never has been, a risk-free world. If SPS has a reasonable potential for meeting the world's increasing demand for energy and without the hazards of other systems even though they may yet prove beneficial as engineering knowledge improves and becomes more widespread, then there is a case, and a very good case too, for a prompt start on a pilot project. The learning curve is with us ‘for the duration'. But without the nuts and bolts of actual experience, how can true learning be assured? The Challenger accident of course provided sombre reminders that even admirable technical ideas are prone to error and failure. I would like, therefore, to add a plea for an approach that goes far beyond the scope of even so ambitious a programme as the SPS. When I was in college, professors were fond of quoting with approval the old adage, ‘Experts on tap, not on top'. We have now learned anew that management cannot be ‘scientific' if the manager does not have a thorough understanding of what is being managed. Industry and government, faced with the dramatic enlargement of the size of engineering enterprises in the wake of World War II, developed cadres of ‘engineer-managers' who proved, in the field, that they could handle the complex tasks implicit in the administration of vast new engineering systems. Proper training of top management is a sine qua non, or we shall all suffer the consequences. I wonder whether it is not in the deeper interest of the world community to initiate one graduate academy-or perhaps several-for the recruitment and training of engineer-managers of the highest calibre. SPS is but one of a whole host of technologies whose time has come. But we need a reliable, astutely contrived school and career path for the men and women who will guide such enterprises to safe harbours. Nor is this a matter for rich countries alone. Kathleen Murphy's statistical study, Macroproject Development in the Third World (Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1982) indicated that in the single decade of the 1970s, the equivalent of a trillion dollars was invested in macro-engineering ventures costing upwards of $100 million each. As micro-technology advances, the range, impact and complexity of engineering systems must increase. Macro-engineering can improve the quality of life, but vigilance is called for to monitor the competence and character of those to whom new and powerful technical systems are entrusted. Ad Astra, yes! And inevitably, Per Ardua.
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