Spectral lines: Engineering and emotion

In the previous issue, we broached the topic of scientists and engineers expressing viewpoints concerning the application of technology to systems affecting the public. We endorsed a suggestion, made by Alvin Weinberg, that a greater responsibility in debates before the public would entail a clear distinction by a scientist (or engineer) between judgments based on scientific fact and those based on something less than fact. Such, however, may be an ideal that is not achievable.