interesting that the groundwork for such a value-free aesthetic is already being
laid today, in growing experimentation in art without content, perhaps in
anticipation of a world without conflict. A cult has developed around a new
kind of cultural determinism, which proposes that the technological form of a
cultural expression determines its values rather than does its ostensibly
meaningful content. Its clear implication is that there is no "good" or "bad" art,
only that which is appropriate to its (technological) times and that which is not.
Its cultural effect has been to promote circumstantial constructions and
unplanned expressions; it denies to art the relevance of sequential logic. Its
significance in this context is that it provides a working model of one kind of
value-free culture we might reasonably anticipate in a world at peace.
So far as science is concerned, it might appear at first glance that a giant space-
research program, the most promising among the proposed economic surrogates
for war, might also serve as the basic stimulator of scientific research. The lack
of fundamental organized social conflict inherent in space work, however,
would rule it out as an adequate motivational substitute for war when applied to
"pure" science. But it could no doubt sustain the broad range of technological
activity that a space budget of military dimensions would require. A similarly
scaled social-welfare program could provide a comparable impetus to low-
keyed technological advances, especially in medicine, rationalized construction
methods, educational psychology, etc. The eugenic substitute for the ecological
function of war would also require continuing research in certain areas of the
life sciences.
Apart from these partial substitutes for war, it must be kept in mind that the
momentum given to scientific progress by the great wars of the past century,
and even more by the anticipation of World War III, is intellectually and
materially enormous. It is our finding that if the war system were to end
tomorrow this momentum is so great that the pursuit of scientific knowledge
could reasonably be expected to go forward without noticeable diminution for
perhaps two decades. It would then continue, at a progressively decreasing
tempo, for at least another two decades before the "bank account" of today's
unresolved problems would become exhausted. By the standards of the
questions we have learned to ask today, there would no longer be anything
worth knowing still unknown; we cannot conceive, by definition, of the
scientific questions to ask once those we can now comprehend are answered.
This leads unavoidably to another matter: the intrinsic value of the unlimited
search for knowledge. We of course offer no independent value judgments here,
but it is germane to point out that a substantial minority of scientific opinion
feels that search to be circumscribed in any case. This opinion is itself a factor
laid today, in growing experimentation in art without content, perhaps in
anticipation of a world without conflict. A cult has developed around a new
kind of cultural determinism, which proposes that the technological form of a
cultural expression determines its values rather than does its ostensibly
meaningful content. Its clear implication is that there is no "good" or "bad" art,
only that which is appropriate to its (technological) times and that which is not.
Its cultural effect has been to promote circumstantial constructions and
unplanned expressions; it denies to art the relevance of sequential logic. Its
significance in this context is that it provides a working model of one kind of
value-free culture we might reasonably anticipate in a world at peace.
So far as science is concerned, it might appear at first glance that a giant space-
research program, the most promising among the proposed economic surrogates
for war, might also serve as the basic stimulator of scientific research. The lack
of fundamental organized social conflict inherent in space work, however,
would rule it out as an adequate motivational substitute for war when applied to
"pure" science. But it could no doubt sustain the broad range of technological
activity that a space budget of military dimensions would require. A similarly
scaled social-welfare program could provide a comparable impetus to low-
keyed technological advances, especially in medicine, rationalized construction
methods, educational psychology, etc. The eugenic substitute for the ecological
function of war would also require continuing research in certain areas of the
life sciences.
Apart from these partial substitutes for war, it must be kept in mind that the
momentum given to scientific progress by the great wars of the past century,
and even more by the anticipation of World War III, is intellectually and
materially enormous. It is our finding that if the war system were to end
tomorrow this momentum is so great that the pursuit of scientific knowledge
could reasonably be expected to go forward without noticeable diminution for
perhaps two decades. It would then continue, at a progressively decreasing
tempo, for at least another two decades before the "bank account" of today's
unresolved problems would become exhausted. By the standards of the
questions we have learned to ask today, there would no longer be anything
worth knowing still unknown; we cannot conceive, by definition, of the
scientific questions to ask once those we can now comprehend are answered.
This leads unavoidably to another matter: the intrinsic value of the unlimited
search for knowledge. We of course offer no independent value judgments here,
but it is germane to point out that a substantial minority of scientific opinion
feels that search to be circumscribed in any case. This opinion is itself a factor
