Science and Public Policy: Promises and Constraints 63 



I do not believe that any one would deny that the perspectives 

 of the universe we have gained through the studies of galactic 

 astronomy have been useful in giving us a significant indication 

 of our own limitations. One naturally wonders these days, as 

 the costs of big science grow, whether all fields of science will 

 continue to be useful in the everyday practical sense. For 

 example, is high energy physics "worth" the investment it will 

 require if continued if it does not lead to anything "practical?" 

 It could well be that we are reaching a stage in which fields 

 such as galactic astronomy and high energy physics will not 

 yield any immediate practical results for several human genera- 

 tions. Nevertheless, I believe we should regard the continuation 

 of research in what might eventually appear to be peripheral 

 areas of human endeavor as an obligation to our own heritage. 

 In our own day we owe so enormously much in countless ways 

 to the far-sightedness of these earlier generations who pursued 

 science for its promise that I do not see how any informed indi- 

 vidual can believe that we would be justified in calling an 

 absolute halt to any major frontier field at this time. This does 

 not mean that it will be possible to pursue all areas of big 

 science at the rate which imaginative and impatient scientists 

 would like, for it seems clear that the community of scientists 

 would have the intrinsic capability of using a very large part 

 of our productive capacity if they were given access to it. 



There are two great hazards to the advance of 

 The Hazards to our "science-based civilization. One is the very 

 Science-Based rapid rise in world population, which is in 

 Civilization fact made possible by science-based knowl- 



edge. The other is the ever-growing potenti- 

 ality for global war. There are regions of the earth where the 

 growth of population is not only outstripping the growth of 

 agriculture, but promises to outstrip everything else if it con- 

 tinues. The dangers of a global war do not need elaboration 

 here. 



It is evident that what is popularly called the population 

 explosion must be taken with the utmost seriousness every- 



