I 



Generic Policy Issues Associated 

 with Science and Technology 



A. Introduction 



The support of scientific and technological progress has 

 become a necessity for modem industrial societies. Al- 

 though the proposition is sometimes disputed, most 

 thoughtful analysts have concluded that world society has 

 reached a stage where continuing and even accelerating 

 progress in science and technology are necessary condi- 

 tions for avoiding social, economic, and environmental 

 regression in the future. This does not mean that science 

 and technology are sufficient conditions. They must be 

 used in a wise and foresighted manner, and that depends 

 more on political and social arrangements than on science 

 and technology themselves. However, the premise of this 

 Five-Year Outlook is that scientific and technological 

 progress and its wise exploitation are indispensable ad- 

 juncts to modem society. 



Any assessment of the outlook for science and technol- 

 ogy must recognize the interdependence of science, tech- 

 nology, and society. Science is driven largely by its own 

 internal imperatives, as dictated by the new opportunities 

 and advances within the conceptual structure of the disci- 

 plines. But to an important and increasing extent, science 

 is also driven by society's search for solutions to some of 

 its greatest problems and needs. Technology is the pri- 



mary link between the intemal and external determinants 

 of scientific progress. Technological development incor- 

 porates knowledge derived from science into usable proc- 

 esses and products and, increasingly, scientific and tech- 

 nological factors form a base for the development of 

 public policies for enhancing the environment and the 

 quality of life. Technological progress also stimulates 

 further scientific advances both by defining new problems 

 that can be illuminated by scientific research and by 

 providing the requisite instruments and tools. As in the 

 past, the state of the U.S. science and technology enter- 

 prise during the next 5 years will be conditioned by trends 

 in both the intemal and the external determinants of tech- 

 nical progress and by the relationships between them. 



Several extemal factors help detemiine the pace and 

 direction of advances in science and technology. The first. 

 most direct and most easily quantifiable, are the input 

 factors — primarily the human and financial resources 

 available to the science and technology enterprise. Trends 

 associated with those resources and their implications are 

 treated in the next section of this chapter — Section B — 

 under the heading, "Maintenance and Development of the 

 Science and Technology Base." 



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