THE ROLE OF SCIENCE
Sir,-At present the people of Europe need urgently to have their stomachs filled and roofs over their heads. This can hardly be done by some vague idealism, called "spirit in science," by Professor Polanyi (Listener, February 22). Separating science from immediate needs is greatly responsible for the present mess in which the world finds itself. Scientists remained shut away in their laboratories and did their research without regard to its immediate application. The latter was done by business men, political power groups and scientific workers in their pay. New types of weapons of destruction were thus developed. The fruits of the research were ‘no longer the property of the scientific worker, but of vested interest. If science does not concern itself with the immediate needs of the people of the world, both material and spiritual (with spiritual needs, I mean needs of the mind, not religious or philosophical idealism), it has no right to exist. This does not mean that there should aot be a certain amount of pure research, for, pure science may in the end lead to important practical results. Scientific workers should get together to make plans, in which research should be given priority, to serve the physical and spiritual needs of the people of the world. And then they, the scientific workers alone, should have complete control over the eventual use of their find-
ings.
SCIENTIFIC WORKER
(Well-
ington).
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 351, 15 March 1946, Page 15
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237THE ROLE OF SCIENCE New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 351, 15 March 1946, Page 15
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