CHAPTER IV 



Cosmology and Technology 



OSMOLOGY and technology me- 

 diate the Hnkages of science with its social milieu. By way of some of 

 the most obvious and direct of these linkages, scientific activity ac- 

 quires a supply of problems, motivation, and logistic support. 



Problems. Out of cosmology develop broad questions about the 

 nature of the world and of man, parts of which have concerned scien- 

 tists in all ages. These are Greek "Why?" questions, considerably re- 

 formulated when they become the concern of science. Much more 

 limited Egyptian "How?" problems are broached by technology— 

 and, more specifically, by its failures and inadequacies. These prob- 

 lems—of immense importance in the historical development of science 

 —are also drastically reformulated as they become the concern of 

 science. They are generalized, set in a much broader context, and 

 most often treated with no immediate regard for technology as such. 

 Practical difficulties in navigation, calendar-construction, and astro- 

 logical forecasting initiate die development of scientific astronomy. 

 A new science of pneumatics takes its departure from an unexpected 

 limit of 34 feet on the capacity of lift pumps; a new science of ther- 

 modynamics, from an unexpected limit on the efficiency attainable 

 with steam engines. Examined by Pasteur, certain problems of the 

 fermentation industry lead to the foundation of a new science of 

 bacteriology; in our own day troublesome "noise" in wireless trans- 

 mission broaches a problem that ends only in the creation of the new 

 science of radio astronomy. 



Motivation. Believing in the possibility of enriching human life 



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