Science and Public Policy: The Open World 91 



that because the scientist is always expected to agree with the 

 body of scientific fact, it is also expected that there will be a 

 single scientific point of view on matters which are external 

 to the facts themselves. This disadvantage is a real one, simply 

 because the occurrence of such disagreements tends sometimes 

 to discredit what is thought of as the scientific point of view 

 on matters of policy, scientific and otherwise. On the other 

 hand, because scientists normally operate in conditions which 

 do not permit of arbitrary disagreement, they are probably 

 better able than others to appreciate the factors which lead to 

 disagreement, when disagreement occurs. And they are better 

 able, at all times, to tell the difference between science and 

 pseudo-science — that at least they should be. 



Nonetheless value-judgments are the final determinants of 

 priorities in the allocation of resources in the world of science. 

 The big issues are in the end political — military security, 

 health, welfare, and so on. The scientist, as I have insisted, has 

 a part to play in the choice, in the same way as he appreciates 

 better than anyone else that there can be no secrets in basic 

 science — and few indeed in applied science. As Wiesner ^ has 

 put it, "an advancing technology and an uncertain world call 

 for an extraordinary effort to encompass technical considera- 

 tions with which the majority of the people are largely un- 

 familiar." This, if anything, is clearly a central job for the 

 scientist. The less secrecy, the greater the exchange of informa- 

 tion, the more open the world of science, the better will the 

 scientist be able to discharge his responsibilities not only in 

 the laboratory but also in the arena where policy is made — 

 however much his technical considerations have to be qualified 

 by value judgments. 



8. Wiesner, Jerome (1965). Where Science and Politics Meet. New York. 

 McGraw-Hill. 



