Article April 21, 1980 ISSUE

Combating scientific materialism

STEVEN LEE FAIR

Today many thinkers feel humanity has arrived at a critical juncture in its technological development. Some observers believe that the very scale, complexity, and interdependence of society required for a high-energy-use, high-technology civilization raise serious questions about whether present social and religious institutions can survive.

Nobel laureate in physics B. D. Josephson comments: "In the past decade science has been dominated by a materialistic ideology, the assumption that the concepts of value, meaning, and purpose have no place in the description and understanding of nature. ... This ideology has had a contaminating influence on the minds of scientists and reduces the degree to which science follows lines that are good for humankind." Quoted in Omni, October 1979, p. 102;

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