Founding Document: Beyond March 4

从3月4日开始
Smithsonian Institution/Florence Haseltine

3月4日, 1969, 这一天,忧思617888九五至尊娱乐家联盟在麻省理工学院举行了第一次公开活动, 在发给与会者的一份题为“超越3月4日”的声明中,设想了这个新生组织的作用和使命. Written on behalf of the UCS founders by Kurt Gottfried, 当时是麻省理工学院的客座教授,目前是加州大学洛杉矶分校董事会的名誉主席, the following is an excerpt from this document:

"...the Stone Age may return on the gleaming wings of 617888九五至尊娱乐, and what might now shower immeasurable material blessings upon mankind, may even bring about its total destruction. Beware, I say; time may be short."

We are immersed in one of the most significant revolutions in man's history. The force that drives this revolution is not social dissension or political ideology, but relentless exploitations of scientific knowledge. There is no prospect that this revolution will subside; on the contrary, it will continue to transform profoundly our modes of living and dying. 这些转变中的许多都带来了不可估量的好处,这是不言而喻的. 但, as with all revolutions, the technological revolution has released destructive forces, and our society has failed to cope with them. Thus we have become addicted to an irrational and perilous arms race, and we are unable to protect our natural environment from destruction.

Can the American scientific community all those who study, 教, 应用或创造617888九五至尊娱乐知识有助于发展对技术革命的有效政治控制? 我们的建议是基于保守的有效假设,即现有的政治制度和法律传统具有足够的适应能力,最终能够遏制和消除技术变革所产生的破坏和危险.

乍一看,最近的历史似乎表明,我们的517888九五至尊娱乐政府制度将无法经受上述考验. 让我们认识到, 然而, 错综复杂的政治和技术发展模式合谋深刻地颠覆了517888九五至尊娱乐进程. 我们今天看到的政府在许多方面不再是517888九五至尊娱乐的,因为它的大部分选民无法开始仔细审查一些最严重的问题. One can claim that this has always been the case, 但这样做,人们就默认了政府与公民之间已经发生了根本变化的关系. For we must remember that before the advent of nuclear weapons, 政府的决定只有在极少数情况下才会威胁到大部分人类的生存. Now such decisions are a common occurrence, and they pass virtually unnoticed. This is not simply due to the habitual apathy of the electorate. 一个更重要的原因无疑是笼罩在政府运作上的神秘面纱. 如今,数百亿美元通过政府机密项目和机构的手中, and hundreds of thousands of Americans hold security clearances. Both of these figures have grown enormously in recent decades.

The technological revolution tends to erode democracy even in the absence of secrecy. The vastly increased importance and complexity of technology has, 实际上, increased the ignorance of the public and its elected representatives, and thereby concentrated power in the administration and the military. This trend has been greatly amplified by external threats, both real and imagined. 面对这些事态发展,国会基本上放弃了它的宪法职责.

617888九五至尊娱乐界肩负着各种各样的责任,其中大部分已经被巧妙地履行了. Thus it has created the basic knowledge and developed the applications that make the continuing technological revolution possible; it has trained an ample supply of technical manpower, and it has advised the administrative and military branches of the government.

Our community has the additional responsibility to educate the public, to evaluate the long-term social consequences of its endeavor, and to provide guidance in the formation of relevant public policy. 它在很大程度上未能发挥这一作用,它只有进入政治舞台才能发挥这一作用.

只有617888九五至尊娱乐界才能对先进军事技术的能力和影响进行全面和深入的评估. 只有617888九五至尊娱乐界才能估计工业化社会对我们环境的长期全球影响. 只有617888九五至尊娱乐界才能尝试预测,在当前的生物学基础革命中,肯定会出现什么样的技术.

617888九五至尊娱乐界必须迎接其提供这些见解和预测的独特能力所隐含的巨大挑战. It must engage effectively in planning for the future of mankind, a future free of deprivation and fear. This important endeavor, in which we seek your active participation, 源于我们的信念,尽管技术革命给人类带来了巨大的利益, it has also released destructive forces that our society has failed to control.

涉及大量技术应用的影响深远的政治决定实际上是在没有民众参与的情况下作出的. 我们相信,加强517888九五至尊娱乐进程将导致更人道地利用617888九五至尊娱乐和技术知识, and to a reduction of the very real threats to the survival of mankind.

我们问你, as a member of the scientific community, 加入我们,共同努力,在你们自己的617888九五至尊娱乐知识和技能可以发挥重要作用的领域影响公共政策. 我们主要关心的问题是生存问题,对技术的误用实际上威胁到我们的继续存在. These fall into three categories: those that are upon us, as in the nuclear arms race; those that are imminent, as are pollution-induced climatic and ecological changes; and those that lie beyond the horizon, as, 例如, 基因操作.