ABSTRACT
different societies be able to speak and work with scholars from the sciences whose conceptual frameworks require an absolute insistence on objective knowledge that transcends the shaping force of human needs. It will demand the courage to recognize that most theories are wrong and that most experiments fail, but that the social and financial support for basic research must be maintained. It will require the wisdom to insist that field-specific autonomy continue to direct and shape knowledge production in basic research. Finally, it will insist that this support be earned, democratically and publicly, through the articulation and demonstration of useful knowledge.
