THE PARADOX OF CHOICE 



times, as foreshadowed by Newtonian mechanics and intro- 

 duced by the electromagnetic theory of Maxwell, a particularly 

 elegant technique for formulating ignorance. This is generally 

 called physical theory. It was first mostly mathematical physics, 

 currently much theoretical physics, and probably is soon to 

 include theoretical chemistry and theoretical biophysics. 



Physical theory shows a precise, self-consistent relationship 

 among so-called facts and also among expected observations in 

 nature. Its ability to "handle" the endless facts of nature was 

 dramatized by the quantum theorist Hartree. He pointed out 

 that a book having ioo tabulations for the coordinates of each 

 electron in an atom like argon, to give the exact wave function 

 of A, would use up, in a single copy, all the matter in the 

 universe. Sir J. J. Thomson succinctly made the point we are 

 after here, when in referring to theoretical physics, he said: 

 "A theory is a policy rather than a creed." It appears that if the 

 extraordinary power and increasing span of physical theory 

 and the accompanying philosophy of ignorance are allowed 

 to play a large part in shaping our human economic and 

 national scientific objectives, the paradox between the way of 

 the individual scientist and the organization of science will be 

 resolved. (That in fact such a resolution would extend much 

 beyond great benefits to purely scientific results I have tried to 

 show in a talk at the opening of the Cleveland Engineering 

 and Scientific Center on "Conversion of Science to Engineer- 



o 



Curiously enough, defects of much modern scientific 

 organization which are often caused by narrowness and em- 

 piricism in the treatment of subject matter, are analogous to 

 defects often attributed to our economic and political affairs. 

 Henry A. Kissinger, in a recent article in the Reporter, has 

 expressed this situation by saying: 



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