228 THE PATH OF SCIENCE 



ponents, just as the production of plankton in the sea is lim- 

 ited by the supply of mineral salts, principally phosphate, in 

 the water. In northern latitudes, the phosphate in the sur- 

 face water is renewed by the change of temperature in the 

 spring and in the fall. As the temperature of the surface 

 water in the spring rises to 28° fahrenheit, it becomes heavier 

 than the colder water and sinks, bringing to the surface a 

 supply of fresh water containing phosphate. This is followed 

 by an outburst of plankton growth limited only by the min- 

 erals available. 



If the autocatalytic production of science is limited by some 

 factor necessary to it, it will accelerate until that factor be- 

 comes exhausted and then settle down to progress at a rate 

 dependent upon the supply of the factor. Up to the present, 

 no such limiting factor for the production of scientific knowl- 

 edge is apparent. 



As the production of new knowledge and of new inventions 

 goes on, the conditions under which we live change, and we 

 have to adjust our lives to meet the changing conditions. 

 Sometimes adjustment is delayed either because the need for 

 it is not realized or because some group having power in the 

 society resists any adjustment. Then, when the adjustment 

 comes, it is violent. Our efforts should be directed, there- 

 fore, so that we can adjust our social conditions continuously 

 as the advance of science makes changes necessary, and so that 

 we recognize that the world today is a changing world and 

 not the relatively static world of the past. 



The realization of the need for adjustment has led many 

 thinkers to the conclusion that the method of adjustment is 

 simple, that all that is required is to plan changes in our social 

 and economic systems to meet the advances of science. It is 

 believed that by planning we can avoid the difficulties and 

 disasters that afflict us in the absence of a central planning 

 organization. This goes so far in some circles that it is even 

 proposed to plan scientific discovery, but it is equally impos- 

 sible to plan in detail the economic future of a society. The 

 reason is the same. We do not know what discoveries are 



