Mistrust of technical experts by the general public is a growing problem in science policy. The National Science Board reports that whereas 80 percent of the public believes that scientists work for the good of humanity, 55 percent believes that their knowledge gives scientists a power that makes them dangerous. The image of the crazed scientist plotting to master and destroy remains a staple of both children's and adult fiction, as Spencer Weart explained in a recent article in this magazine (June, page 28).
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W. C. Clark, “Witches, Floods, and Wonder Drugs,” R‐22, Institute of Resource Ecology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B. C. (January 1980).
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W. Schultz, G. McClelland, B. Hurd, J. Smith, Improving Accuracy and Reducing Costs of Environmental Benefits Assessment, vol. IV, Center for Economic Analysis, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo. (1986).
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Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, Washington, D.C. (6 June 1986).
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National Commission on Space, Pioneering the Space Frontier, Bantam, New York (1986).
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“Chernobyl Officials Are Sentenced to Labor Camp,” The New York Times, 30 July 1987, p. A5.
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A. Hacker, Electric Perspectives, Summer 1980 (Edison Electric Institute publ. no. 07‐80‐22), p. 11. See also S. Weart, Nuclear Fear: A History of Images, Harvard U.P., Cambridge, Mass. (1988).
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H. M. Sapolsky, in AIDS: Public Policy Dimensions, United Hospital Fund of New York (1987), p. 108.
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© 1988 American Institute of Physics.
1988
American Institute of Physics
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