Science, Technology, and Society 1 



By L. R. Hafstad 



Vice President in charge of Research Staff 



General Motors Corporation 



Detroit, Mich. 



"When one reads the history of science one has the exhilarating 

 feeling of climbing a big mountain; The history of art gives one 

 an altogether different impression. It is not at all like the ascension 

 of a mountain, always upward whichever the direction of one's path ; 

 it is rather like a leisurely journey across hilly country. One climbs 

 up to the top of this hill or that, then down into another valley, per- 

 haps a deeper one than any other, then up the next hill, and so forth 

 and so on. An erratic succession of climaxes and anticlimaxes the 

 amplitude of which cannot be predicted." (I) 2 



Many will recognize the above as a quotation from George Sarton, 

 the eminent historian of science, and will concur in the idea that in 

 working in science one has indeed the "exhilarating feeling of climb- 

 ing a mountain." As working scientists, and fully recognizing that 

 we may be naive, we still cling stubbornly to the faith that we are 

 somehow contributing to human comfort and human happiness, and 

 that however stumbling our progress, this progress is upward. 



The great acceleration of both science and technology on a world- 

 wide scale since the war seems to confirm this impression. So does the 

 great increase in suggestions in books, and in articles in journals and 

 periodicals, to the effect that we are on the threshold of a second in- 

 dustrial revolution. Many predictions are extant as to the high 

 standard of living which will be obtainable in a matter of a few 

 decades. The problem of the shortage of raw materials has been em- 

 phasized by various writers, but technological ingenuity in the de- 



1 Presented before Sigma Xi and Scientific Research Society of America at 

 the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Sci- 

 ence, December 27, 1956. Reprinted by permission from American Scientist, 

 vol. 45, No. 2, March 1957. 



* Numbers in parentheses refer to notes at end of text. 



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