Two excellent articles have come to our attention since the last issue: 1) Michael Reich and David Finkelhor, "Capitalism and the Military-Industrial Complex: The Obstacles to Conversion" in URPE Review, Vol.IV, No.2, Fall 1970, quarterly publication of the Union of Radical Political Economists. This article...
Archive - October 2018
Philadelphia was the site, in September 1848, of the first meeting of the American Association for the Promotion of Science - or so it was called in the notice appearing in the American Journal of Science. The orgrumation, an outgrowth of the more limited Association of American Geologists and Naturalists, was...
Three years ago a few members of the American Physical Society startled their colleagues by wearing a lapel button which read "Science for the People". The reaction of some older established members was: "What do you mean- the people? Am I not the people too?" The question that I want to examine is how science relates...
For the past three years Science for the People has held actions at the annual AAAS meetings, questioning the political manner in which science priorities are established and the hierarchical and elitist way in which science is organized. The AAAS finds itself in a curious (maybe not so curious) position in the face...
Many of us in SESPA who are doing or have done scientific and engineering work, feel a deep sense of frustration and exasperation about the use of that work. We teach, we do experiments, we design new things—and for what? To enable those who direct this society to better exploit and oppress the great majority of us...
In recognition of his ceaseless efforts to follow in the footsteps of the great Peter Sellers. Dr. Teller, not content to rest on his laurels as "Father of the H-Bomb", has ceaselessly promoted the rapid development of all feasible systems of nuclear destruction. He has argued for the indefinite continuation of...
In the classroom, the myth of an apolitical, benevolent science prevails. The training of a scientist involves a total submersion in technical material with little if any, historical or philosophical perspective. Research productivity is the measure of worth, as the student acquires skill in a specialized field...
Contrary to what we would like to believe, there is no such thing as a structureless group. Any group of people of whatever nature that comes together for any length of time for any purpose wiil inevitably structure itself in some fashion. The structure may be flexible; it may vary over time; it may evenly or unevenly...
During the next few years the United States Military is going to develop and deploy a highly advanced form of the electronic battlefield. Some parts of this advanced electronic battlefield have already entered combat in S. E. Asia. Other parts have only feasibility study status. Taken in total the outline of a killing...
At the request of a member of the Union of Vietnamese in France, the Science for Viet Nam group began looking into the military use of weather modification techniques. They discovered that most of the Department of Defense appropriations in the area go to classified projects. But published reports, brought together...