THE PARADOX OF CHOICE 



scientific researcher in the centuries to come but also the 

 paradox of choice that would confront that worker. The reason 

 that choice seems to be involved is so familiar to scientists and 

 scholars that it hardly needs saying again. It comes from the 

 way man's mind works in his search for new knowledge and 

 understanding. In that search, experience shows that the best 

 scholar does just what he wants to do when and how he wants 

 to do it. He is disciplined, of course, by his own will. However, 

 the man working for practical ends, especially in collaboration 

 with a group of others, must obviously adjust his thinking and 

 acting to the common objectives and to the ways agreed upon 

 to advance the group toward those objectives. 



Industrv and government must first identify their scien- 

 tific missions. These are not necessarily their technical or engi- 

 neering needs for a preconceived end product — a flexible glass 

 or a solid propellant. We shall maintain presently that these 

 missions usually can be identified truly only if there is a theo- 

 retical insight that tells a company what business of science it 

 is in; unless and until a government or industry program has 

 some theoretical science connected with it, it seems doubtful 

 if a satisfactory situation for "relevant" basic research can 

 obtain. 



Finally, several examples will be cited where large new 

 areas appear to be opening up in which the paradox of choice 

 for the basic researcher can be maintained, in both industry and 

 government. 



From this point of view, we might look at resolving the 

 paradox of choice in two principal ways. First, we could try to 

 understand what makes the scholar and scientist want to do 

 what he wants to do. Knowing this, perhaps those who conduct 

 research im grossem would simply make it so that the finest and 

 most creative minds would belong to particular egos. These 

 would above all prefer to follow along certain cooperative, 



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