Vision for science and war in the 30s

Introduction :
The beginning of the twentieth century was a period of rapid scientific advancement. Science was being put to various technological uses and people had already begun to wonder on its future prospects and limitations. Prominent among them was Vannevar Bush, who considered science an essential tool for interacting with the world, as well as for organizing and disseminating knowledge. Bush's idea of an information workstation, the memex, was revolutionary and served as a kernel for the World Wide Web and the information age. Alongside, there were also those sciences which were developed only as a result of military requirements due the political context of the time. The World Wars, especially World War 2, changed the way science was done and during its period emerged several new directions of scientific research.

War and the Cybernetic Vision:
In his paper titled 'The Ontology of the Enemy', Peter Galison describes three different pictures of enemies emergent in WW2- the sub-human Japanese, the anonymous enemy separated by physical and moral distance, and a cold blooded, machine like calculating enemy. In order to tackle this third kind of enemy, three closely related sciences were developed - game theory, operations research and cybernetics. Each one of them had its own vision of the enemy and focussed on solving a particular class of problems. The field of cybernetics, led by Norbert Wiener, was designed to predict the actions of and defeat the so called 'Manichean Devil', a logical and cunning opponent capable of bluffing in order to maximize its chance of victory. He designed the Anti Aircraft Radar system capable of using feedback to track and shoot down enemy planes effectively. In Wiener's analysis, the machine was indistinguishable from the man who controlled it and both could be treated as a servo mechanism which could then be subjected to statistical study. We notice that the war blurred the boundaries between man and machine, a concept that has gained more popularity and acceptance in recent years with the advancement of artificial intelligence and prosthetics.

The Postwar Period:
Did things change after the war? Yes and no. With the devastation caused by the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world came to realise that scientific discoveries could be put to destructive uses. The physical and moral separation of the anonymous enemy vanished with the huge death toll and widespread suffering evident as a result of the war. Several scientists, including Wiener, became disillusioned and resolved not to pursue their research any further, fearing it could be misused. However, during the buildup of tensions between the USA and the USSR during the Cold War, several new and more destructive weapons were developed. Apparently, the lessons both countries learned during the World War were quickly forgotten in the rush for military supremacy.

The Current Scenario:
The World War ushered in a new age in cybernetics in a way that voltage regulators and thermostats could not. Vannevar Bush's beliefs that science could better the life of man in times of peace reveal a balance and optimism towards both science and military that is much rarer today. Concerns have been raised that technology is developing so rapidly that it is out-pacing our ability to control it. Cybernetics has evolved to the point that we now envision cyborgs and other kinds of artificial intelligence. A third world war at this time will be catastrophic for human civilization. Thus, I feel that since the 1930s, our visions of science and war have changed in many ways - perhaps the most important difference being a more mature and holistic outlook to the impact of new scientific developments on society.