This Gifted Age Science and Technology at the Millennium

The essays in this collection of John Gibbons's non-technical writings show both the limiting and liberating influence of government on technological research and development. Gibbons addresses the issues involved in the government's directing as well as supporting technological and scientific advance; he discusses the ways in which government and science join in serving society; and provides a look behind the scenes of the making of science policy. Active in Washington since 1972, when he was appointed to the Office of Energy Conservation by President Nixon, he was the head of the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment from 1979 until 1992, when President Clinton named him Science Advisor.

Part One: 1972-1992: Energy, Environment, Science, and Society; Physics Looks at Waste Management with David J. Rose and William Fulkerson; The Growth of Energy Demand: Can We Cool It?; The Role of Conservation in the Changing Economics of Energy with Roger W. Sant; Crisis and Opportunity; Environmental Implications of Nontechnological Methods to Conserve Energy; U.S. Energy Demand: Some Low Energy Futures; A National Energy Conservation Policy with William U. Chandler; Whose Path, Whose Ox?; Global Trends in Population; Reflections on Fifteen Years of Energy Policy; Technology and Governance with Holly L. Gin; Energy Efficiency: Its Potential and Limits to the Year 2000 with Peter D. Blair; The Federal Government's Role in Advancing Technology; Governing in a Technology-Driven Age: Progress and Problems; Moving Beyond the "Tech Fix". Part Two: 1992- Present: On Becoming Science Advisor to the President; A National Technology Strategy; The Superconducting Supercollider; Conservation and Progress; The Clinton Administration's Science and Technology Policy; Grace or Good Works? Reformation of Science and Technology in the 1990's; Biotechnology: Opportunity and Challenge; National