julian Huxley, Max Nicholson, C.F. Powell,
J. Tanner, Lord Francis-Williams)

**Preamble.** The Pugwash Conferences have had, as their primary aim, the exchange of views among leading scientists about modern weapons and disarmament. Physicists have naturally played a central part in these discussions. Nevertheless, the scope of the 3rd and especially the 7th Conference (1961) was much broader. The participants successfully applied themselves to questions about international cooperation in pure and applied science. The purpose of the Pugwash movement is to reduce the dangers created by modern science and to see science applied constructively and cooperatively in a peaceful world. The threats and opportunities arising from the advances of science and knowledge are not, however, confined to the technical field. As has become plain at previous conferences, economic, social, literary, artistic, educational and psychological issues cannot be excluded from the discussions and should indeed be actively explored. In particular, the general question of education in its national and international aspects will have to be tackled by scientists, as a major instrument for achieving a secure world and a satisfying existence.

The immediate proposal, therefore, is that the Pugwash movement should lend its name, support and guidance to the organisation of conferences concerned with education.

It is recommended that representatives of various disciplines and branches of science and learning from different parts of the world should meet together to discuss the content and general organisation of education in their respective countries and in the world at large. The motive for such conferences derives from the belief that different countries have common problems in matching their education to a scientific appraisal of the present and future needs of the individual and of society, and that all can profit from an

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exchange of ideas. The conferences would not be concerned with
detailed organisation and teaching practice, which are the pro-
vince of the educational specialist (although the need for a
special conference of educationists might well emerge from the
proposed discussions). The following paragraphs are intended to
clarify the aims.

The function of the conferences would be to sketch forms of
education which would lead to a profounder apprehension of man's
place in nature and society in the light of his biological and cul-
tural heritage. East and West alike are experimenting with means
of satisfying common human needs and wishes and of realising
human possibilities; educational systems reflect general social
objectives. In the Pugwash tradition, the participants would
attempt to identify common aims and methods and to consider how
they could be implemented; they would also examine areas of
difference and seek to clarify them.

The present approach is based on a number of propositions:

1. That modern science and the weapons it is pro-
ducing makes acute dissension among nations
intolerably dangerous, and that by suitable edu-
cation people can be encouraged to live peacefully
together.

2. That modern science and technology and their applications promoted extremely rapid industrial development in nearly all countries, that education is of practical importance in sustaining such development and that, at the same time, people need to be educated for living in a fast-changing environment.

3. That modern science is providing an inventory of the world's biological and mineral resources, which affords a basis for rational living provided people are educated to think in terms of the conservation of natural wealth.

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4. That modern science is providing new measures of the extent and diversity of human resources and opening up new possibilities of achievement, both personal and social, and that education should be designed to make full use of human diversity and ability at all levels of attainment, and to promote maximum realisation of human possibilities in all fields.

5. That one of the tasks in education is to identify the needs and wishes of the individual and the needs and aims of society and those of the human species as a whole and to reconcile them as far as possible.

6. That imagination, creativity, and moral and aesthetic capacity are as important for individual and social life as intelligence and the rational intellect; that morality and the arts, together with science and learning, are essential elements in the cultural evolution of mankind, and must be given due weight in education.

7. That education at present occupies too lowly a position in the scheme of social priorities, considering the paramount need for people able * to exploit modern knowledge and to regulate its use for the good of mankind.

These propositions can be summarised thus: education should be re-appraised in the light of our new knowledge about man and his relations with his environment - in other words, human nature and human ecology. Conflict, competition and cooperation between nations and other human groups constitute one main aspect of contemporary human ecology, conservation another, and the fuller realisation of possibilities a third.

These matters are too broad to be encompassed in a single conference. Accordingly a number of conferences are envisaged, each dealing with part of the problem. The first three conferences would be particularly concerned with problems seen from the viewpoint of the highly industrialised countries; the fourth would deal with the problems of the developing countries.

* to utilise their scientific, practical, artistic and moral capacities to the full, and

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FIRST CONFERENCE: Education and Human Ecology

This conference would be concerned with the education of the individual in relation to the world he inhabits (irrespective of national, social, and political organisations, which would be dealt with in the third conference).

It would begin with a discussion of how far the nature of man's trusteeship of the earth's resources and of his responsibility for the proper utilisation of his own human resources should become a more prominent feature of education. Questions arising include the following: Can ecology and geography provide links between other school subjects, illuminating them all? Do the earth sciences and biology provide a better basis for introducing science in the school curriculum than physics and chemistry? To what extent can a programme of education be focused (a) on human ecology and the intelligent and cooperative use of biological and mineral resources; (b) on human fulfilment and the intelligent and cooperative realisation of the diversity of human potentialities?

A second area of discussion would be how to educate people to comprehend the impact of modern science on human affairs. For example: Does the elementary academic science commonly taught in schools prepare pupils for a world of automation, new sources of power, spacecraft and antibiotics, of increasing population and dwindling resources, of new knowledge about man's nature, origins and possible future? Can people be educated to live in and plan for a continually changing technological, social and ideological environment?

A third theme would be the balance between the natural sciences and the "humanities" in education. For example: Has the growth of skills in science and technology been realised at the expense of moral and aesthetic accomplishment? Is there a tendency to premature specialisation in education, and can basic topics be identified which all children ought to be taught? Is there a tendency to try to cram too much fact, whether in science or other subjects, into pupils' heads, rather than cultivating mental disciplines? Is it possible to provide them with a general pattern of ideas and concepts which will permit a modern approach to existence and open up a scientifically based vision of man's place and role in the universe? Can one devise a programme of education centred in the concept of evolutionary development, which would help to bridge the divisions between man and nature, matter and mind, the sciences and the humanities, the past and future?

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In conclusion the conference would turn to the general aims of education. Advances of modern knowledge are creating new kinds of environment at home, at work, and in recreation. It is vitally important that the whole range of human potentialities should be examined and related to the technological enrichment of the conditions of living.

At this point the conference would be confronted by the fact that education is inseparable from general social aims. In discussing the satisfaction of human needs, desires and aspirations, the participants should be able to identify the areas of agreement and disagreement between East and West about the opportunities society should provide for the individual. What are the characteristics of the ideal educated man? How far can different countries agree about the ideal?

SECOND CONFERENCE: The Evolution of Education

If the first conference had made some progress towards specifying the aims of education, this second conference would be able to examine how these aims might be achieved.

The proceedings would begin with an analysis of the shortcomings and successes of educational systems in various countries. To what extent do they conform to the aims identified by the first conference? What are the chief deficiencies?

The second topic for discussion would be the status of education. Does education in various countries occupy a high or a low place in the order of social priorities? What is the social status of teachers and are individuals of high ability attracted into the profession? What arguments can be brought to bear on governments to impress them with the importance of education and of teachers?

Thirdly, what measures are employed for the selection and training of teachers at all levels? Are they satisfactory and quantitatively adequate?

Fourthly, special attention would be given to the problem of renewing the education of the adult, to keep pace with changes in his industrial and social environment which make the content of his schooling outmoded. What are the problems and solutions for the continuous renewal of general education? What is the expected demand for retraining for changing technologies and how can it best be met?

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In conclusion, the conference would consider the broad question of the evolution of the educational process itself. How readily can it be adapted to the aims identified by the first conference? More generally, how can the evolution of education be made smoother, to allow continual re-adaptation to changing needs?

### THIRD CONFERENCE: Education for Society

The centre of interest in the first two conferences would be the individual member of society and his needs, desires and aspirations. However, society has legitimate demands to make of the educational system: the provision of good citizens and competent workers in all fields and at all levels. Individuals are also members of the evolving human species: the educational system must accordingly be related to the long-term interests of mankind as a whole. This conference, therefore, would concern itself with the education of man as a member of a community.

The first question to be examined would clearly be whether there is a gap between the educational requirements for man as an individual, man as a member of a society, and man as a member of the human species.

Secondly, the conference would discuss how society can make full use of the ability of its citizens. How great is the waste of human talent, for want of suitable forms of education? How can this waste be minimised?

The third topic in this conference would be education against delinquency. What is the relationship between the form and content of education and the incidence of delinquency? Have the human sciences any guidance to give about how education can better inculcate a sense of social and personal responsibility?

The fourth theme would be education for the world community and its future development. Can one reconcile emphasis on local and national loyalties in education with the need to foster the attitudes appropriate to peace between nations? How far is any national system of education a closed system? Should the content of education be modified to give pupils a clearer picture of the world beyond their own frontiers? Should the advanced countries pay more attention to training people for assisting in world development?

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Finally, the conference would consider the variations in the answers to the previous questions according to different socio-political systems and different stages of economic development among the industrialised countries. What can East and West learn from one another in these matters?

FOURTH CONFERENCE: Education and World Development

The discussions and conclusions of the previous conferences would provide a basis for a fourth conference, at which the newly developing countries could learn from the successes and mistakes of the highly industrialised in matters of educational planning, and the industrialised nations could learn to appreciate more fully the social, economic and psychological situation and problems of the developing countries.

The first topic for discussion (after the preliminary recapitulation) would be the possible approach to education via human ecology and the concepts in various countries of the aims of education for the individual.

The second would be the approach to the education of the individual and to the social aims of education in countries in various stages of development.

Thirdly, the evolution of educational systems would be discussed, together with the need for newly developing countries to avoid imitating features in the educational systems in the industrialised countries which may be already obsolescent, or otherwise inappropriate.

The fourth topic would be the harnessing of education to the problems of national development, and would include an attempt to assess the present waste of resources and of talent.

In conclusion, the conference would examine the possibilities of international aid and assistance for the furtherance of education in the developing countries, and of a closer integration of the educational systems of the industrialised and developing countries, in order to achieve, more speedily, common aims in human welfare and world development.

London, 1962.

X7:3

# Tenth Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs

## "The Creative Possibilities of Science"

V.A. Kargin

In no period of history has the social function of science been subjected to such constant attention by the whole of mankind as in our own time. What can human society expect from science? - this has now become one of the most vital and acute of questions for hundreds of millions of people. People are looking into science's past record in order to try to understand its future prospects, in order concretely to evaluate the fears and hopes which are bound up with scientific progress in our atomic and space age. They are listening to the voices of sciences and hoping for a direct answer from them to the question of the social function of science. One of the most encouraging facts of the present time is the way in which the majority of scientists are sensing this explicit or implicit question of millions of people - "What purpose will science serve - death and destruction or life, progress and creation?" Now more than ever before a sense of the social responsibility of the scientist has grown up and is continuing to grow.

Once upon a time the scientist could work without bothering about the results which his discoveries would bring to humanity. When Einstein set out to explain the results of Michaelson's experiments - the dependence of the velocity of light on the motion of the earth, he did not know that out of the explanation he found atomic energy would arise.

Now, when experimental and theoretical work is carried out, made generally known and applied at quite a different speed, one which was unknown not only in previous centuries, but also in the first half of our own, the situation has changed. Discoveries do not have to wait for many years to be applied; the research worker can now envisage what effect his discoveries will have. In many branches of science and with regard to many problems the discussion is about effects which have decisive, vital significance for the whole of mankind. The scientist can no longer say to history - "Don't touch my schemes!" - history is bound up with the most general and abstract mathematical, mechanical, physical, astro-physical and chemical research; the application of scientific knowledge depends on historical circumstances, and this knowledge itself governs the process of historical events. Nowadays, the important scientist who at the heights of science turns away from the palpitating problems of social life represents something extremely archaic: what is more, here at the heights of science are to be found the most acute problems of the existence and progress of human society.

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The sense of social responsibility will not allow a scientist to turn aside for a moment from the key question of whom science serves - destruction or creation? What can historical hindsight tell us in answer to this question? The history of science contains many fallacies, many side-tracks and blind-alleys, leading science away from the truth. But the history of science is not a history of fallacies. Its basis, its basic content has been the irreversible process of coming consistently closer to objective truth. On the other hand the history of science tells of the military and destructive application of scientific knowledge. The basic function of science lies in creation, in the preparation of newer and newer steps in technical, social and cultural progress. This function is the historical driving power of science. Every new epoch in the development of science, every new step in bringing the map of the world closer to objective truth is brought about in the final analysis by the application of scientific knowledge.

We can take one example from history. Fire-arms were the first heat engines: a gun is a kind of single-stroke engine, with the piston flying out of the cylinder and not returning to it. But did weapons lay the basis for an epoch of heat engines and did they give us a new map of the world? No, the start of a new technical and scientific epoch and the hub of the scientific and technical revolution lay in internal combustion engines with a peaceful, creative and industrial application - steam engines, which revolutionised industry and transport, became the starting point of thermo-dynamics and then gave place to steam turbines, the internal combustion engine, gas turbines and, finally, jet devices. Similarly, in our own century, it was not atomic bomb explosions, but the first atomic power stations which were the beginning of a new epoch in the development of power.

This has always been the situation. The impulse given to science by military techniques, the study of theatres of military action, military geodesical investigation and so on, could have a serious effect on the development of science, only when it took the same lines as immeasurably more powerful impulses, coming from the quarter of peaceful, creative application of scientific knowledge. It was not the Pharaohs but agriculture which brought Egyptian astronomy into existence. It was not the journeys of Alexander of Macedon, but the latter-day cultural and trade relations of Hellenism which led to the establishment of the geographical map which the Middle Ages inherited from antiquity. It was not the Crusades, but the extensive trade and cultural

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links which accompanied them, preceded them and in par-
ticular were established by them, which opened up the
path to Europe of the scientific treasures accumulated
in the East. This list could go on ad infinitum.

All branches of contemporary natural sciences are
bound up with the creative activity of man.

New tendencies are taking shape in the field of science,
new scientific disciplines. Over the past decade the new
field of natural science - space biology - has come into
being at the meeting point of a whole number of scientific
disciplines. Biology, the science of life, has in this way
entered into a new area of phenomena, every step in the
study of which requires detailed analysis and critical
evaluation.

The second half of the 20th century is becoming the
era of the new biology, just as the first half of the
century was the era of the new physics.

The history of the development of the productive
forces shows that biological processes were used in pro-
duction in the first steps of the history of humanity, but
this happened blindly. Biological science now stands on
the threshold of enormous discoveries; without any doubt,
in future the use of biological laws will lead to extremely
important changes in the development of productive forces.
In this case it is likely that the direct influence of
science on production will nowhere take place so clearly
as where biological processes are used as a basis for
production.

Without exaggeration it can be said that one of the
high points of biological science is a knowledge of the
operation of the human brain. In the epoch of man's
mastery of space it is particularly important to increase
the working capacity of the brain without deleterious effect
to the organism, and increase its resistance to special, so-
called experimental conditions. A profound study of the
working of the brain is much more remarkable than the
working of the most complicated electronic computer,
reveals hitherto unknown principles of organisation and
activity, the use of which will make it possible to
perfect these machines much further, and thus further widen
their sphere of application.

Biology, which, together with the other sciences, is
called upon to serve the interests of man, is solving big
problems; it is studying the structure and biological

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functions of the most important biopolymer-albumens and nucleo-innic acids, which guarantee reproduction and the transmission of hereditary characteristics with and without mutation; it is studying such important processes as photo-synthesis and nitrogen fixation, which guarantee the existence of life, it is studying the processes of bio-synthesis of the most complicated substances in the cell. It is necessary to give closer study to the processes of nervous stimulation, muscular activity, in which chemical energy is directly translated into mechanical work with a high performance index.

The recent infiltration into Biology of the latest achievements in physics, chemistry, mathematics and the rapid development in experimental Biology - particularly in Biochemistry and Biophysics - presents wide prospects for the successful solution of set problems and enables the analysis of the biological structures of cells and intracellular processes, to be approached on the level of molecular phenomena.

Science has now come right up against the solution of one of the most disturbing problems - the artificial synthesis of egg whites and... It is not hard to imagine the immense scientific and theoretical significance of work along these lines and what wide horizons it opens up for mankind. The problem is not only reproducing existing natural compounds artificially, but also the synthesis of organic complexes with hitherto unknown chemical properties and processing, immunising, stimulating and regulating (hormonal) action, as also the properties of virus-like particles.

The use of electronic computers in electrophysiology creates fresh possibilities for the study of structure of the central nervous system's functional mechanism and is of great significance in cosmic biology and medicine and aviation and in therapy for nervous diseases.

Electronic machines are being put to use in medicine for the diagnosis of diseases and blood analysis. Instruments and apparatus, temporarily replacing diseased organs - lungs and heart - during operations are being produced. This research, in turn, enriches inventive thought and helps to create new electronic machines.

The knowledge of the deepest processes, lying at the base of the manifestation of life, will serve as a pre-requisite of mankind's exceptional successes in mastering

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the forces of nature, the battle against disease and above all such dangerous ones as cancer, cardio-vascular and virus diseases, in increasing agricultural production and the breeding of livestock, is aimed at changes in the living world with the aim of obtaining useful forms of plant life, animals and microbes, and also in using the principles of biological processes in chemistry and new technical processes.

Science already makes it possible to give close attention to the process of growth and development of organisms through the help of various factors, including physiologically active substances and ray energy.

New, extremely effective preparations made of late include, for example, preparations have been proposed for reducing the sensitivity of the tissue of organisms to radiation.

The development of space technology has been particularly rapid and the extremely clear prospects of increased distance and duration of flights are extraordinary stimuli for increased and wider biological research, and are creating more and more new problems to solve. It has become quite obvious that progress in astronautics depends on the successful solution not only of technical but equally of biological problems.

Life on our planet has already been studied for many centuries, but the events that have taken place over recent years have opened up new horizons for science, particularly in relation to the problem of the existence of life on other celestial bodies. The courageous exploits of the first cosmonauts has laid the basis of a space age for humanity. It is not yet easy to say when the first conclusions will be drawn from studies of life on other celestial bodies, but that it is already possible for science to do this is beyond doubt.

The emergence of man beyond the bounds of the earth into space is a creative act which cannot be compared with anything in history.

The problem of space travel and the study of outer space is the focal point for the attention of not only scientific circles, but also of the mass of the human race. Characteristic features and trends of contemporary science are clearly expressed in this problem. What basic scientific task faces space research? It needs to answer the question of the structure of space, questions which in their breadth go beyond all those which the science of the earth has ever set itself. Artificial space satellites have already made it possible to change the form of the question of the experimental verification of the general

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theory of relativity. Space problems are now going from
the field of extremely hypothetical structures to the
field of systematic experimental treatment. It is typical
of the period we are going through that space questions
are inextricably bound up with problems of the micro-
world. In order to know what happens in fields of the
order of millions of light years, one has to know what
happens in fields of the order to 10⁻¹² centimetres.
Contemporary cosmology is closely bound with the physics
of elementary particles, with the high-energy physics.
However far we go in constructing vast accelerators, the
cosmic radiation remains for physicists one of the main
sources of particles with energy of thousands of millions
of electrovolts. Space research, inseparable from research
in the field of nuclear physics and the physics of elem-
entary particles, will lead to the basic transformation of
the scientific map of the world. Such a transformation
will in turn have tremendous influence on technology and
culture. But whereas at the beginning of the century the
theory of relativity had to wait for several decades for
practical conclusions to be drawn from it - for the
achievement of atomic energy - now there can be no such
delay. Over the space of a few years civilisation has
travelled the road from the first sputniks to flight by
man in space. The road from manned flights in space
orbit to the landing of citizens of the earth on the
surface of other planets will take a shorter time than
could previously have been imagined.

A manned flight in space took place only three and
a half years after the launching of the first sputnik.

Strictly speaking, the history of man's entry into
space goes beyond this period of time. Dreams of flights
to the stars are already to be found in the legends coming
down to us from the dim and distant centuries. They are
given realistic engineering outline in the bold ideas of
N.I. Kibalchich, in the daring schemes and untiring work
over many years of K.E. Tsiolkovski. Tsiolkovski's work,
continued by his students, and followers, is in fact the
real beginning of the history of man's entry into space.

The first space flights were the beginning of a
new epoch in the technology of jet propulsion, but also
in the study of cosmos and the microcosm and civilisation
as a whole.

In contemporary space research we also see efforts
by the enemies of progress to use outer space for military
purposes. The scientific community has already expressed
its views about plans (if only they had remained plans!)

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to destroy the physical structure of those areas in which
space flights are taking place. Such attempts are a
threat to the successful and rapid development of the most
advanced and promising developments of science.

These fears are arising at a time when the development
of science has attained a stage in which the prospect of
its achievements affecting every facet of our lives are
developing rapidly.

We are now witnessing the triumph of many scientific
ideas, when science is becoming a direct productive force
in human society, when the great successes of the theor-
etical natural sciences determine the development of all
the remaining sciences. The intensive development of
mathematical sciences is due to the increasing application
of mathematics in the most diverse branches of science,
technology and economics, and it is accompanied by an
increasing interpenetration of ideas which appear to
arise, at first sight, in far removed branches of mathe-
matics. Such an interpenetration of sciences, which is
an important characteristic of our time, is due to the
development of new very generalised concepts and methods,
which precisely owing to their generality and a high
degree of abstraction can be used in the most diverse
spheres of science and life.

Physics has attained among modern natural sciences
an exceptional significance. 20th century physicists
discovered the world of elementary particles, found the
structure of nuclei, some of the patterns in the movement
of and interaction of particles and the general condition
of their combination into complex systems. The knowledge
of the laws of the microworld, newly discovered properties
of space and time have led to a revolution in physics and
in the natural sciences as a whole.

Investigation methods used in physics are now being
applied in all branches of natural sciences and technology.
Electron microscopy, X-ray analysis and the labelled atom
method for determining not only the structure of metals
and alloys, but also for investigating the processes of
their structural transformations. Modern semiconductor
physics has revolutionised radio technology and electronics.
Molecular physicists have discovered mechanical, electrical,
thermal and optical properties of solids and liquids,
including organic compounds and polymers.

Achievements in the sphere of physics have had an
outstanding effect on the development of contemporary
chemistry. It would appear that the branches of science

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furthest removed from everyday life are now being widely applied.

Permit me to draw your attention to certain problems related to quantum electronics, a new development of which arose at the boundary of quantum physics and radio technology. Outstanding successes in this branch of science find very interesting applications in technology and everyday life.

It is known that light and radio waves have the same electro-magnetic characteristic. A profound study of the inter-action between particles of the electro-magnetic energy (quanta) with matter taught us how to control the behaviour of atoms and made it possible to use the atoms themselves as receivers and transmitters of radio waves.

The idea of using quantum systems for the generation and amplification of radio waves was found to be extremely fruitful and provided the possibility of obtaining results which could not be achieved by normal radio technology. By means of quantum generators it is now possible to build clocks whose error does not exceed one second in tens of thousands of years. Quantum amplifiers which raise the sensitivity of the equipment used in the centimetre wavelength range by a factor of 10 or even 100 are no less important. Quantum electronics helped radio technology to reach out into the range of "visible" waves. The first light generators have already been produced. Calculations indicate that by their means it will be possible to establish radio communications across distances over which light travels several years, i.e. establish radio communication with the stars nearest to the earth and study cosmic objects far removed from it. Establishing communications by means of the "visible" waves is also attractive because it provides the transmission of a very large amount of information. A single transmitter in the "visible" range can transmit simultaneously tens of thousands of television programmes. A consistent study of the "visible" wave-range will blaze a trail for building extremely high-speed computers.

Radioelectronic methods have enormously increased the possibilities of the research worker. They enable him to see the invisible, hear the inaudible, overcome tremendous distances and carry out observations by means of equipment situated millions of miles away from the observer.

Radioelectronics have made it possible to create means of helping to free the research worker's brain of a series of functions which until quite recently could not be performed without direct human agency. The invention of fast

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electronic computers of phenomenal memory span, is one of
the greatest achievements of modern science. New machines,
carrying out millions of operations per second, are being
developed. Radioelectronics have broadened the scope of
human memory and allowed the registration of data of fast
moving processes.

It would be hard to overestimate the role of radio-
electronics and radioelectronic methods in the exploration
of outer space and in nuclear physics.

Modern physics offers two different paths. The better
known one, which is to some extent well trodden and suff-
iciently clear, that is the use of energy generated by
splitting the heavy atom. World resources of this form of
energy are very great; they would, in any case, satisfy
mankind's needs for the next thousands of years.

Nonetheless, its use on a wide scale raises very
considerable difficulties regarding radioactive waste.
Hence, the second path appears particularly attractive -
that is the use of thermonuclear power, the energy of the
synthesis of light nuclei. Mankind awaits important new
contributions from scientists resolving this problem.

Great faith has been placed in thermonuclear synthesis.
These new methods have even more advantages than the use
of energy generated by splitting the atomic nucleus.
Scientific thought envisages new vistas for the development
of the means of generating power.

The problem of controlling thermonuclear synthesis is
science's greatest task. Its solution should give mankind
the key to the exploitation of inexhaustible supplies of
nuclear energy.

In world literature we find many instances of estimates
as to how secure mankind is in its sources of power -
renewable, such as hydraulic resources, etc.; and non-
renewable, such as gas, oil, coal, etc. The results of
these estimates vary. The forecasts were prompted by
science's concern for mankind. But it is already clear
that we should forthwith start thinking of the clarification
and means of using new resources of power, as the sources
of fuel will one day be exhausted. Hence, the discovery
of new sources of power essential to the world, to life
and to people's welfare, have an immense significance to
mankind. Theoretically, the possibilities for various
uses of energy are unlimited. Potential stores of

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thermonuclear, atomic, solar, geothermal, tidal and other
sources of energy are practically inexhaustible. But
before they are rendered serviceable to mankind, a great
task lies ahead - the creative work of scientists, wide
research and lengthy experiments.

In the second half of the 20th century, scientific
efforts have been directed towards the solution of many
vital problems, including the discovery of mainly new and
more effective methods of converting various types of
energy into electric power. By now, ways of solving the
problem of the straightforward conversion of heat energy,
derived from both chemical and nuclear sources, into
electrical energy have been mapped out. Theoretical and
experimental research is also going on into the magneto
hydrodynamic cycle. These appear to have the best prospects for the production of power on a large scale.

Progress in the fields of the study of plasma and
obtaining new semi-conductors for thermal elements has
made it possible to face realistically the problem of
creating thermoelectric transformers without machines.
The solution of this problem will lead to a real revolution in power engineering, as it will obviate the
necessity for heat engines, steam-boilers, turbines and
other mechanical systems acting as intermediary transformers of heat into electrical energy.

There are other problems related to the direct
transformation of thermal, nuclear, solar and chemical
energy into electrical energy. But a great deal of work
is called for in reaching a technical solution for new
discoveries.

Research in the field of the physics of solid bodies
is opening up tremendous possibilities. The establishment
of theories on crystalline solid bodies is vitally important for the rapid development of radio technology, automation as well as computing, ultrasonic and other sections
of modern technology.

Penetrating research into the physics of metals
paves the way for the production of extra high strength
materials. High-pressure physics has solved the problem
of creating artificial , and is moving towards
the production of extra hard materials with high heat
resistance. Plasma physics, having developed in connection
with the problem of controllable thermonuclear reactions
is by devious routes entering the field of practical
application, and suggesting new methods of transforming

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thermal (energy) into electrical energy without the use of machines. The flow of ideas from physics to technology grows with each year, and one can now truly say that the physics of today is the technology of tomorrow.

The discoveries in the realm of physics of solid bodies ensure speedy progress in leading branches of modern technology.

Modern technology places high demands on utility products. Metallurgy and the chemistry of organic synthesis can fully satisfy these demands. The comparative potentials of metallurgy and chemistry are now being widely discussed.

It is considered, for instance, that the high temperatures and great speeds used in modern technology demand the wide use of metals, of their carbides, as also of metaloceramic materials; it has been shown that, given certain methods of coercion, the strength of metals can be greatly increased.

Chemistry can render enormous service to humanity by creating new materials and utility articles through the perfection of plastics which are becoming a serious competitor to metals.

In recent years new means of using so-called "polymers, in which the qualities of various polymers are combined, have been found. By using new methods of polymerisation, new polymers of a strictly regular type (stereoregular polymers) with a number of valuable qualities are obtained. It is now possible to transform almost any group of substances into a polymer condition, and to combine the required chemical properties - mechanical properties of polymers.

Chemistry has penetrated into the sphere of the most complex molecules, and broken through the laws of chemical combinations by which a comparatively small number of chemical elements provides a vast variety of combinations (over 50,000 inorganic, about 3 million organic types), it has discovered the best ways of synthesising these combinations, and creating new synthetic materials which enrich man's way of life and increase his power over nature.

In its search for new ways of synthesis, chemistry in the XXth century is putting physics to ever increasing use - in the effects of temperatures and electric current,

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light, radioactive emanation, ultrasonic factors, etc., as also such specifically chemical methods as catalysis. The implementation of this mighty arsenal of means makes it possible to carry out the most complex synthesis in the most advantageous manner - from inexpensive, widely distributed raw materials, and in the shortest possible time.

The new long-term direction that chemistry is taking is the study of chemical processes in solid conditions at very low temperatures, and under radiation. For example, some very surprising characteristics have been discovered at very low temperatures (high velocities, selectivity). This research paves the way to chemical syntheses which are new in principle.

One of the main tasks of modern chemical theory is the future penetration into nature itself - into - the very mechanism of chemical changes, the tracing of all intermediary stages of these changes, and the effects on them of various factors - aimed at the complete mastery over chemical processes, and the elaboration of the most highly perfected means of controlling them.

Theoretical investigations in physics and chemistry must create bases for the invention of new high quality materials, the use of which raises engineering and building on to a high level.

The elaboration of the theoretical bases and the technical perfecting of computers, automatic and information machines, the remarkable products of science in the last decades, will play an important part in perfecting human methods of working.

The development of cybernetics must open up unprecedented possibilities for the widespread automation of industrial processes and the facilitation of mental work.

Among certain scientists there is a widespread opinion that computers, automatic electronic and information machines and their dissemination in industry and science lessen the value of the work of man. But this is not true. The significance of man's work will not decline, but, on the contrary, will increase. True, the development of science and technology will place man in new conditions in industry, the efficiency of work bring determined in a greater and greater degree by the efficiency of an all-round development in members of society.

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Science does not only promote the perfecting of the means of work, but also their main modifications. Another decisive factor in this is automation. Automation in production is a new stage, prepared by the joint development of science and technology, and primarily by the changing production onto an electrical basis, and the use of electronics in new perfected technical means. Automation of machinery will henceforth be ever more common as form of production, altering man's role in production, and lightening his work. Automation opens up great possibilities for the growth of the power of production.

At first sight it would seem that it amounts only to the technical realisation of problems, resolved by science, of perfecting the means of work. Whereas in fact very many problems still await scientific and theoretical decisions.

Modern society is unthinkable without a developed transmission network, the editing and distribution of information, guaranteeing the normal functioning of industry, transport and power systems, as well as the essential of the political and economic life of the country, and the satisfaction of man's cultural wants.

The amount of information transmitted and adapted characterises the intensity of human activity. The higher the level of development of the productive forces of society, the material and cultural demands of the people, the wider is the inter-change of information, and the stronger is the demand for speed and reliability in its transmission.

In this connection increasing importance is attached to electrical means of communicating information - telephone, telegraph, television, telemechanics and remote control systems, culminating in the development of "machine information", and devices for the communication of data are becoming an integral part of the technological process.

Science has not only made new natural resources broadly accessible; it is more and more transforming nature. A clear example is to be found in important projects to transfer water from some rivers to other rivers. More than 80% of all water, we know, flows uselessly into northern seas, and only 20% to the south, where water is most needed. In the Soviet

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opment

Union, for example, the transfer of waters from northern rivers to the Volga Basin will make it possible to increase the output of the hydro-electric stations on the Volga by 11,000 million kilowatt hours a year, and will also make it possible, together with other measures, connected with the artificial regulation of the level of the Caspian Sea, to irrigate millions of tons of grain a year. There are even bigger tasks involved in the development and irrigation of the lands of Central Asia.

Every year science and scientific methods of research penetrate into every aspect of production forces, play a most vital role in establishing the material well-being of man.

Out of the few aspects of science examined it can be concluded that the first period in the use of science was connected with the creation of machines mechanically manufacturing natural materials; but now we are seeing a constant increase in the means of labour, constituting not a system of working machines as they are now understood, but so to speak an organic system on which flow natural processes, converted into industrial ones. More and more importance is being attached to artificial processes which have not existed in nature in the thousands of millions of years of its existence.

As science progresses and is transformed into a direct productive force, the place and role of man in production changes. While now and in forthcoming decades man as a producer of material wealth is still a direct participant in the productive process, so that success in production still depends on the quantity of labour he expends, as science comes to be applied more and more in the future efficiency in production will be governed not by the direct expenditure of human labour but by the general level of science, and the degree of its technological application. This will be a great triumph of human reason.

The discovery of the secrets of nature and the submission of nature to the will of man, revolutionising its influence on production, have their origins in theoretical research.

It is important that work for the future should not be divorced from the real vital needs of our time. Ideas from mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and other fundamental sciences should flow directly into production. Science and practical life should operate jointly as a single process.

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A guarantee for a fruitful development of science is to be found in permanent co-ordination with the creative endeavours of men. The new paths for progress must be lit by science, which should respond to any requirements of everyday life. The very development of science is closely connected with technology and life. In the same manner as the development of technology is based on science, the development of advanced science is based on technology. Modern space-ships which have been created by the genius and persistent labour of men have overcome the force of terrestrial gravity and penetrated into the silent depths of inter-stellar space, and have provided unforeseen opportunities for the investigating the universe. All this was attained owing to the high level of the most varied branches of science. The construction of accelerators which form the foundation for the most penetrating investigations in modern physics, the physics of elementary high-energy particles, is based on the most up-to-date technology. The means used for research in modern astronomy, chemistry, geology, physics and biology determine the advancement of these sciences and cannot be produced without a highly-developed technology and industry.

Science develops according to the same laws as life itself. It requires a similar constant exchange of ideas and knowledge as an organism requires a constant exchange of substances. The extension of the international collaboration of scientists of different countries and varying specialities, an establishment of new contacts, helps, therefore, to improve mutual understanding between peoples and makes a valuable contribution to the cause of peace.

The word "creation" has now acquired a new meaning. It means the conversion of the world into a flowering garden, of labour into a free, intellectual activity with unlimited possibilities, of man into a being without illness, conquering old age and death, and travelling in outer space. We can see with our own eyes the manner in which this prospect serves as a stimulus for scientific progress. On the hand we can also see a characteristic which is hostile to scientific progress and consists of the destructive use of scientific knowledge in atomic explosions and explosions at great heights which impede space research.

We must render extensive assistance to science in order to make it grow and flourish. The results of scientific work and the creative initiative of scientists must be

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directed to serve the best aims for the good of humanity,
only for the establishment of material wealth and
spiritual values.

We are living in an epoch when the fearless, penetrating
eyes of the scientist peer day in and day out into the
dark, terrible secrets which surround our planet, when
people with precise knowledge crystallise the experience
of the entire world in their laboratories, transforming
it into working hypotheses, into tools for a further search
for truth.

We should surround scientists with an atmosphere of
freedom and independence, provide conditions which lead
to creative work; the work of the scientists must create
in their countries an atmosphere of love for reason, make
people proud of the creative power and beauty of reason.

Scientific progress will achieve its zenith when
scientific workers in all countries work together and
use their discoveries for peaceful purposes. Only in
such a case will peace be assured and civilisation be
effectively protected from destruction.

All peace-loving people engaged in creative work
can and must use their united will and reason to convert
everywhere these ideas into reality.

Tenth Pugwash Conference, London, 1962.

X Comment 2

Non-Alignment and Pre-Conditions of
Disarmament

J. W. Burton

At the 1961 Stowe COSWA meeting some attention was given to pre-conditions of disarmament. For instance in the paper by Harrison Brown and Amron Katz the following paragraph appears:

> "One of the major barriers to disarmament today is our lack of clear mutual understanding of how a world without arms will function. Unless we achieve substantial understanding in this area, really major disarmament agreements will be extremely difficult to consummate."

Nevertheless, the rapporteur of the Working Group V, discussed this subject, "had to indicate that we had reached no agreed conclusions". The reason given was a fundamental difference in approach by East and West:

> "In the one case it was emphasized that conflict was part of nature and inevitable so long as the West remained organized politically as it was: conflict was the natural result of historic forces and influences and did not arise, in general, from particular acts or decisions alone. On the other hand, most members of the Western nations believed that it was the acts of governments which created conflicts and that it should be possible to ensure that governments acted rationally and avoided conflicts which are unnecessary. This difference proved insoluble."

These arguments reveal loose thinking to which attention should be drawn, for this topic is quite fundamental to disarmament itself.

The argument of Soviet scientists (as reported) misses the point. The Soviet Government seeks disarmament - now, in a world system of mixed states. To argue that the only way of living peacefully together, the only pre-condition for disarmament, is for all states to be socialist, is a non-sequitur. On the basis of this reasoning, the Western nations would be required to admit defeat and change their political systems before they could agree to disarm!

London, 1962

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X Comment 2.

Equally, on the Western side there is very loose thinking. How possible can we "ensure that governments acted rationally"? And doesn't this phrase itself beg the main question? What is rational behaviour in present circumstances? Both sides of the power conflict believe they are acting rationally.

What the Soviet and the Western members of Stowe are saying is virtually the same and is equally trite: governments must act so as to avoid conflict. Neither group gave any indication what policies a "socialist" or a "rational" government should in fact follow to avoid conflict. The fact is that political scientists have so far failed to give any guide to responsible behaviour in the area of international relations. It would have been as relevant to have said that the problem of unemployment and poverty in England in the 18th century would be resolved if the governments of the day had acted rationally. Whipping beggars was rational behaviour to them; Keynes came somewhat later. The politicians responsible for foreign-policy decisions want to know in some detail just what policies should be followed, and what policies should be avoided.

There are certain principles of behaviour on which there is common agreement. Unfortunately the agreement is theoretical: in practice the leaders of the great powers pay no more than lip service to them. The first is respect for sovereign integrity. This means sovereign independence, sovereign equality. To the great powers it means sovereign exercise of opportunity: if they have, through their greatness, opportunities to interfere with smaller nations, then they seem to think they have a right to take advantage of them.

If sovereign equality were respected by the great powers they would make no attempts either to undermine or to maintain governments in other countries. Each small sovereign state would have a government legitimate only in so far as it had popular support and the means to maintain itself. The international structure would be a structure of equal sovereign states, and any changes in international relations would arise only from internal changes within these states. No foreign bases, no forms

London, 1962

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X Comment 2

of discrimination, in short, no interference by any power
would take place in the affairs of another even though
sought by it. In commercial and all international dealings,
the smaller states would have an obligation to resist
pressures, and the greater powers an obligation not to
try to impose them.

This might be "socialist" behaviour and also "rational"
behaviour. If the principle of sovereignty were accepted, the
differences between Soviet and Western scientists might not
be insoluble. Agreed codes of behaviour could be spelt out in
great detail, and pre-conditions of disarmament could be
determined in these terms in a mixed international society
just as easily as in a socialist or a capitalist one. If either
socialist or capitalist could not agree to such a code for some
reason arising out of the internal nature of their system, then,
and only then, would it be appropriate to comment that there
had to be a change in their system before there could be world
peace. Maybe it is by means of codifying international behaviour
that the changes which both sides wish the other to make in their
foreign policies can best come about.

## NON-ALIGNMENT

As I understand their position, this is the stand taken
by the non-aligned powers. They devalue power and power
politics. They are not neutral: they assert the right and duty
not to be indifferent to the issues which divide East and West.
They argue that in respect of colonialism or any other relation-
ship, there are no rights possessed by any one power to dom-
inate another. All sovereign states are equal in status. If
conventions, codes, techniques could be evolved whereby all
states could be sovereign and independent in this sense, then
socialist and capitalist could live together in peaceful co-
existence. Furthermore, there would be co-existing many
states which were neither socialist nor capitalist.

Is the pre-condition to disarmament for which we are
looking an extension of non-alignment?

Disarmament is being sought, not to prevent an attack
by the Soviet or by the U.S.A. on the other: the threat of
war comes from an attack by one side on territories far re-
moved from Russia and America. It is the rest of the world

London, 1962

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X Comment 2

in which and for which the power competition is taking
place. If non-alignment policies can create conditions of
security for the nations following them, and by this means
remove fears of aggression by one major against another,
then in their own interests, the great powers should en-
courage it, and look to it as the means of introducing pre-
conditions necessary for disarmament.

Pre-conditions of disarmament might be produced,
therefore, by:

a. acceptance of non-alignment by the great powers
as a separate status which they should try to
maintain and to extend;

b. a codification or clarification of non-alignment
rights and obligations attaching to both aligned
and non-aligned nations;

c. consideration of techniques relating to economic
and technical aid, and all relations with under-
developed countries, which would help them to
maintain their sovereign independence; and

d. admission without discrimination of underdeveloped
countries, and especially non-aligned countries,
to the economic blocs of the great powers.

............

London 1962

Comments X 3

# Tenth Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs
## "The Role of Biology in General Education" (Abstract)

H.J. Muller

(Paper presented at the O.E.C.D. Seminar on the Reform of Biology Teaching held at La Tour de Peilz, 4th-14th September, 1962)

If the scientific revolution continues to afford men ever greater capabilities, as individuals and as groups, of achieving their objectives - objectives conceived in terms of one or a few generations - without leading them to revise these objectives in the light of what the remoter effects of their achievements would be on life in general and on humanity in particular, then the human species will rapidly, if measured in the scale of evolutionary time, follow the "primrose path" to extinction. Such would be the consequence of the use of scientific technologies in the pursuit of aims conceived in disregard of the deeper principles governing the long-term changes in living things.

This debacle may be avoided only if the public at large can be actuated by a vivid awareness of the fundamentals regarding the nature of living things, the ways they evolve and are interrelated, and how man fits into the picture. For this purpose the teaching of biology must be extended to all teen-agers, and the subject must be presented to them in a thoroughly modernized and vitalized form. The view they attain must be a highly integrated one, providing them with a clear perspective on the processes of multiplication, variation, inheritance, and selection whereby organisms are shaped and reshaped, inter-adapt their parts to one another and themselves to their animate and inanimate surroundings, and succeed or fail. Given this awareness, the way is opened not merely to the avoidance of disaster but to the winning of ever more substantial gains in the ascent of man to higher modes of living.

It is generally recognized that democracy without popular education cannot long maintain intelligent public policies, whereas autocracy can never be trusted to continue serving the public interest. Thus, despite the enormously increased complexities of modern knowledge, the public must be enlightened in regard to the basic principles underlying their lives. They must be educated to the point where, even though not conversant with the details of the technicalities concerned, they can nevertheless take part in a responsible way in the framing of general policies. Biology, in its modern form, plays a central and crucial role at diverse points in such decisions. Since it is in this field especially that the knowledge of most men in political life falls short, popular

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education is here most important.

However, it is not only because of its direct use in the guidance of general affairs and in the conduct of their personal lives that modern biology should be a prerogative of the people in general. It is also because its findings constitute by far the most inspiring panorama of progress that man has ever attained to and, furthermore, afford him woodland paths, as it were, for intimate and entrancing adventures in nature. These views, both the vistas and the vignettes, are as much a right of the common man, his birthright bestowed on him by his forebears and fellows, as are the appreciation of music and other arts. In addition, many of the stories of how these findings regarding life have been made constitute delightful and heuristic sagas that surpass the myths of old. Truly then we must enable the people in general to enjoy and profit by this luminous spectacle that we call biology.

In attaining these insights, the student should be encouraged to make his way as much as feasible through self-activity with mind, hand, and eye. He should come to regard the principles gained as products of objective but very human and fallible seeking, probing, imagining, reckoning, doubting, criticizing, and rechecking, from diverse angles, rather than as authoritarian disclosures. He should become aware that this mode of procedure has made the conclusions, first reached more or less tentatively, ever more reliable rather than less so. But he should simultaneously realize that the search is open ended, with an indefinitely long road yet before it, and that there will be future lessons and applications for man, now unforeseeable. Thus the biological enterprise will win public interest and support, and will help to unite all humanity on common goals, even as today the endeavor to probe outer space and other worlds is promising to do so in a more limited way.

The effort to teach everyone a modern biology, closely integrated by the understanding it gives of evolutionary processes that take place in a genetic material of universal chemical nature and mode of working, should not founder on the difficulty of deciding to what level of physicochemical background and of intellectual ability the course or courses should be geared. They can and should in one form or another reach everyone and bring home to all the essential principles of life's long-term and short-term operations. Of course it is far preferable, wherever feasible, to be able to assume for this purpose a working knowledge of basic chemical structures and reactions, electron and proton transfer, and bonds of different types. For, after all, biology is a super-chemistry, the peculiarities of whose principles grow out of its special type of construction. And as biology proceeds it will grow ever more chemical.

[lc]

Muller

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Comments X:3

But to reach the multitudes with the main principles of modern biology these principles should be taught where possible be taught before the last year of secondary school, that is, between the ages of fourteen and seventeen years. And for those who at that time have not yet had a basis in chemistry, and even for those who failed in the attempt to get it, the modern biology course must lay its own minimal basis in this field. It will then be found that this basis need not be excessive in order to afford the student a vantage point from which he can gain a rational over-all view of the mode of origin, evolution, and daily operation of living things that will be of deep inherent value, as well as of great use in relation to our modern problems. In other words, different courses must today be made available, to meet different backgrounds, capabilities, and educational circumstances.

Doubtless, as teaching improves, much of the material that today appears to be very advanced for secondary schools can be profitably presented still earlier, thus allowing the student, especially if bright, to go still further in secondary school, college, university, and research. However, in the grade school, whatever else he may be taught, the child should be introduced to living nature in such a way as to give him an abiding love of it and curiosity about it for its own sake in many of its varied forms and aspects. By easy transitions this interest can be made more analytical and integrational.

Biology has a comprehensive mission of presenting one all-inclusive view, from molecule to man, and unraveling enough of the welter lying between to show the underlying principles of order in it all. The teaching of it must de-emphasize polysyllabic terminology, painstaking drawing contests, and the odor of formaldehyde, and let in the breath of life itself. Distilling from life the essential principles of which it is constituted, our modern biology must not hesitate to draw their lessons for mankind, not just in regard to disease, hygiene, prophylaxis, mental health, conservation, population, etc., but even in regard to the brotherhood of man, human values, and the means of hindering genetic deterioration and promoting genetic betterment in our species. For it is to all humanity that we have the responsibility of primarily addressing ourselves, and in the end we will all as one species fall, stand, or rise together.

London 1962

Comments X.4.

The Prospects for Disarmament

A.V. Buzzard

Mr. Feld's able review of the efforts so far made to achieve "disarmament" indicates that these efforts have - as yet - been far from scientific.

In particular it seems that there has been a tendency to pursue "disarmament" for its own sake, without analysing sufficiently clearly what the aim of "disarmament" is, whether "disarmament" could in fact achieve that aim in the near future, and what, if any, other objectives ought to be pursued meanwhile.

Aims and Objectives

The overall aims of disarmament are surely:-

Primarily, to provide international security against the two threats, aggression and war - particularly nuclear war;

Secondarily, to save all possible money for better use on behalf of mankind - particularly for the under-developed and undernourished peoples of the world.

Clearly these overall aims will only be fully assured by general and comprehensive disarmament, together with a World Police Force, controlled by a World Authority, to enforce law and order, when national arms (other than those needed for internal security) are removed.

It is surely important to face the fact that this general and comprehensive disarmament and World Police Force and Authority must be many years away. This, not only because of the immense problems involved in getting world-wide agreements on disarmament and inspection, but also because of the great changes and time needed for the development of the present pitifully weak U.N. Peace Force and U.N. organization behind it, into an effective World Police Force and World Authority.

Although, therefore, general and comprehensive disarmament and a World Police Force and Authority must remain the ultimate objective, and we must start working towards these, we need, surely, also to agree upon some interim and more attainable objective meanwhile.

This interim objective should, surely, be to establish and maintain as stable a balance of power between the Eastern and Western blocs as possible, at the lowest level of arms consistent with stability.

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This seems to be the most appropriate interim objective to take in the light of the primary and secondary overall aims defined above.

If this could be agreed, we should then study and analyse:-

(a) The balance of power situation between the Eastern and Western Blocs;

(b) The unstable features of this balance of power situation,

and
(c) The extent to which the level of arms could be reduced without losing stability.

## East/West Balance of Power

The balance of power required for international security is one in which neither side has any important military advantage over the other. This is, of course, a highly technical military matter, depending on a number of factors besides the mere relative strength and effectiveness of forces and weapons. The most important of these other factors is that of geography, which affects each side in very different ways.

Taking all factors into consideration it would, however, probably not be difficult to agree that at the moment the West is likely to enjoy a considerable superiority over the East at the strategic nuclear level of arms. This, not only because the West started developing such techniques before the East, but also because the West enjoys a considerable geographical advantage over the East at the strategic nuclear level, due to many Western (including American) bases being about three times as close to Russian and Chinese vitais as Russian or Chinese bases* can be to American vitais.

On the other hand, it is probably not difficult to agree that at the conventional level of arms the East at present enjoys a considerable advantage over the West - again largely due to geography. This because Russia and China are able to redeploy, reinforce and supply their ground forces on relatively short, internal, land lines of communication, where the West has to operate on relatively long, external, sea and air lines of communication.

The balance of power situation at the moment is therefore an asymmetric one, where Eastern superiority at the conventional level is balanced by Western superiority at the nuclear level.

## Stability of East/West Balance of Power

This asymmetric situation is, surely, a major source of instability.

* with the exception of weapons mounted in submarines.

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nuclear superiority over the other.

The same applies to a lesser extent to the more offensive and
decisive conventional arms.

Secondly, the level of arms needed by both sides for a stable balance of power, giving security to both sides, is by no means only a relative matter. It is to a considerable extent on absolute matter too. For example, at the nuclear level a certain absolute minimum number of weapons is needed by both sides to ensure that the other is effectively deterred.

Similarly, at the conventional level both sides will want to be able to deploy a certain minimum strength in any area which the other might threaten, in order to deter or halt a local aggression. This minimum strength, though partly dependent on the relative strength of the other side, will also partly depend on such absolute factors as the width of front, and the type of terrain etc. involved.

Until, therefore, we have developed a World Police Force and World Authority, we must, it seems, reluctantly admit that, if we are to achieve our primary aim of maintaining international security, the level of balanced arms - both nuclear and conventional - cannot be very low. Clearly there will be optimum levels for the balance of power, below which the stability of international security would be endangered.

It may not be possible to reduce arms even to these optimum levels, without losing stability, so long as the balance of power situation remains as asymmetric as it is today. For with the East so inferior at the strategic nuclear level, any major equivalent reductions in nuclear arms by both sides (or indeed even equivalent percentage reductions) might leave the East too weak for stability either relatively, or absolutely, or both.

Similarly, with the West so inferior at the conventional level, any major equivalent reductions in conventional arms by both sides (or indeed even equivalent percentage reductions) might leave the West too weak for stability either relatively, or absolutely, or both.

Thus the present asymmetric balance of power situation is not only a dangerous source of instability, but may also be a serious obstacle to arms reduction. At least it is clear that arms reduction would be easier to agree from a more symmetrical balance of power situation.

From all points of view, therefore, it seems that one of the first objectives of any disarmament negotiations should be to try to agree that all possible measures should be sought to improve the symmetry of the East/West balance of power situation.

-5-

## Possible Plan for Improving the Symmetry of the East/West Balance of Power

Some such plan as the following might be considered.

The West to reduce its _strategic_ nuclear capability unilaterally, in return for the East reducing its _conventional_ capability unilaterally.

_Reduction of the West's strategic nuclear capability_ could be undertaken in either or both of two ways:-

(a) Destroying a certain number of strategic means of delivery, with the East allowed to witness such destruction:

and/or

(b) The moving back of a certain number of the West's strategic nuclear means of delivery, with suitable observers to confirm that they have been withdrawn and are kept withdrawn.

Which of these measures, or what mixture of them is adopted, is a matter for more detailed study and negotiation.

There would, of course, be a risk that the West might later try to replace the destroyed weapons by new ones, or attempt to move others forward to replace those which have been withdrawn. But neither of these efforts would be easy for the West to conceal.

_Reduction of the East's conventional capability_ could be undertaken in either or both of two ways:-

(a) Destroying a certain quantity or offensive conventional equipment, such as tanks, with the West allowed to witness such destruction:

and/or

(b) Limiting the number of offensive conventional weapons, such as tank formations, in forward regions - particularly Central Europe - with suitable observers to ensure that such limitations are not exceeded.

Which of these measures, or what mixture of them, is adopted, is again, a matter for detailed study and negotiation. But it seems that in this case (b) should form at least the major part of the plan for two reasons.

First, the more overall reduction of Eastern conventional forces under (a) would make only a marginal difference to the conventional

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threat which the East could present in any particular locality, since such threats are, in general, limited more by geography than by overall Eastern conventional strength.

Secondly, some regional (as opposed to overall) balancing of conventional forces round the East/West frontiers, particularly in Central Europe and other sensitive areas, seems especially desirable at an early stage, because this is clearly where fighting is most likely to start and most likely to spread unintentionally to the nuclear war which - above all-- must be prevented.

There would, again, be a risk in that the East might later try to replace the destroyed arms by new ones, or attempt to reinforce areas in which arms had been limited. But only the first of these would be easy to conceal. This constitutes a third reason for relying mainly on (b), i.e. regional limitation of conventional arms.

It seems therefore that the main - indeed perhaps the only practicable way of improving the symmetry of the present balance of power is for the East to limit its conventional arms in forward regional areas, so as roughly to balance Western capability in those areas; and for the West to reduce its strategic nuclear arms and/or withdraw them, so as roughly to balance Eastern strategic nuclear capability. And the level of these balanced capabilities should be as near as possible to the optimum for stability, taking absolute, as well as relative, factors into consideration.

It may, of course, be objected that, having introduced these Western nuclear reductions and Eastern conventional limitations, the East might later increase its strategic nuclear arms, or the West later reinforce its conventional arms in its forward areas, thus making the balance of power asymmetric again, but in the opposite direction.

At the nuclear level this could only be guarded against by the East accepting an overall limitation of its strategic nuclear means of delivery, with some overall inspection, such as the Sohn plan. Since this would involve a much more complicated and ambitious agreement, it seems reasonable to omit it in the first instance, particularly since the risk to the West would be largely balanced by the risk to the East in not being able to confirm by inspection any replacement of the West's destroyed or withdrawn strategic weapons.

At the conventional level the danger could be guarded against by the West accepting a limitation on its conventional arms in its forward regional areas, too, on a comparable basis to the East, and with similar local inspection. This would seem to be both

-7-

more reasonable and necessary, since in this case the West is not
being asked to risk any major concealed reinforcements of the
East's forward areas, because permanent inspection of these areas
is envisaged.

Conclusion
---

Thus this brief, but comparatively scientific, analysis of
the disarmament situation seems to indicate that the most logical
first step in "disarmament" would be for the West to reduce and/or
withdraw some of its strategic nuclear weapons, in exchange for
the East accepting regional limitations of conventional arms by
both sides in forward areas such as Central Europe.

Rendering the balance of power more symmetrical in this way
would seem to be the most logical, practical and effective way of
both improving stability and preparing the ground for more radical
reductions in the level of arms. Moreover this would seem the
most effective and practical way of ensuring that total nuclear
war is avoided, while we are endeavouring to reach agreement on
more ambitious disarmament plans.

There are, of course, other - less fundamental - measures on
behalf of stability which should also be pursued simultaneously.
A mongst these are test cessation, demilitarisation of space,
stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons, establishing East/west
communications designed to avoid misunderstandings, and categorising
weapons and their possible uses.

Finally, we must not forget to press on with the gradual
strengthening of the U.N. Peace Force and the development of the
U.N. Organisation and international law needed to support and operate
that Force. For, if our aim is international security, our ultimate
objective of general and comprehensive disarmament will only
become possible when these have been developed into the World Police
Force and Authority needed to release us from our interim objective
of a stable balance of power between East and West at the lowest level
consistent with stability.

London 1962

X Comment 6

# Tenth Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs
## Possible Extension of the Nuclear Club

A. Salam and I. Supek

The potentiality for manufacture of atomic weapons is now widespread among a large number of countries. The accompanying table gives an idea of the research and power reactors now in existence (or shortly to be commissioned) all of which can easily be used for the production of weapons-grade Plutonium immediately. Under internal national stresses anyone of the countries in the accompanying table can embark on a nuclear project. This in turn can result in a sharp increase in local tensions.

Roughly a one MW reactor produces 1 gm. of Plutonium per day. For a Hiroshima Bomb 5-10 Kgms. of Plutonium are needed. A 40 MW reactor should, therefore, ideally be able to produce enough plutonium in one year for one Hiroshima Bomb, working flat out.

The cost of a 40 MW research reactor and the Chemical processing facilities is of the order of £8 million while the cost of Bomb assembly etc. may be comparable. The annual operating costs may be of the order of £5 million. These are completely tentative estimates but are being included to stress the fact that the manufacture of "Crude" Hiroshima bombs is not beyond the means of medium powers. In most of these countries the necessary technical manpower is undoubtedly available.

We would like a discussion and a consideration of this situation at the Pugwash Conference as it would pose a serious problem to world peace in the very near future.

London, 1962

Comment X:7

## Comments on Paper X6:2 by M. Kaplan on

## "Health Factors in Developing Countries

## Affecting International Tensions"

Dr. J. Yanney-Wilson

### 1. Bi-lateral aid the policy of non-alignment.

On the question of bi-lateral assistance programmes of developing countries, Kaplan states that "there is unfortunately much evidence that the major powers, in the guise of good Samaritans, sometimes compromise long-range development of these countries." This is a very serious situation for a developing country. In fact it is because of such dangers that it is often stated in certain quarters that all aid to developing countries should be channelled through the United Nations. But a truly independent and sovereign country, however new, should be able to avoid this. To be able to do this the country should be strictly non-aligned in its foreign policy. It may be argued that the newly developing country may not even have its own experts to evaluate the type of advise or aid proposed by the benevolent country. While the possession of trained nationals is vitally necessary, a new country which is prepared to exercise its right to take the final decision in such matters could discuss the suggested programmes with experts from other more advanced but non-aligned nations. It is for the developing nations to determine their own priorities in technological development, and they should seek advise from uncommitted "good samaritans". They should also be aware that an ill-timed or unnecessary free aid, however attractive, is a potential liability rather than an asset.

It is for this Conference to recommend the policy of non-alignment to all newly emergent countries who want to make the best use of the fruits of science for their well-ordered development.

### 2. Political boundaries & eradication of Malaria & other diseases.

One serious obstacle to the international eradication of malaria and similar diseases is the problems of political frontiers between unfriendly neighbouring countries. This can in fact render the whole project completely impracticable.

London, 1962

- 2 -

Comment X: 7

3. Effect of withdrawal of colonial governments on research institutes.

It is true that the withdrawal of colonial govern-
ments and the lack of trained personnel in the emerging
nations has resulted in a rapid deterioration of the research
institutions which were set up by former colonial powers
in parts of Africa to deal with tropical diseases and
agricultural problems. But there are other factors which
are responsible for such situations. The new national
governments find that in the reconstruction of their coun-
try, some of these institutes should be made to serve the
purposes which give maximum benefit of their research effort
to the nation, and if any benefit is to be derived by any
other country, it is for the national government to authorise
it. Thus, for example, while a research institute under the
former colonial power might have done useful service by
testing and advising on the suitability of imported materials
to local weather conditions, the national government would
prefer that this institute embarks on research for improving
and manufacturing from local materials. Such a change in the
nature of research for example, quite apart from other factors,
could call for differently trained personnel, so that in some
cases the composition of the staff would need to be altered.

4. Difficulty in concentrating on research into only one or two among a variety of basic foodstuffs.

One problem in respect of improvement in the basic
foodstuffs is that in the tropical world in which most of
the developing countries are found, there are far more items
of say carbohydrate foodstuffs than in the temperate world.
For example, in parts of Africa, there are different types
of potatoes apart from the yams and the coco-yams, cassava,
maize, millet, guinea corn, and rice. The result is that
unlike the temperate regions where individuals have practically
no choice between potatoes and wheat here people generally
have strong preferences. Because of this, a heavy expenditure
on say research on yams would not justify itself in terms
of the proportion of people who normally feed on yams. This
is particularly relevant to Africa where the population itself
is rather low. For this reason, there is the greatest need
for collaboration among neighbouring governments in research
into basic foodstuffs so as to avoid unnecessary duplication.

In the developing nations, the foodstuffs are yet to
be greatly improved in yield, quality and special features.
The use of irradiation and radio-isotopes combined with
plant breeding techniques have to be much employed in these
countries.

London, 1962

Comment X: 7

5. Need to make full use of world's accumulated scientific data.

Research in developing countries will have to be strictly directed to produce maximum result. Apart from the Universities in these countries where basic research may be carried out, all research outside the Universities should be of applied nature aimed specifically at solving one local problem or another. In this way the new countries would make full use of the enormous body of scientific discoveries of the advanced nations in solving their own problems.

6. Population growth and birth control.

In Ghana and much of Africa where population is still considered low, birth-control is a personal and not a national problem. In fact the national policy seems to encourage population growth. But already high education, unmatched by high economic levels, is having the effect of lowering birth rates at the individual level.