675 



port for foreign assistance, no matter how strongly supported by 

 theoretical or policy considerations, if the U.S. electorate can identify 

 directly the relationship with the recipient. 



And finally, the problem remains unsolved of how to assess the im- 

 pacts of present and future technology at all these different levels, in 

 relation to the various sets of national and international objectives. 

 The United States is only beginning to appreciate the difficulty of as- 

 sessing technology domestically. The task is recognized as one of trans- 

 cendent difficulty. The power of teclinology to alter the human ' con- 

 dition, so evident in the United States, can be equally potent on the 

 world scene. Effects of technology can be favorable or adverse. Com- 

 binations of technological effects can operate synergistically toward 

 good or bad results. The many nations of the world differ widely in 

 their sophistication, their grasp of these considerations. How far the 

 United States should go in exercising leadership, globally, in the in- 

 ternational transfer of technology, and in the effort to separate good 

 from bad technology, in view of all the other elements of this great 

 catscradle must remain an open question. 



V. The Emerging Policy Issues of International Technology 



Preceding sections of this chapter explored the evolution of tech- 

 nology as the dominant factor of change that has shaped the modern 

 world. Its effects have been shown to be both beneficial and injurious. 

 The point has been made that technology is the most obvious avenue 

 to national strength and international influence. Technology has also 

 been shown to be a potent force, linking the world together by many 

 threads. Technology itself has an evident propensity to "go global." 



The United States, by virtue of tremendous vigor and public ex- 

 penditure for the past two decades, currently enjoys a commanding 

 technological lead among the nations of the world. As Herman Pollack 

 has said : 



Our preeminence in science and technology is now one of the pillars of U.S. 

 strength and image abroad. The attraction generated by this preeminence among 

 the nations of the world, especially those in the process of development, is perhaps 

 one of the lesser understood buit more i)ervasively powerful forces at work in 

 international relationships today.^^ 



He added that "If we are wise and imaginative and vigorous, these 

 forces can be turned to our advantage in support of our foreign policy 

 objectives and our hopes for a stable and peaceful world." 



The emerging question posed by the onrush of technology, and its 

 effect on the relations among the countries of the world, is whether 

 this potent factor of change and national power is to operate in a 

 random way, or whether it is possible, and desirable, to devise a na- 

 tional strategy to guide and direct it, to stimulate imiovation in some 

 directions, and possibly to slow and inhibit innovation in others. 



The Issue of NalMonal Strategy in Technological Innovation 



In a recent article in Science, Professor Robert Gilpin, of the Center 

 of International Studies, Princeton University, identifies three major 



1*0 U.S. Congress. House. Committee on Science and Astronautics. "1970 National Science 

 Foundation Authorization." Hearings before the Subcommittee on Science, Research, and 

 Development of the . . . on H.R. 4283. March 17. 18. 20, 24. 25. 26, 27, 28 ; April 1, 1969. 

 91st Congress, first session. (Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1969), page 488, 



