to telling you about the very latest, there must have been months, or even 

 years, of planning and changing and getting ready. 



Perhaps the chief obstacle to making fuller use of scientific discoveries 

 and scientific ways is the attitude of the general public, which has not been 

 educated to understand science as something that concerns everybody. Edu- 

 cation has meant for most people, until recently, learning what's what and 

 blocking the road to everything different — which includes everything new. 

 The great obstacle is thus in ourselves. Most of us are willing enough to 

 replace our old clothing or furniture with something more fashionable. But 

 we are not so ready to replace old habits or old beliefs — or old feelings. 

 Particularly are we afraid of anything that threatens our comfort or security. 

 Scientific discoveries, scientific theories and new inventions come into con- 

 flict with our customary thinking, our established advantages or special 

 privileges. 



The Cost of Improvement At any given moment we may be able to 

 figure out that a particular change would be an improvement — insulating 

 the roof, for example, or using some new plastic in place of wood. An elec- 

 tric refrigerator is an improvement on the icebox. In a particular family the 

 details can be worked out — and now you have your refrigerator. But what 

 about the iceman? How about the man who cut and stored ice from the 

 lakes during the winter ? How about those good icehouses remaining idle or 

 cracking up ? How about the man who had been trucking sawdust to the 

 icehouses or ice to the railway station ? Those people are all very far away, 

 and we do not have to think about them. Besides, we cannot be responsible 

 for everybody. 



Every change that is brought about by our scientific advances has far- 

 reaching consequences — for better very often, but also for worse. The re- 

 frigerator and the internal-combustion engine and methods for fixing 

 atmospheric nitrogen were not worked out by biologists, but they all have 

 a direct bearing on our using biological knowledge. That is, we can apply 

 our knowledge of plant needs to raising crops by using the chemist and the 

 electrician to supply nitrogen for soil that lacks it. We can use tractors to 

 ease our working of the soil. Our trucks can redistribute materials that are 

 excessive in one area and deficient in another. Improved transportation en- 

 ables us to bring our soil products to cities far from the cultivated lands. 

 And our refrigerators enable us to keep food from spoiling for a long period. 



On an average, we are making great advances. But we are becoming 

 more and more concerned with what happens to particular men and women 

 and to their children as a result of our advances. It is, of course, not the 

 "improvements" that make trouble, but the dislocations or disarrangements 

 without which we seem unable to put the improvements into effect. It has 

 been nobody's business what happens to the iceman, or to Chile's nitrate- 



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