Bulletin Number Five 1983

the majority o f scientists all over the world are working in so-called ‘defence' . They are perfectly w illing to prostitute their talents to these extremely evil designs. In other words, once you've lost ethics, you've lost all kinds o f control over what science does. I am personally inclined to think that the expulsion o f ethics from science is altogether a two-edged thing. It's good in a way, but it's also very bad in a way. And we have to try to define exactly what we mean by this. I'm very uncertain about what ought to be done because in a sense the whole thing can only be controlled when we've got a world government. And we seem to be a long way from having a world government. I f you did have, you could see that it might be able to control the knowledge produced by science for the benefit o f man, and prevent it from being used for the destruction o f mankind. I would like to mention, as in fact I've often done in the past, a wonderful sentence which I found in the Kuan Yin Tzu ( 《關尹子》 ) ， a Taoist book o f the late T'ang. The author was talking about the making o f extremely sharp swords, and he said, ‘Only those who have the Tao w ill be able to perform such actions, and better still, not per­ form them, though capable o f performing them.' So mankind must be prepared to know and yet not to use. This is the case w ith nuclear weapons, for example. You can't say that any knowledge is bad. It's very good that we have the knowledge o f nuclear power, but we must not use nuclear explosions. It may be necessary perhaps not to use nuclear power either, for power stations seem to be inextricably tied up w ith nuclear weapons. It is much better to use the wind power or tidal power and so on, which we know cannot be exhausted. Mankind w ill have to come to this eventually, I am sure. Q. Then what is your advice fo r scientists ？ A. Scientists say it is not our responsibility what evil people do w ith the things we discover. But that might be more convincing if a large number o f scientists were prepared not to work for the army, navy and air force in all countries. I believe the majority o f scientists in the world are engaged in warlike activities. So it is really not very convincing to say that this is what evil people do w ith our discoveries. I think people have got to be prepared to refuse to do that sort o f work. And we know some people have. Q. But hasn't their research added to scientific knowledge? A. Yes. But under what auspices? That is the ques­ tion. There have been big rows in recent years about the use o f university laboratories for so- called defence researches. In America, for example, there have been quite a lo t o f con­ troversies about that. Some universities, i f not many, have refused to take army, navy and air force grants. Q. Bu t strictly speaking ， the application o f science fo r human benefit lies beyond the realm o f science. A. Yes, but every scientist is more than a scientist. He is a citizen. Q. You mentioned that the great ethical tradition o f Chinese culture might offer a solution to the misuse or social abuse o f science. A. I always find that the ethical tradition was so strong in Chinese friends. The normative tradition, the feeling that things were not right, and that they ought to be different, and ought to be improved, is very strong in Chinese thought, so I felt that might be useful in mobilizing people for the benefit o f humanity. Q. Do you think that a world culture will eventually emerge? A. Yes, I think so, undoubtedly. Q. How do you envisage it? A. I have no idea. I am not a futurologist, as I said before. But I think there is going to be. I really would deduce it from the way evolution has taken so far. I think social evolution follows on the development o f man. It is going to go very much further and it points towards a unified world state, or unified world government i f you like. I do not regard it as a kind o f miracle, but I think it is the obvious result o f the centuries and centuries o f evolution. Q. Have you ever regretted having undertaken the SCC project ， on which you have now spent over fo rty years? A. No, never. When we first planned it before World War II, we thought it would perhaps be one small book. But it grew and grew enormously, because the things you could find in Chinese culture con­ stituted an unexpected gold-mine, and demanded all this space for completion. When Wang Ching- Ning ( 王 靜 寧 ) and I went through the sciences in the first place, we divided everything into ACADEMIC/CULTURAL EVENTS 25