ABSTRACT
One general difference between the social sciences and the physical sciences is that the physical sciences have control of their laboratory and in fact have to determine their own variables. The social sciences are confronted by a plethora of variables that they artificially order for the purposes of study. The current confrontation with piracy poses a challenge for both classes of science. As piracy is endemic in the sea within range of Somalia, the main challenge for the social scientist is in determining how to convert Somalia from its present virtually stateless condition to a viable economic entity that values international law and provides an economic environment in which piracy is no longer a sensible option for its citizens. For the physical sciences, particular those acting at the behest of stakeholders in the global shipping economy, it is a great challenge to approach the problem without considering the challenges typically restricted to the social sciences. In fact, the case might even be made that the scientific efforts described in this paper place the physical scientist in the position of acting as an ancillary to global policing activities. This, of course, seems to diminish the
activities of the scientist; however, it is only another way of saying that science applied in real time to real problems necessarily involves the recognition of the daunting task of striving to create real methods that can be implemented as real solutions at virtually the same time. As an arm of the major economic interests, the scientists who operate in the arena of piracy are disposed to devise methods to counter the threat piracy poses to global shipping, which primarily affects western European, North American, and East Asian economies.
