Carl%20Sagan%20-%20The%20Demon%20Haunted%20World

THE DEMON-HAUNTED WORLD
weapons establishment, to develop and explode new generations
of high-yield thermonuclear weapons in space, in order to
destroy or deflect asteroids that might be on collision trajectories
with the Earth. I worry that premature experimentation
with the orbits of nearby asteroids may involve extreme dangers
for our species.
Dr Teller and I have met privately. We've debated at
scientific meetings, in the national media, and in a closed rump
session of Congress. We've had strong disagreements, especially
on Star Wars, nuclear winter and asteroid defence.
Perhaps all this has hopelessly coloured my view of him.
Although he has always been a fervent anticommunist and
technophile, as I look back over his life it seems to me I see
something more in his desperate attempt to justify the hydrogen
bomb: its effects aren't as bad as you might think. It can be
used to defend the world from other hydrogen bombs, for
science, for civil engineering, to protect the population of the
United States against an enemy's thermonuclear weapons, to
wage war humanely, to save the planet from random hazards
from space. Somehow, somewhere, he wants to believe that
thermonuclear weapons, and he, will be acknowledged by the
human species as its saviour and not its destroyer.
When scientific research provides fallible nations and political
leaders with formidable, indeed awesome powers, many
dangers present themselves: one is that some of the scientists
involved may lose all but a superficial semblance of objectivity.
As always, power tends to corrupt. In this circumstance, the
institution of secrecy is especially pernicious, and the checks
and balances of a democracy become especially valuable.
(Teller, who has flourished in the secrecy culture, has also
repeatedly attacked it.) The CIA Inspector General commented
in 1995 that 'absolute secrecy corrupts absolutely'. The
most open and vigorous debate is often the only protection
against the most perilous misuse of technology. The critical
piece of the counterargument may be something obvious that
many scientists or even lay people could come up with provided
there were no penalties for speaking out. Or it might be
something more subtle, something that would be noted by an
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