(word processor parameters LM=1, RM=70, TM=2, BM=2) Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501 Sponsored by Vangard Sciences PO BOX 1031 Mesquite, TX 75150 March 5, 1990 On the Misuse of Scientific Discoveries In October 1953, a celebrated Professor of Law in Athens, Mr. O.J. Despotopoulos, appealed to UNESCO in a manifesto demanding that scientific research should cease, or at least be kept secret. It ought, he suggested, to be in future entrusted to a council of scientists, elected by a world vote, and consequently having authority to keep silence. A letter from Mr. Despotopoulos in 1955 says : "Natural science is certainly one of the most meritorious conquests in human history. But the moment it liberates forces capable of destroying the whole human race it ceases from a moral standpoint to be what it used to be. It has become almost impossible to distinguish between pure science and its technological applications. One cannot therefore speak of science qua science as being a good thing in itself. Or rather, in some of its more important branches, it has now become a negative value in so far as it no longer conforms to ordinary moral standards and is free to exercise its dangerous activities in order to satisfy the lust for power of the politicians. This adoration of progress and freedom where scientific research is concerned is wholly pernicious. What we propose is this: the codification of the conquests of natural science up to now, and the creation of a Council of World Scientists with powers to prohibit absolutely or partially any progress it may achieve in the future. Such a measure, no doubt, would be tragically severe, even cruel, since the activity it seeks to curtail is one of the noblest human impulses, and it is impossible to underestimate the difficulties inherent in such a solution. But there is no other that could be so efficacious. The objections are easily foreseen: a return to the Middle Ages, to barbarism, etc.; but these do not really carry any weight. Out intention is not to retard intellectual advancement, but to protect it; not to impose restrictions for the benefit of any social class, but in the interests of humanity as a whole. There lies the problem. Anything else can only lead to divisions and time wasted in trying to tackle problems of lesser importance." These ideas have much in common with certain proposals put forwad at international conferences on disarmament. Other civilizations apparently have had similar ideas regarding the control and regulation of scientific activities specifically including the release of dangerous knowledge into the hands of those who would irresponsibly misuse the information. One such civilization was the Eastern Indians at the time of the great ruler, Emperor Asoka in 273 B.C. Asoka was the grandson of Chandragupta, the first ruler to unify India. Ambition goaded Asoka to complete the work of his grandfather by conquering the region of Kalinga, between what is now Calcutta and Madras. 100,000 Kalingan lost their lives in defense of their country during the battle. Asoka was overcome with emotion on viewing the resulting massacre and forever after experienced a horror of war. Introspection on the results of his attempt to complete the unification of India led him to a profound realization. He came to understand that the only true conquest was to win men's hearts by observance of the laws of duty and piety, because the Sacred Majesty desired that all living creatures should enjoy security, peace and happiness and be free to live as they pleased. By his own virtuous example, Asoka spread this religion (Buddhism) throughout India, Malaya, Ceylon and Mongolia. Asoka respected all religious sects, preached vegetarianism, abolished alcohol and the slaughter of animals. The famous writer, H.G. Wells, in his OUTLINE OF WORLD HISTORY wrote : 'Among the tens of thousands of names of monarchs accumulated in the files of history, the name of Asoka shines almost alone, like a star.' Emperor Asoka's repulsion of war caused him to seek a means to forbid men ever to put their intelligence to evil uses. During his reign natural science, past and present, was vowed to secrecy. Henceforward, and for the next 2,000 years, all researches, ranging from the structure of matter to the techniques employed in collective psychology, were to be hidden behind the mystical mask of a people commonly believed to be exclusively concerned with ecstasy and supernatural phenomena. Asoka founded the most powerful secret society on earth; that of the Nine Unknown Men. It is still thought that the great men responsible for the destiny of modern India, and scientists like Bose and Ram believe in the existence of the Nine, and even receive advice and messages from them. The story of the Nine Unknown Men was popularized for the first time in 1927 in a book by Talbot Mundy who for twenty-five years was a member of the British police force in India. His book is half fiction, half scientific inquiry. The Nine apparently employed a synthetic language, and each of them was in possession of a book that was constantly being rewritten and containing a detailed account of some branch of science. The first of these books is said to have been devoted to the technique of propaganda and psychological warfare. 'The most dangerous of all sciences,' wrote Mundy, 'is that of moulding mass opinion, because it would enable anyone to govern the whole world.' It must be remembered that Korjybiski's GENERAL SEMANTICS did not appear until 1937 and that it was not until the West had had the experience of the last World War that the techniques of the psychology of language, i.e. propaganda, could be formulated. The second book was on physiology. It explained, among other things, how it is possible to kill a man by touching him, death being caused by a reversal of the nerve-impulse. It is said that Judo is a result of 'leakage' from this book. The third volume was a study on microbiology, and dealt especially with protective colloids. The fourth was concerned with the transmutation of metals. There is a legend that in times of drought temples and religious relief organizations received large quantities of fine gold from a secret source. The fifth volume contains a study of all means of communication, terrestrial and extra-terrestrial. The sixth expounds the secrets of gravitation. The seventh contains the most exhaustive cosmogony known to humanity. The eighth deals with light. The ninth volume, on sociology, gives the rules for the evolution of societies, and the means of foretelling their decline. Avoiding all forms of religious, social or political agitations, deliberately and perfectly concealed from the public eye, the Nine were the incarnation of the ideal man of science, serenely aloof, but conscious of his moral obligations. Having the power to mould the destiny of the human race, but refraining from its exercise(?), this secret society is the finest tribute imaginable to freedom of the most exalted kind. Looking down from the watch-tower of their hidden glory, the Nine Unknown Men watched civilizations being born, destroyed and re- born again, tolerant rather than indifferent, and ready to come to the rescue - but always observing that rule of silence that is the mark of human greatness. Myth or reality? A magnificent myth, in any case, and one that has issued from the depths of time - a harbinger, maybe, of the future? ------------------------------------------------------------------ excerpted from Morning of the Magicians by Pauwels & Bergier