1602 



pacts of further technological advances. The rising dangers of drift, 

 drag, and decay threaten everywhere. 



But times of uncertainty and flux are not new in history, and despair 

 has never been an answer to human problems. An important part of 

 the answer to the problems of civilization today lies in better under- 

 standing of the changes being wrought in the world by technology and 

 in efforts to direct these changes. The present study, and the Science, 

 Technology, and American Diplomacy series as a whole, represent 

 an attempt to contribute to such understanding. 



Importance of the Issue 



The influence of technology in human affairs is pervasive and 

 profound. As Vietnam reminds us, technology may not be the decisive 

 force in resolving a given issue in some particular situation, but its 

 cumulative impact on people's lives all over the world is nonetheless 

 powerful, and growing. Its growth is so dynamic, indeed, that some 

 critics would arrest it altogether if they could, professedly to save 

 the world from mind-boggling excesses of human inventiveness. 

 Other more optimistic analysts, noting that for the first time in history 

 it is technically possible — given the will, and effective planning and 

 organization — to eradicate famine, epidemic disease, and other 

 impediments to the physical well-being of the world's peoples, argue 

 for actively controlling and directing technology to make it serve 

 the greatest good of the greatest number. 



Whatever the point of view, technology mil increasingly be a force 

 to reckon with. The responsibihty for reckoning with it, while in part 

 diffused among such extranational instrumentalities as multinational 

 corporations and agencies of the United Nations, is mainly vested in 

 sovereign nations, which may or may not rise to the challenge. Diplo- 

 macy is the instrument in deahngs among sovereign nations. It is 

 therefore important that the association between technology and 

 diplomacy, which in the past has tended to be formal, hmited, and 

 contrived, become increasingly close, continuous, and comfortable. 



Hoiv the Issue Developed 



' This study has for its subject the full range of applications of 

 technology to human affairs. It explores the history of how these 

 applications have proliferated since the beginning of the industrial 

 revolution and in a more intensive way since World War II. 



Technology, as used in the study series, is a comprehensive term 

 "covering a wide variety of scientific and technical activities and 

 products. In its simplest usage, it merely signifies 'tools.' At the other 

 extreme, it conveys the broad meaning of 'how man works.' " ^"^ In 

 the context of planned activity it "signifies the systematic, purposeful 

 application of knowledge to modify an environment toward pre- 

 determined goals." '" 



Foreshadowing the more detailed treatment of the interrelationships 

 of technology and diplomacy 4^2 years later in the last of the 12 studies, 

 Science and Technology in the Department of State: Bringing Technical 

 Content Into Diplomatic Policy and Operations, this early study spoke 

 of "Technology as the Underpinning of Diplomacy": 



'"6 l\)\d., I). (il2. 



"" Huddle,' Th( M(konij I'Tojict. vol. 1. p. »i-'i (footnolc). •'^I'l' :il«i IHiddlc. ScUiia and 'J'lchiiolwjy in llic 

 De part iiK lit of Slate, Introduction, vol. 1!, pp- 132.")-133t. 



