Science
-
Representation at the visual receptors of such properties of the object as its size, shape, orientation, and movement undergo considerable variation as the distance, bearing, posture, and motion of the observer, relative to the object, changes. However, despite these gross and frequent deformations of the image, perceived properties remain extraordinarily stable. Such constancy has obvious biological utility; the observer perceives his world according to its fixed physicalfeatures rather than in terms of its variable sensory representation. ⋯ Failure to recognize classes of illusion(and perceptual constancy), such as those of size, orientation, and movement, can be regarded as among the major deficiencies of recent attempts (2, 44) to explain illusory effects. I do not claim that this explanation, which I call the general constancy theory, satisfactorily encómpasses all known illusions, but merely that it is more comprehensive than alternative explantions I conclude that any stimulus which serves to maintain perceptual constancy of a property of an object as the visual representation of that property varies will, when independently manipulated with the retinal image not varied, produce an illusion. This general principle predictS the conditions under which illusory effects will occur and has wide explanatory application.
-
A recent newspaper account of the 1970 annual meeting of the AAAS was headlined, "Science's Blank Check Bounces." I am not, however, advocating that giving a "blank check" to science will solve all our problems. The discussion of science policy in the last three decades has too often confused necessary with sufficient conditions. A strong basic science is a necessary condition for a strong economy, a livable environment, and a tolerable society. ⋯ It will change, as science has always changed. It will respond to new social priorities, but, like an organism responding to disease, it will develop antibodies which will fight and finally contain excessive control by external criteria, and in fact will transform these external pressures into new opportunities and new fundamental fields of inquiry. But I could be wrong!
-
Randomization has played an important role in social affairs, going back at least to biblical days. The drawing of lots, one of the simplest forms of randomization, has been used publicly in many different contexts. Although the legal use of randomization techniques and lotteries in the United States dates back at least to the mid-19th century, only recently have the federal courts recognized the need for proper randomization to assure fairness, lack of bias, and lack of discrimination. ⋯ Note added in proof: Professor Hans Zeisel has brought to my attention the details of the draft procedure used in Austria-Hungary between 1889 and the start of World War I. This draft procedure was also based on a lottery, with every person liable for the draft (or a representative) drawing a slip of paper on which was recorded a number indicating a place in the draft list. It is conceivable that Selective Service officials, in charge of the World War I lottery in the United States, were familiar with the details of this draft lottery procedure.