should we hand control of society over to scientists and engineers?
403851
There is a chasm between the ability to adequately run a political office and the ability to be elected.  In order to be elected you must first cater to the majority of the population.  The majority of the population is incredibly stupid.\n\nThe discovery of nuclear energy was not bad by any means.  The nuclear weapon has proven to be an astonishing and valuable accomplishment by the United States, and the courage required to use it should be applauded.  Keep in mind that the nuclear capability of the United States ended a war which already consumed the lives of an estimated 30 million people.  Bravo.
1042321
I am a retired scientist.\nI was a college prof for 39 years.\nI would be glad to read your brief and evaluate your proposal..\nloligo1@yahoo.com\ncountrydaycastle.com
414585
Yes because many researches are government funded and politicians are the people we elect to run the government. This means we give them the power to decide what our money (i.e. tax dollars) is spent on. If politicians didn't have a say then scientists could come up with any and every thing to research and possibly waste many tax dollars.
757772
I think there's a screw loose in all humans that acts as a form of population control. This, of course, is aggression. For all the sickness and famine and natural disasters, we're still spreading across the globe in a hurry and the failsafe to keep our numbers down is war. Nasty, but it seems to be the case. I could suggest alternatives (Olympic-style competitions to attain land or what have you) but I doubt anyone would adhere to them. Perchance the best hope we have is space travel, whereby the human race can spread as it needs to and will have less need to club each other to death for the sake of a patch of dirt.
698009
I think that scientists are above that petty religious crap.\n\nWe're the better people for bettering humanity.  They can keep their religious petri-dish people have soul's crap to themselves.
576541
yes ,but this is only in one case.india must get benefir of its scientists ,they must help their nation ,by returning back and transfer teir knowledge to the new generations.\n\ngood luck
1149634
In that situation there would be a group of leaders.  No one person should have that power in a utopian society.
180784
First of all, you can never make anything idiot-proof.  \nAlso, I think overall society (in developed countries anyway) is more educated then ever before and those in control in business and government are among the top educated.  To me the question is, will the control be wielded morally and justly? ...and that is a concern.
658185
Not really. The reality is that in every society there is a clique (the gods) that rule us. They are in control. Admission to that clique is highly restricted. They make the rules and we just follow on pain of punishment.
480167
Nobody. There's the irony. People don't feel comfortable with the notion of the anarchistic functions of the world, so they greatly inflate the powers of Skull & Bones, Masons, Brandenburg Gate and other secret societies. It's more comfortable to think that somebody else is in control of the world, even if they have avaricious intentions, than no one.\n\nConversely, you could think that everyone controls our world. Stuff gets done by people and we're all part of the same planet.
247680
you need to set other people to have more rights
1094016
No.  Too much money to build something ridiculous like that, and the people of this country should have access to their government and their government leaders.  once you start putting our leaders even *more* into an Ivory Tower, they'll care even less what goes on with the 'little people'.
31077
Society always influences the course of scientific research. Society either tolerates science, or opposes it. A good example is the resistance to human cloning. From a purely scientific view, this is a subject of interest. However, in most countries this is not something that society will allow. Society always makes a value judgement regarding science, which in my opinion is a good thing. Science divorced from the greater value structure of a society is madness. Think of Dr. Josef Mengele and his experiments.\n\nThere are some who believe that science should be independent of society's control, but I disagree. This is not to say that society is always right; remember Galileo and his discoveries, which challenged the prevailing view of things at the time. This is always bound to happen. Currently in the United States, the argument over evolution is such a situation where science has revealed a very inconvenient truth about our world that our value structure is unwilling to accept. Still, this dialectic between science and society is a needed restraint on the practice of science, and keeps us from going too far.
156160
leave other countries and let them manage their own world
971013
Its a way people can be manipulated and controlled.
668086
Absolutely. We need some form of ethical direction in our lives.
109704
To control the world thru "democracy"