THE UPEI .sun, Thursday, October 30,1980, page 8 
     
    
   
   
    
     Technolo‘gy‘Shak 
     
    
   
   
    
     by Joseph Sanlei 
     
    
   
   
    
     No social scientist 
     
     worthy of the name can 
     
     ignore the sociological 
     
     impact of technological 
     
     evolution upon humankind. 
     
     In fact, many social 
     
     scientists, notably the 
     
     Marxists, would pose the 
     
     arguement that technology 
     
     not only is the producer 
     
     of society's goods but is 
     
     society's parent. 
     
    

    
     In the pre-Marxian 
     
     era of social science, many 
     
     of the great thinkers of 
     
     the Enlightenment recognized 
     
    
   
   
    
     regressive and universal 
     
     detriment of our race, 
     
    
   
   
    
     .and even the manner by 
     
     ‘which and progress may be 
     
    
   
   
    
     assured of technology, is 
     
    

    
     one of the moment's 
     
    

    
     greatest uncertainties. 
     
    

    
     What is known for sure is 
     
    

    
     that the power of science 
     
    

    
     is very real. ' 
     
     When (in the New 
     
    

    
     Mexico desert) the first 
     
    

    
     atomic weapon was detonated, 
     
    

    
     Dr. Robert Oppenheimer,who 
     
    

    
     was in charge of the project 
     
    

    
     which produced the bomb, 
     
    
   
   
    
     es'Civiliza-tion  
     
    
   
   
    
     ignorance and fear. 
     
    

    
     Perhaps no one, at 
     
     least no one in particular, 
     
     is responsible per se for 
     
     the present apocalthic 
     
     nature of our state. if 
     
     this be so, then it clearly 
     
     means that the old methods 
     
     of revolution, class,war, 
     
     etc. may no longer be seen 
     
    
   
   
    
     as viable means of attaining 
     
     an eventual, and ever 
     
    
   
   
    
     illusory utopia on earth. 
     
     Sure, the technology and 
     
     economic developments of 
     
     Jefferson's time, combined 
     
    
   
   
    
     \ 
     
    
   
   
    
     of stability, in France. 
     
    

    
     No where in the-contemporary 
     
     world does there exist a 
     
     stability comparable‘to 
     
    

    
     that of early America. 
     
    

    
     Thus the democratic 
     
     countries, what few of 
     
    
   
   
    
     ‘ them there are, must learn 
     
    
   
   
    
     to solve our very pressing 
     
     problems by the harnessing 
     
     of our technological 
     
     strength for the 
     
     revolutionary alternative 
     
    
   
   
    
     can provide nought but 
     
     bloody disaster. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Next week I hope to 
     
    
   
   
    
     said that his only thought 
     
     as the mushroom cloud rose 
     
     into the sky, was one from 
     
     the Hindu Scriptures (Bavi- 
     
     gad Gita) :“Today I am 
     
    
   
   
    
     provide some concrete 
     
     examples of ways in which 
     
     ‘technological know-how 
     
     can, and is, beginning the 
     
     race against time to save 
     
    
   
   
    
     with Liberal economic 
     
     thought, produced the 
     
     almost inevitable 
     
     revolutioary results; the 
     
     expulsion from the 
     
    
   
   
    
     the extent to which 
     
    

    
     technology would shake the 
     
     old orders of civilization 
     
     and enable the creation, in 
     
    
   
   
    
     their own place, of 
     
     entirely new entities. _ 
     
     Thomas Jefferson wrote, 
     
     in a letter to John Adams 
     
     in l8l3, that I'Science 
     
     has liberated the ideas 
     
     of those who read and reflect 
     
     and the American 
     
     revolutionaryyexample has 
     
     kindled feelings of right 
     
     in the people. An insur- 
     
     rection has consequently 
     
     begun of science, talents, 
     
     and courage, against rank 
     
     and birth, which have 
     
     fallen intoLcontempt--- 
     
     Science is progressive, 
     
     and talents and enterprise 
     
     are on the alert -- Rank 
     
     and birth, and tinsel 
     
     aristocracy will finally 
     
     shrink into insignificance. 
     
     Thus Jefferson recog- 
     
     nized the implicit link 
     
     inseparably binding science 
     
     and politics. Technology, 
     
     science applied, has within 
     
     its essence, given the 
     
     quality and concerns of 
     
     the men and women who 
     
     employ it, the power of 
     
     ostensibly altering 
     
     civilization until the 
     
     end of the human epoch. 
     
     Be that power employed to 
     
     the progressive and_col+ 
     
     lective benefit or 
     
    
   
   
    
     become Death " the deStroyerAmerican colonies turned 
     
    
   
   
    
     of worlds.” 
     
    

    
     When the bomb was 
     
     finally used upon a human 
     
     target, twice in fact, 
     
     imperial Japan's subsequent 
     
     surrender clouded the new 
     
     Omnipotent danger with 
     
     the joy of transitory 
     
     victory and peace. 
     
    

    
     It would be wrong 
     
     to now attempt to place 
     
     culpability for all of the 
     
     world's ills since l9h5 
     
     upon some abstract notion 
     
     of a conspiratorial 
     
     scientific community - 
     
     this is neither true nor 
     
     benefical to the cause of 
     
     lasting peace. For the 
     
     so-called “scientific 
     
     community” (despite what 
     
     some sophmore science 
     
     students may tell you) is 
     
     but a specialists micro< 
     
     cosm, fully a component- 
     
     part of the general 
     
     academic community, and 
     
     beyond that; the entire 
     
     human community. As such, 
     
     no scape goat, were it to 
     
     be science, scientists, 
     
     or any of a number of 
     
     political regimes, can be 
     
     sacrificed, with L' ., 
     
     resulting salvation,/upon 
     
     the altars of human 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     ITIIE. 
     
    
   
   
    
     COME ON_UP T0 2ND FLOOR 
     
     FOR ALL YOUR SPORTS AND 
     
     CASUAL CLOTHING. }' 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     UNIVERSITY. AVE, 
     
    
   
   
    
     Republic of an archaic and 
     
     despotic monarchy, but 
     
     what for the betterment of 
     
     the human condition could 
     
     have resulted in the . 
     
    
   
   
    
     , struggles outcome were it 
     
    
   
   
    
     not for the wisdom in 
     
    

    
     governmental matters of 
     
     the revolutionaries. A 
     
     few years following the 
     
    
   
   
    
     .American Revolution M. de 
     
    
   
   
    
     la Fayette's prediction 
     
     that it would”serve as a 
     
     lesson to the oppressor 
     
     rand an eXample to the' 
     
     opressed“ was realized in- 
     
     a revolution in France, 
     
     with much different results. 
     
     For the impliments of war 
     
     soon turned from the 
     
     aristocratic oppressor 
     
     upon revolutionary by the 
     
     hand of revolutionary, and 
     
     led to a new tyranny. It 
     
     was certainly not that the 
     
     Americans en masse were in 
     
     any way superior to the 
     
     French that one revolution 
     
     was to sUcceed and the 
     
     other fail, but rather 
     
     that the conditions of 
     
     America in the 1780's 
     
     provided it with a stable 
     
     post~revolutionary leader-- 
     
     ship unatainable, for lack 
     
    
   
   
    
     our race and civilization 
     
     and liberty. So barring 
     
     thenno-nuclear annialation 
     
     between now and next 
     
     Thursday . See you then . 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     BIKE snore 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
       
     
    
   
   
    
     r.-*',. 
     
    
   
   
    
     .SfEAK-RO 
     
    
   
   
    
     o M 
     
     11:30" All». - 6:00 PM. 
     
     i' whh 
     
     DAILY SPECIALS 
     
    
   
   
    
     Jean-Em STREET 
     
    
   
   
    
     CHARLOTTETOWN. P.E.l." " Phone. scum .' 
     
    
   
   
    
     ADISCOTHEOUE unearth ' 
     
     ;9 RM. - 1 A.M,.;?  ‘ ’ 
     
    
   
   
    
     .H s .I _ {55, B .‘. V 
     
    
   
   
    
     3?, ROCK? ,  
     
     2 mem- 
     
    
   
   
    
     THE "'iNN dur OF THE sUfl‘i  ROOM. ' 
     
    
   
   
    
     THIGH: 
     
    
   
   
    
     1 — 7 Monday  g _'_,.'- ‘ 
     
     POOL" ‘ ifiBALL 
     
    
   
   
    
     ‘. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
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