CENTER FOR ADVANCED STUDY IN THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
202 Junipero Serra Boulevard
Stanford, California 94305

CENTER PROGRAM ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

The scholar of today does his work in an environment of anxiety about
the relationship of science and technology to social aims and processes.
The natural scientist is under sharp challenges to justify social investment
in scientific education and research. Some of his critics attack science
head on as an ideological and technological instrument of "dehumanization."
Responsible policy makers must seek means by which to optimize the human
welfare benefits that may be derived from scientific advance, and to avert
or neutralize potentially catastrophic side effects of mismanaged technology
described in such cliches as ecocatastrophe, nuclear Armageddon, the
population explosion, and genocidal repression of the Third World.

The moral dilemmas that would face the humane natural scientist
engaged in a rigorous methodology that seeks to minimize bias from the
"human equation," were anticipated many years ago by Robert K. Merton in
his writings on the sociology of science. The subject was again brought
to public attention, in somewhat different form, by C. P. Snow writing on
"The Two Cultures." Within the past decade, shrill polemics about science
and society have become no small part of the dissonance of contemporary
life, affecting the morale and funding of scientists, students' choice of
careers, and the whole fabric of a technology-dependent civilization.

Behavioral scientists are also challenged. Their skills and discipline
will be required if we are to have an orderly and productive analysis of the
underlying issues. Their efforts would be made more effective by intimate
communication with natural scientists, many of whom are now deeply motivated
by their personal anxieties about the long-range survival of objective
scientific inquiry.

A number of universities have attempted to mount interdisciplinary
programs to deal with similar issues. It may be questioned whether these
have yet been sufficiently well organized and comprehensive to permit a
reasonably well defined inter-discipline to flourish and sustain itself
within the context of a departmental framework. To many of us it would
appear more important to tap the wisdom and specific disciplinary insight
of a larger number of people representing a wide diversity of fields, a
group of which again the Center Fellows would be a prototype. To that
end the Center is organizing a loosely structured, experimental PROGRAM ON
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY consistent with the long established traditions
of the Center. This program has received financial support from the National
Science Foundation effective September 1971. However, we are planning a
2.

cautious buildup of momentum over the first two years, a time during which
more detailed operational plans will be crystallized in the light of
cumulative experience and advice.

The proposed encouragement in this program of a specific collaborative
intellectual effort is closely related to various groups that have worked at
the Center in the past, such as the Primate group in 1962-63, the Psycho-
linguistics group in 1964-65, and the group on Cognitive Consistency Theories
in 1965-66. Any future collaborative efforts should not interfere with or
supplant the role of the Center as a haven for the individual scholar who
is concerned primarily, or exclusively, with his own solitary scholarly
program.

Several different possibilities are envisaged:

1) Each year one or a few core projects will be identified for intensive
exploration. In some instances these will have been planned in advance by
the Advisory Council, in consultation with present and anticipated Fellows.
For 1971-72 one such project is already under way, organized by Lindzey,
Loehlin and Spuhler. Their work is related to the general problem of
"Biological Diversity and Social Equity." More specifically they will
be concerned with a number of current controversies relating to classifica-
tion by ability, the biological and environmental determinants of intelligence
and their implications for public policy. Other core projects may well emerge
during the next few months under the impetus of the newfound commonalities
of interest among Fellows. Needless to say, there will be an opportunity
for interested Fellows to participate in the core project(s) if they wish.

2) Many Fellows who have well established personal plans for their
year's work may still wish to devote some portion of their time to broader
discussions, from the vantage point of their own disciplinary expertise,
relating to science, technology and society. No Fellow should feel shy
about volunteering such a contribution from a platform of commitment or
of experience that may not be evident to us.

3) Continuity for this program from one year to the next, and between
the Center and other institutions in the vicinity, will be furthered by the
continuous attention and occasional intercession of the Advisory Council to
the program, and by the participation of Stanford Professors Joshua Lederberg
of the Genetics Department, David Hamburg of the Psychiatry Department and
Sidney Drell of the Physics Department in the organization of seminars and
the development of other programs designed to strengthen or facilitate
inquiry and intellectual exchange with other scholars at Stanford and other
nearby universities.

4) Another activity now under discussion in connection with the PROGRAM
ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY is the sponsorship of one or more workshops
including delegates from other institutions. These will be planned so as
to avoid interference with the ordinary rhythm of the Center's activities.
Please do not hesitate to direct questions or advice to any of the
advisors to this program. To the extent that the roster of Fellows wishes
to contribute to our activities, we look to it as the most cogent source of
constructive criticism that could be found anywhere. The present members
of the Advisory Council are:

Kenneth Arrow, Economics, Harvard University

Lewis M. Branscomb, National Bureau of Standards

David Hamburg, Psychiatry, Stanford University

Caryl Haskins, Biology, President Emeritus, Carnegie Institute
of Washington

Joshua Lederberg, Genetics, Stanford University

Robert Merton, Sociology, Columbia University

Meredith Wilson, Director, Center for Advanced Study in the
Behavioral Sciences

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O. Meredith Wilson, Director

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September 9, 1971