The problem-situations which critical science investigates are not the result of deliberate attempts to poison the environment. For several centuries, the understanding of science has been conditioned by a belief in the separateness of knowledge and society. The history of science provides yet another caution against over-simple predictions of the effects on science of the changes in its context. A failure to come to terms with the new problems resulting from the industrialization of science can bring about a very subtle but none the less corrosive form of corruption within science as a whole. The State, and industry, need an expertise more sophisticated and prestigious than can be provided by narrowly technical institutions and personnel; it must come from the world of science based on academic institutions. The presence of an effective critical science is naturally an embarrassment to the leadership of the responsible, industrialized, tame scientific establishment.