Scientific expertise offers a unique insight, and therefore responsibility, with regard to the human impact of new knowledge. Most scientists, however, are uncomfortable dealing with political machinery, and many lack the policy skills needed to relate their scientific expertise to social action.
Since Hiroshima, scientists have often been pitted against that machinery, and have protested about being blamed for uses of science they were not permitted to control.
We should thus welcome ways to share responsibility with policy experts. One good answer is the Office of the Science Adviser to the President, the influence of which has been revived with Allan Bromley's appointment. He has earned widespread approbation (though, of course, no automatic consensus) for his role as science adviser to President Bush, and his openness to broad input through the reconstituted President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology. These organs of advice to the president naturally focus on ...
