THE PROBLEM

A significant 20th Century characteristic of U.S. life is the revival of public discussion. There is plenty to talk about. All over the U.S., colleges, newspapers, businessmen's clubs, churches, and women's clubs arrange lectures, forums, panel discussions. Busy and learned men give their time to these gatherings in the American belief that an informed and alert citizenry is the basis of democracy.

Most such forums turn on practical problems of public policy, foreign or domestic. Behind these practical questions of what to do and how to do it lie the great issues of human destiny--the philosophic and ethical questions of man's nature, purpose and value. Last week the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which has contributed so brilliantly to practical progress, turned to the larger issues with a notable convocation observing the installation of a new president (see EDUCATION).

M.I.T. called its forum "The Social Implications of Scientific Progress--an Appraisal at Mid-Century." From all over the world leaders of thought and action assembled at M.I.T.; man's spirit was under investigation at a critical point in his history.

The 20th Century had built higher and plowed deeper than any age before it. It had given man more power than he had ever dreamed--or feared--he would possess. It had whittled away at matter until the forces released from its core made mankind's general destruction a concrete possibility. It was literally looking for new worlds to conquer in space, but was farther than ever from having conquered disorder and misery in its own. It had the abolition of poverty within sight, yet the painful consciousness of poverty was probably greater than ever before. It knew more than men had ever known--except how to use its knowledge. It might even, as Dean John Burchard in the opening address suggested, learn to "control man's thoughts with precision." Winston Churchill expressed humanity's shudder: "I shall be very content if my task in this world is done before that happens."

Most of the speakers at M.I.T. agreed (see below) that man's chief task in these times was not how to harness nature in order to stay alive, but how to harness himself. His problem was moral--how to order his life. That problem was not peculiar to the 20th Century; but 20th Century scientific progress had given it a dreadful urgency.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.