Chapter 3 Factors Affecting Technology Development 
This chapter presents a number of important 
non-technical aspects that will influence the course 
of marine technology in the United States. These 
include (1) opportunities for the future, (2) 
importance, urgency, and rationale for U.S. leader- 
ship, (3) trends influencing marine development, 
(4) interrelationships among economic segments, 
(5) interrelationships of technical influences, and 
(6) influence of technology on the law of the sea. 
Experience shows that forecasts of the near 
future tend to be overly optimistic and forecasts 
of the far future lack boldness. A look at the 
distant future and the benefits of a national ocean 
program envisions communities working and living 
in the oceans. 
The importance, urgency, and rationale for U.S. 
leadership in ocean science and technology require 
that a national program be pursued vigorously. 
Although timing is critical, a crash program is not 
needed. The complexities of the undersea frontier 
require a modern store of knowledge for opera- 
tions both on the continental shelves and in the 
deep oceans. In the progress to the shelves and 
the deep, science and technology will be con- 
stantly challenged. Well conceived and executed 
endeavors in science and technology have proved 
worthwhile in the past. National security, water 
pollution, and international affairs are important 
motives for U.S. leadership. 
Several influences strongly pressure the Na- 
tion’s advancement into the waters of the conti- 
nental shelves and deep ocean. Just to maintain, 
nonetheless to improve, living standards of an 
increasing world population requires progressively 
more food, shelter, water, energy, and recreational 
resources. National needs include areas for further 
peaceful expansion, new opportunities to earn 
profits and establish new tax bases, reliable mili- 
tary security, and means for assisting developing 
nations to become self-supporting. 
Although not always distinctly defined, science, 
engineering, and technology have interrelations 
essential to the national program, and they require 
reinforcement. There is an important interrelation- 
ship among the government, industry, and aca- 
demic communities which requires an exchange of 
information and skilled personnel. The interrela- 
tionship of the civilian and military sectors of 
society has problems relating to planning, informa- 
tion exchange, and security classification. Ocean 
activities will stimulate new international relation- 
ships; they can benefit this Nation and others. 
Current law of the sea relates only to the 
ocean’s surface. Inevitable technological progress 
will compel new legal codes when present surface- 
oriented laws fail to satisfy the needs of the 
undersea activities. 
The rise and fall of great nations has invariably 
included a period of territorial expansion and 
acquisition. Nations failing to extend frontiers 
often fell victim to neighbors who pursued policies 
of expansion. The United States originated with 
13 colonies on the Eastern seaboard and through 
purchase and settlement spread the American 
culture from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 
Except Antarctica, no important land area today 
remains for peaceful expansion and settlement. 
Overpopulation and undernourishment are rapidly 
becoming a specter of the future, and man will 
turn to the sea for additional nourishment, mate- 
rial resources, and perhaps living space. Future 
generations may dwell on continental shelves, 
going ashore only to market the products of their 
undersea community and to procure items not 
available in the ocean. Atlantis may become not a 
myth of the past but a civilization of the future. 
Complete, well planned exploration and inten- 
sive utilization are needed to establish firmly this 
new frontier. The United States should proceed 
now with this planet’s final peaceful expansion. 
1. OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE FUTURE 
The engineering and technology program rec- 
ommended is aimed principally at opening the 
undersea frontier. Particularly important is the 
element of economical and continuous access, 
with strong emphasis on reducing the costs of 
at-sea operations to make ocean resources more 
available. 
From the first, the Commission was directed to 
pioneer, experiment, and look to the future. Its 
mandate was to outline activity for the foreseeable 
