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2. Description of the Problem 



The interaction of science and technology with diplomacy has wide 

 ramifications and many challenges. Diplomacy is concerned with 

 carrying out American foreign policies: The formulation of U.S. 

 political, economic, and military interests and their representation 

 in other nations and in international bodies. Traditionally, diplomacy 

 has been recognized as requiring superior skills and — in the best 

 sense — sophisticated attitudes in interpersonal relations, negotiation, 

 persuasion, forensics, perception, cultural empathy, and adaptability 

 to unfamiliar situations. Science represents generally a somewhat 

 different environment, a cultural activity whose disciplinary walls are 

 not easily passed over. It involves systematic understanding of the 

 fundamentals of man and nature. Technology is still a third area of 

 human activity, with its own special characteristics of materialistic, 

 sometimes trial-and-error, evolution of hardware and systems. The 

 impacts on society of the uses of technology are profound and many- 

 sided. Accordingly, a study of the interactions of science and tech- 

 nology with diplomacy presents three-dimensional problems of large 

 scope, many kinds of specialization, and difficult analysis. 



Domestically, science policy has two distinct aspects : ( 1) The use of 

 science and technology as an instrument to aid in the formulation and 

 execution of public policy (called "science in policy") ; and (2) the 

 formulation and execution of Government policy to aid in the exploi- 

 tation of publicly beneficial science and technology (called "policy 

 in science"). 



Public funds have to satisfy so many different needs that support 

 for basic science encounters budgetary constraints ; the resultant search 

 for criteria to assure an ordering of the priorities of basic science is 

 the subject of considerable and unresolved controversy. Questions 

 remain open as to the priority to be given basic research in fields 

 with a high probability of opening up new opportunities for socially 

 useful technology as against fields in which the scientific interest is 

 high but the results offer no obvious promise of application. There are 

 also unresolved questions as to the comparative economic and social 

 costs and benefits of particular technologies (the supersonic transport, 

 for example) and of competing technologies and their costs and bene- 

 fits. Will a desalinization plant be socially more cost-effective than an 

 urban rapid transit system, or a novel waste-disposal system? Clearly, 

 the formulation of policies to harness science and technology effec- 

 tively to national need presents many difficulties. 



Similar problem areas exist in the field of international science and 

 technology. In the international field, too, there is "science in policy" 

 and "policy in science." Moreover, the impacts of science and tech- 

 nology have made diplomacy itself more difficult by introducing the 

 factor of dynamic and rapid change, often of great magnitude. 



3. Importance of the Problem for the Future 



Nowhere are the changes wrought by science and technology more 

 evident than in international affairs. In his study, "Science, Tech- 

 nology, and American Foreign Policy," Eugene B. Skolnikoff observes 



