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<br />.. <br /> <br />. . . Science is the most powerful means we have for <br />the unification of knowledge; and a main obligation <br />of its future must be to deal with problems which cut <br />across boundaries, whether boundaries between the <br />sciences, boundaries between nations or boundaries <br />between man's scientific and humane concerns. <br /> <br />. . . I would mention a problem which I know has <br />greatly concerned many of you - that is, our respon- <br />sibility to control the' effects of our own scientific <br />experimentation. For, as science investigates the <br />natural environment, it also modifies it - and that <br />modification may have incalculable consequences, for <br />evil as well as for good. <br /> <br />In the past the problem of conservation has <br />be.en mainly the problem of inadvertent destruction <br />of natural resources. But science today has the <br />power for the first time in history to undertake <br />experiments with premeditation which can irreversibly <br />alter our biological and physical environment on a <br />global scale. <br /> <br />President John F. Kennedy <br />Address to National Academy <br />of Sciences <br />New York Times, <br />October 23, 1963 <br />