'The gleaming wings of science.'.

• Author: Polanyi, John Charles
• Position: Scientists' role in human rights protection

Sensing the historic nature of the occasion, the General Assembly adopted the Human Rights Declaration without dissent. No nation wished to place itself in opposition to the tide of history, though many may have said, with St. Augustine, "God make us good, but not yet". Nonetheless, such is the moral force of this Declaration that it is in the process of changing the world. It begins by spelling out the fundamental trinity of rights: that to life, which is paramount; that to liberty, which gives life meaning; and that to security, which permits the enjoyment of life. The recognition of these rights is not new. They have been in the process of definition for centuries. What makes the Universal Declaration an epochal document is first of all its global impetus and secondly the breadth of its claims, a commitment to a new social contract, binding on all the Governments of the world.

Through its 30 articles, all nations commit themselves to observe equality before the law, submit to the rule of law, foster freedom of speech and assembly, validate their own authority through free elections with universal franchise, and (strikingly) recognize the right of all to adequate food, shelter, health care, education and employment. These articles, written by human beings at a particular juncture in history, will eventually prove to be incomplete, but will endure as a declaration of principle that is both civilized and visionary. Let us look back at least to the beginning of this century, which was to be the century of science. Science, it seemed, held the key to an age of ease and plenty, and for many that proved to be the case. But for still more, it did not. That is because technology does not guarantee equity nor even elementary decency.

Instead, in the absence of respect for human rights, science and its offspring technology have been used in this century as brutal instruments for oppression. It was precisely to prevent a repetition of these horrors that the Universal Declaration was born. "We must beware", Winston Churchill warned, "lest the Stone Age return upon the gleaming wings of science."

However, such warnings overlook a vital element of hope that lies at the heart of modern science. The respect for human rights, essential if we are to use technology wisely, is not something alien that must be grafted onto science. On the contrary, it is integral to science, as also to scholarship in general.

Political movements that have denied this, donning...