Frontiers Of Illusion: Science, Technology and the Politics of Progress [Paperback]

Daniel Sarewitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 24, 1996

For the past fifty years, science and technology supported with billions of dollars from the U.S. government have advanced at a rate that would once have seemed miraculous, while society's problems have grown more intractable, complex, and diverse. Yet scientists and politicians alike continue to prescribe more science and more technology to cure such afflictions as global climate change, natural resource depletion, overpopulation, inadequate health care, weapons proliferation, and economic inequality.Daniel Sarewitz scrutinizes the fundamental myths that have guided the formulation of science policy for half a century myths that serve the professional and political interests of the scientific community, but often fail to advance the interests of society as a whole. His analysis ultimately demonstrates that stronger linkages between progress in science and progress in society will require research agendas that emerge not from the intellectual momentum of science, but from the needs and goals of society. Daniel Sarewitz worked for four years on science policy issues for the U.S. Congress, first as a Congressional Science Fellow, and then as science consultant to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives. He now directs the Institute for Environmental Education at the Geological Society of America.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a period of change and challenge for our science and technology enterprise. This book provides invaluable insight into the origins of that change and examines ways to turn the challenge into opportunity. For those seeking fresh perspectives on modern science policy, Frontiers of Illusion should be a part of your library. For those in the science and technology community seeking to survive these tumultuous times, Frontiers of Illusion is essential reading." --Congressman George E. Brown, Jr. "Daniel Sarewitz has written a well-informed and incisive description and analysis of the mythos by which science policy is guided, and has shown how these self-serving illusions limit and distort the contributions of scientists to the common good. Highly recommended!" --Herman E. Daly, School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland, author of Steady-State Economics

From the Publisher

An incisive argument for fostering stronger links between the interests of society and progress in science --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Temple University Press (May 24, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566394163
• ISBN-13: 978-1566394161
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #790,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Starting Point for Skeptics, October 19, 2005

By 

Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Frontiers Of Illusion: Science, Technology and the Politics of Progress (Paperback)

This is the best starting points for skeptics who wonder if science is all it is cracked up to be, or for cheerleaders of science too prone to claim science will solve all our problems.

It does not, however, provide a complete picture. Three other books are helpful:

Science, Money, and Politics: Political Triumph and Ethical Erosion by Daniel Greenberg is the best over-all review, has a strong ethical component, and shows how the competition for money, rather than scientific progress, is diverting scarce resources and frustrating needed advances.

The Republican War on Science by Chris Mooney is the book that is the most compelling on the perversions of the extremist Republicans (I am a moderate Republican). Read this first or last, depending on your disposition.

Finally, Investing in Innovation: Creating a Research and Innovation Policy That Works, edited by Lewis Bramscomb and James Keller, brings together a range of views crossing the environment within which scientific research takes place, evaluationg specific programs and policy tools, and making recommendations (all of which have been ignored by the current Bush Administration).

I take three bottom lines from these four books together:

1) We are spending too much on military science & research.

2) Neither Congress nor the Executive have a serious strategy for prioritizing problems, finding private sector partners, and providing seed money for innovative solutions.

3) Both Congress and the Executive, as well as the public and the media, are incredibly ignorant about what science can and cannot do, and where all the money is going to generally poor effect.

4) This is all so important that Science, like Intelligence, needs its own Supreme Court. I am persuaded we need a new form of hybid public agency that is fully independent of the Executive, receiving a percentage of the total disposable budget (say 3%) and hence not subject to Congression pressures.

I want to stress that this book is an off-set, but should not be read alone. It raises some very important ethical and common sense political prioritization issues, but viewed alone, is too negative. If you buy only one book, buy Greenberg's.

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and challenging work on science and policy, November 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Frontiers Of Illusion: Science, Technology and the Politics of Progress (Paperback)

Not for the thin-skinned! This is a thoughtful and convincing set of arguments as to how and why the U.S. scientific research system often fails to serve the public interest. We'd all be better off if researchers and policy-makers absorbed the lessons in this work.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important book for democratizing science, July 10, 2004

By 

Birger Hjørland (Bagsværd, Denmark) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Frontiers Of Illusion: Science, Technology and the Politics of Progress (Paperback)

The author states in the preface "I here baldly and unapologetically state that I recognize the scientific method to be a valid technique for approaching what I am pleased to term an objective understanding of the physical and natural world. 'This belief, however, offers no apriory comfort to anyone who would try to answer such questions as What types of scientific knowledge should society choose to pursue? How should such choices be made and by whom? How should society apply this knowledge, once gained? How can "progress" in science and technology be defined and measured in the context of broader social and political goals? And indeed, it is precisely these sorts of question that underlie and motivate this book".

Although I do not agree that there is such a thing as THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD (but a variety of scientific methods) and although I do not agree that specific kinds of methods garantees truth and objectivity, I understand the author's need to distinguish such narrow methodological issues from the broader issues concerning the relations between science and society. These last questions are important in democratic societies, why libraries, masse communication and other institutions, which are supposted to support democracy should make an effort to dissiminate this kind of literature.