PrintDecember 7, 2009
The Scientific Technological Elite
President Dwight D. Eisenhower's famous 1960 farewell address contained more than an admonition about the danger of an expanding "military-industrial complex." That speech was also an early warning of the current unholy alliance between the government and a scientific community dependent on the government for its funding.Americans have steadfastly recalled Eisenhower's initial clarion call, especially in political debates concerning the size of annual defense budgets:... we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence...by the military-industrial complex.... Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together [i].However, little attention has been given to an equally important warning that Eisenhower issued in the same farewell address: the danger that public policy might become the captive of a...(Read Full Article)
