214 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1957 



H. G. Wells pointed out, the first episodes in recorded history involve 

 the quarrels of Sumerian priests. Apparently none of the accomplish- 

 ments of these groups was sufficient to break the monotonous cyclical 

 rise and fall of the same kind and level of civilization in merely 

 different locations, such as in China, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Tak- 

 ing simple survival as the lowest level of human happiness and in- 

 tegrating for all mankind, we find a total contribution for the 

 humanities, as given by an extrapolation to the present time, of the 

 first part of the curve of figure 2. The rapid growth of the popu- 

 lation curve after the seventeenth century is commonly attributed to 

 the development of science and technology, so the relative contribu- 

 tion of these disciplines to humanity as a whole can be taken as 

 roughly three to one over that of what used to be called the humani- 

 ties. Considering the relative contribution of these two kinds of 

 activities to the good of mankind, one wonders whether perhaps the 

 names should not be interchanged! 



Since our society has chosen for itself a kind of civilization which 

 is so overwhelmingly dependent on advances in science and tech- 

 nology, it is only prudent to ask how we can expedite our progress in 

 these fields. Here is where the shortage of scientists and engineers 

 comes in. I will not attempt to review but merely cite some of the 

 many excellent and realistic articles on this subject. Significant, in 

 my opinion, are recent articles by Stratton, Kassweiler, Eickover, 

 Bestor, and Beckman (8). 



These articles, by unquestioned authorities in their fields, point out 

 inadequacies in our present educational system in so far as the produc- 

 tion of technical personnel is concerned. I agree heartily, but I wish 

 to make a deeper criticism. Even if an entirely separate educational 

 channel were provided which more than supplied our foreseeable 

 needs for engineers, I contend that the education of the rest of the 

 citizenry should include a basic understanding and appreciation of 

 our technological society, both its strengths and its limitations. Above 

 all, at some point in the education process it should perhaps be 

 brought to the attention of the students (very delicately, to be sure, 

 to avoid psychological trauma) that progress cannot be made without 

 struggle, nor freedom enjoyed without personal responsibility. 



It has long been my contention that those who have done should 

 teach, and accordingly that those who have taken an active part in 

 creating our technological society should be best able to interpret it 

 for others. Unfortunately the very shortage of technical talent exerts 

 great pressures on individuals skilled in these fields to concentrate on 

 technical problems. Scientists and engineers are notoriously inarticu- 

 late, so a suitable education should include a heavy concentration on 

 the arts of communication. This might be acquired in our elementary 



