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Science 142 (1963) 1126.

Exobiology

Several sources have privately sug.
gested a new journal on “exobiology,”
the study of extraterrestrial life, My
profound objections are not to their
optimism; but the field is too impor.
tant to be sequestered. The policy issues.
of interplanetary quarantine and of
large-scale expenditures in scientific
programs deserve the widest critical at.
tention; so do scientific questions that
range from the origin of life to the
extraction of interstellar signals from
cosmic noise. A specialized journal
would only isolate the field from the
badly needed critical judgments of 4
scientific community which, in the
main, is not primarily preoccupied with
exobiology.

The merits of this proposal apart, it
points up a serious problem in our Sys-
tem of communication. The motivation
for a new journal is a variable mix.
ture of idealistic enthusiasm, ego-
gratification, capitalistic enterprise, and
rebellion against the critical judgements
of the existing establishment. Owing to
the operation of the copyright laws
(which here convert a common good
into a private interest), the proponents
of a journal have a unique advantage,
whatever their motivation. At least ac.
cording to present custom we are
morally accountable for its content ac.
cording to our profession: If our soci.
etics continue to abdicate their respon.
sibility for scientific communications,
the successors will not always be 50
scrupulous.

JosHua LEDERBERG
Stanford University School of
Medicine, Palo Alto, California