180 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1941 



by science ; yet it is these forces that shape men's acts. Since it did 

 not meet their human needs, the followers of Socrates and Plato 

 abandoned science, and the study of the truths of nature was for- 

 gotten for a thousand years. 



We have now once more come to fear the unhuman implications 

 and the inhuman abuses of science. Yet science has enriched our 

 lives and has helped us catch a vision of a new and better world. 

 Shall we then again give up science and with it the tools by means 

 of which that better world may be attained ? 



The truth is that we cannot cast away science even if we would. 

 In a time of intense social strife the knowledge of the world that we 

 call science is a source of tremendous strength. Nothing is so clear 

 as that a nation which abandons science must soon become weakened. 

 The world's leadership must go to those who are served by science 

 and technology. That we shall live with science is thus decreed by 

 the immutable laws of evolution. 



THE HUMAN MEANING OF SCIENCE 



For those who Imow science, its inhumanness is a fiction. It serves 

 to satisfy the human hunger for a better understanding of man's place 

 in his world. In this age when men throughout the world are trying 

 to formulate a philosophy by which they can live, it is to science that 

 they are turning with confidence in its truth. But perhaps of great- 

 est importance is the fact that science is making man develop into a 

 social being. 



One of the most striking of biological phenomena is the change of 

 man in a short thousand generations from an individualistic to a 

 social animal. As has been indicated above, this change is due largely 

 to the development of science and technology. If we would assess 

 the cultural significance of science, it is thus important to consider 

 what the more specific directions may be along which this social 

 evolution will proceed. It is clear that we may expect those modifica- 

 tions in our mode of life to survive which give strength to the social 

 group. Among these strengthening factors three may be empha- 

 sized. These are: knowledge, cooperation, and a common objective. 



In science and technology lies our approach to the laws of the 

 world of nature and the application of these laws. Enough has been 

 said regarding the strength that comes through such knowledge. In 

 a highly competitive, warlike world, that society cannot long survive 

 which neglects the truths of science. 



Without cooperation, knowledge cannot be made effective. If men 

 divide into antagonistic groups, it becomes terribly destructive. Ex- 

 perience as well as theory has shown the superior strength of those 

 social groups which work together. The evolutionist thus sees as 

 inevitable the growth of social cooperation. 



