Vice President Gore: “Democracy Needs the Sound of Your Voices”

On February 12, Vice President Al Gore spoke at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Baltimore, Maryland. Excerpts from his remarks, entitled, “The Technology Challenge: What is the Role of Science in American Society?” are quoted below. The "//" indicates that selections from separate paragraphs have been combined in the interests of space.

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“Not too long ago, the metaphors of science migrated easily to the realm of political and economic affairs.... But not today -- or at least not very often.// So today, in the spirit of academic inquiry, let me propose an alternative metaphor.... It is the metaphor of distributed intelligence.”

”...somehow this idea, revolutionary as it was in the computer world, never travelled to other regions of our life -- and didn’t come anywhere near politics.... The metaphor of distributed intelligence has enormous explanatory power. It offers an insight into why democracy had triumphed over governments that depended exclusively on a central authority.”

“At their best, the scientific community and the university community embody the ideal of distributed intelligence. The great power of science derives in part from specialization into disciplines. But much of the power also comes from open criticism and communication across disciplines.... But if the physicists don’t talk to the chemists, and the chemists don’t talk to the economists, and if the economists don’t talk to the climatologists, then distributed intelligence is more aspiration than reality.”

”...scientific concepts sometimes elude the vast majority of our elected officials.// Lack of scientific understanding undercuts support for the pursuit of further understanding, which fosters deeper ignorance, which in turn further erodes support for battling that ignorance. It’s a vicious cycle.// And it’s already underway.”

“And that’s precisely the opposite of how it should work in America. For much of this century, Americans have benefitted from a virtuous circle.... As the nation generated wealth, a portion of that wealth was invested in research, science, and technology. Those investments helped answer what seemed answerable -- and eventually spawned still greater wealth, which was then invested in still more research.”

“But now -- because of the woeful lack of knowledge...that virtuous circle risks coming undone. At the very moment a new age demands continued investments in science and technology, there are some in Congress threatening to turn the clock backward with the largest cuts in 15 years.”

“The only investment Congress wants to increase was in health sciences. And that’s great. But in almost every other realm, they’re approaching science with all the wisdom of a potted plant.// Research on issues that will affect the health of our children, the condition of our planet, and the vibrancy of our economy -- risks being slashed to the bone.”

“But the saddest part is that it doesn’t have to be this way.// Of course we’ve got to balance the budget, but there’s both a sensible path and a dangerous path that can take us there.”

“Only a few years ago, the United States -- public and private combined -- invested three percent of its GDP in research and development. Today, it’s sunk to 2.6 percent. But if that weren’t enough, consider the long-term consequences if these deep cuts are imposed: by the year 2000, for the first time in history, Japan will spend more on research and development than the United States, in real terms.// It would be tragic if the richest nation on the planet, through its inaction, told its own future that discovery doesn’t matter.// ...if we broadcast an unending stream of signals that discovery doesn’t matter, that science is for someone else -- then all of us will pay [a]...price impossible to calculate.”

“Fortunately, President Clinton is trying to do better.// But we cannot do it alone. That is not how democracies work. And this is where you come in. Democracies, too, depend on distributed intelligence. And this democracy needs the sound of your voices and the dedication of your hearts. You must take up the call for knowledge.”

“In a sense, at the edge of a new century, we have a choice of two paths. One path retreats from understanding, flinches in the face of challenges, and disdains learning.... This know-nothing society bases regulations on suspicion instead of science, says that DDT isn’t harmful, and claims that global warming is the empirical equivalent of the Easter Bunny.// That’s the path we will be forced onto if these Congressional cuts become the law of the land, because scattered throughout their proposals are cuts in funding -- and outright prohibitions on research.”

“We need to create a learning society, a society that harnesses the power of distributed intelligence and uses it to lift our lives. And as the very embodiment of that ideal, you have an obligation to help make it happen.// Let’s get to work.”