SCIENCE, ART, AND EDUCATION — GIBSON 



175 



must involve a complex network of feedback loops in which ideas 

 are generated and regenerated by their transfer from one field to 

 another. 



On the left side of figure 2 we see a "red" circuit involving pure 

 research — the step between curiosity and understanding. Since un- 

 derstanding leads to keener, more intelligent, and more powerful ob- 

 servations, a positive feedback exists in this circuit and ideas build 

 up rapidly. The growth of centers of research and the tremendous 

 increase in the size and number of scientific journals bears eloquent 

 testimony to the effectiveness of this feedback. On the right, the 

 useful arts are represented by their modern counterpart, development 



Figure 2. — Regenerative circuits in science and technology. 



and engineering, the step leading from the awareness of a need or 

 market to a commodity to supply the need. New products stimulate 

 the desire for newer products and a positive feedback exists in this 

 circuit also — a feedback fortified by competition and profit motives. 

 In the military field, this positive feedback is particularly pronounced. 

 The development of a new weapon of offense demands immediate 

 advances in weapons of defense and vice versa. We can expect the 

 amplitude of the current in this circuit to build up at ever-increasing 

 rates, and the history of technological output of this country in the 

 past 20 years is ample evidence of this buildup. In between the two 

 extremes, represented by the red circuits, lies the region of applied 



