Science and Public Policy: Promises and Constraints 61 



to attempt to discuss the hopes for the next decade, let alone 

 the long-range future. Let me try, however to make a few bold 

 strokes on the canvas. 



Short of some vastly devastating disruption of 

 Science Secure our society, there is no chance that science 

 and science-based technology will be aban- 

 doned in the foreseeable future. Modern civilization would 

 retrogress so swiftly and disastrously that the effects would be 

 obvious to all. Just as mankind has been committed to tool 

 making both to gain material advantage and to achieve esthetic 

 goals, science and its application are a permanent part of our 

 heritage. 



It is also evident that we are now well along in the course 

 of a transition to a state in which society will have all of the 

 energy it needs for whatever ambitions it may have. At this 

 moment we are moving well into the age of uranium, bom 

 during World War II. Fusion power will emerge when gen- 

 uinely needed somewhere in the period ahead of us, in one 

 form or another. At present it is merely being toyed with. It is 

 true that raw materials will present a problem to us indefi- 

 nitely. However, there is no reason to believe that we will not 

 achieve what we want as long as nature provides such vast 

 opportunities for improvisation. 



In brief the planet now belongs to our species and can be 

 used by us as our judgment decides. The spectrum of tools 

 that we have at hand to explore and utilize it are already so 

 vast, at least on the physical side, that few genuine mysteries 

 concerning the physical constitution will be left in another 

 century. In fact the degree of control of our planet which we 

 are developing promises to be so far-reaching that it now is 

 high time that we accept appropriate responsibility for using 

 this control in the manner of a wise and loving gardener. 

 Unless we do, the earth will respond to us by becoming a 

 refuse-strewn desert. 



Somewhat further ahead, it seems evident that we will also 

 take possession of the solar system for whatever purposes may 



