Lewis Thomas Quotes
If we have learned anything at all in this century, it is that all new technologies will be put to use, sooner or later, for better or worse, as it is in our nature to do.
The nation was in the midst of a long debate over whether or not new bio-technology was appropriate and desirable for use and there were various efforts to legally curtail their application. These included cloning, stem cell research, radiated foods, fish farming, hydroponic agriculture, hybrid development and cross species organ replacement.
Lewis Thomas, 1913-1993, Physician & Scientist, President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute, Dean of the Yale and NYU Medical Schools, The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher, 1974
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Born was a refugee who escaped to England from Nazi Germany.
Most scientists do not have the skill or the totality of knowledge to accurately predict the effect of scientific research and learning on society. Many are not interested. Those who try to communicate with politicians and the public are usually met with indifference or suspicion. Above all, the scientific and mathematical literacy of the public is so weak, that it is impossible in much of science to even explain the science to the lay public much less explain its implications. Soddy was a bit of an idealist from a class society and he felt the upper classes should be better informed by scientists.
This was written over 2 decades before Dolly the sheep was first cloned. Since his call for a societal public discussion about cloning, there has been very little, but by the 21st century there had been just a few hasty, ill-informed, almost hysterical efforts to legislate on the subject.
Lewis Thomas was an American physician, poet, etymologist, essayist, administrator, educator, policy advisor, and researcher.
