W. O. BAKER 



The deepest cause of the inhumanity of our time is probably 

 the pedantic application of administrative norms. Its symbol may 

 well be the "commissar," the ideal type of bureaucrat, who con- 

 demns thousands without love and without hatred simply in pursu- 

 ance of an abstract duty. 



This is all too reminiscent of Professor Feynman's fear that we 

 shall settle wrongly the affairs of man for ages to come by 

 absolutisms of today. In this same essay, Kissinger says other 

 things in his context about policy-making which are neverthe- 

 less relevant to our central issue of directivity and pattern- 

 making in basic research. He points out: 



The executive's task is conceived as choosing among adminis- 

 trative proposals in the formulation of which he has no part and 

 with the substance of which he is often unfamiliar. ... In our 

 society the policy maker is dependent to an increasing extent on 

 his subordinate's conception of the essential elements of a prob- 

 lem. . . . Pragmatism, at least in its generally accepted forms, 

 produces a tendency to identify a policy issue with the search for 

 empirical data. 



Aren't some of these sharp comments on social organization 

 and leadership pertinent to the conditions under which the 

 basic research scientist may have to live with the paradox of 

 choice? You can decide this, but our present point is that a 

 unifying and predictive theory used in erecting patterns for the 

 conduct of both basic scientific research and directed research 

 will forcefully strengthen features highly desirable to the indi- 

 vidual scientist and scholar. 



Role of Theory in Organizing 

 Applied Science 



The ways in which knowledge of physical theory affect 

 the organization of science in government and industry are 

 curious and subtle. A number of diverse examples will perhaps 



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