The Science Matrix: The Journey, Travails, Triumphs

In these essays Professor Seitz, President Emeritus of Rockefeller University, investigates the role of science and technology in modern society. Seitz is particularly interested in the historical connections between technology, society, and science. Why did what we now call science develop only in Western Europe? What made it such a powerful force for the development of technology? Why did other cultures - many of which have had continuous histories of intellectual inquiry far longer than Western Europe - not develop a similar science? What can we expect of the future - and what sort of predictions about the future can we expect?