Q: The U.S. government is concerned about high technology links with the Eastern bloc. Does that concern you?
SEIBOLD: I am a scientist, and this is a European science foundation. It doesn’t matter to me, if a man is a good geologist, whether he is a communist or a Jesuit. If he cooperates and brings good ideas and is a good scientist, fine.
Q: But isn’t science becoming more closely linked with technology? Isn’t it becoming more difficult to draw a sharp line between what is basic science and what applied?
SEIBOLD: That’s true. It’s one of the difficulties. But it is good that science is not useless, that society needs science.
Q: But with the U.S. government’s resistance to technology transfer to Eastern bloc countries....
SEIBOLD: That’s politics. I’m happy to be a basic scientist But in the long run, all these barriers against technology transfer, all these hurdles ...
