ABSTRACT
The possible future diminution of interest in science, which made von Neumann uneasy, was of course seen by others as promising liberation from scientific obscurantism and chauvinism, possibly through the intrusion of humanistic, social, and ethical dimensions into science. The two pillars of value neutrality and faith in the beneficence of all technological innovation could hardly hold up after World War II, and in fact Wiener had been one of those who emphasized that. Some of von Neumann’s scientific admirers have seen in him the “new man,” the ideal type of future person, implied by his name. It is clear from von Neumann’s activities from late 1944 on, when he was first brought in as a consultant for the development of the ENIAC computer prototype, that he favored and helped bring about the most rapid possible rate of innovation and development in this field.
