ABSTRACT

At the dawn of modern science, a promise was made. If society would but support the new enterprise, the resulting knowledge would (in the words of Francis Bacon) “establish and extend the power and dominion of the human race over the universe” for the benefit of all humankind. Now, centuries later, has the promise been kept? Science has brought us food in amazing variety and abundance, but the food is tainted with harmful chemicals. Science has brought us comfortable homes and convenient modes of transportation and communication, but their costs include mountains of garbage, toxic wastes, and global climate change. Finally, science has improved the lot of only some of humankind, not all of humankind. What has gone wrong? This chapter considers some of the factors that have led to the failure, some of the responses they have elicited, and a different response that has yet to be considered.