Nuclear Reactions: Science and Trans-Science - Hardcover

by Alvin M. Weinberg (Author)

"Blurb & Contents" "Marvelous reading, with few problems of the interaction between science/technology and society left untouched. One need not always agree, but one cannot come away without a better education....I found the parts on scientific administration and on the interaction of science and society excellent and provocative reading, and the parts on energy and nuclear energy very much to the point." American Journal of Physics Alvin Weinberg explores through these collected essays the ever troublesome relationship between science, technology, and society. The title is taken from Weinberg's assertion that most of the issues arising at the intersection of science and society depend upon answers to questions that lie outside the power of science--issues that are trans-scientific. Weinberg, who during World War II helped develop the first nuclear reactors, has much to say on the current role of nuclear power and the possibilities for the future. Other topics include strategic defenses and arms control, the role of the science administrator, and the way in which time, energy, and resources are allocated to public problems. In this remarkable record of a half- century of public-oriented work, Weinberg lays the foundation for a philosophy of scientific administration parallel to the more established philosophy of science.

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Today we are continuously asked to weigh the benefits of technology against its risks. Do the rewards of nuclear reactors, for example, come with an acceptable degree of risk? Alvin Weinberg coined the term "trans-science" to describe such questions; the answers, of course, are beyond the reach of pure science. The intersection of scientific limitations and public expectations has been Weinberg's intellectual realm for more than 30 years. Director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Office of Energy Research and Development, and the Institute for Energy Analysis, Weinberg has spent his career as a scientific administrator mediating the roles of science in matters of public policy. In addition to his famous piece that introduced the concept of trans-science, this collection of insightful and challenging essays includes "Science and Its Limits: The Regulator's Dilemma", an update of Weinberg's seminal article with more recent thoughts on scientific responsibility and regulation. Weinberg writes with knowledge and passion about arms control and strategic defense, the greenhouse effect, resource scarcity, solar power, scientific administration, and "engineering in the age of anxiety, '' dealing with nuclear-reactor safeguards and public perceptions of their reliability. Weinberg argues persuasively that a philosophy of scientific administration (parallel with the philosophy of science) is needed to deal with trans-scientific questions. The author recalls the excitement and optimism of the first age of nuclear power, in which he played a significant role, and the sober reality of the current second stage. He sails enthusiastically into the debate between "catastrophists", those who seeimminent exhaustion of the earth's resources, and "cornucopians", those, like Weinberg, who argue that most major materials are inexhaustible. In a collection that contains expert assessment and forceful argument, Weinberg goes to the heart of the most troubling conundrums at the nexus of science and society.