Some of the broader implications of science

The impact of science on life is twofold. There is in the first place the technological impact. Here the factual discoveries of science are converted into practice; we discover how to make new sorts of things and how to do new sorts of things. Some of these new things have an impact on daily living so revolutionary that society and the world are transformed—such transformation has occurred often in the past and is still continuing. Among examples may be mentioned improvements in communication and transportation, improvements in health and medicine, and improvements in the production of power. However, the technological impact need not necessarily lead to improvement, for there is no guarantee that society will put the new inventions to beneficent uses, as is all too evident when we consider the military situation. In general, advancing technology gives us increased power over our environment, including our fellows, and it is up to us whether the use shall be beneficent or harmful. Whether beneficent or otherwise, it is characteristic of most technological advance that it follows rather closely in time the scientific discovery which made it possible; it is particularly characteristic of the present that the temporal lag between discovery and application is becoming shorter and shorter. This is natural in view of the increasing number of people who are employed in converting discovery into application, and the increasingly keen economic competition to discover the possibilities of such conversion before our competitor.