"If co-operation, is thus the lifeblood of science and technology, it is similarly vital to society as a whole"
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Co-operation is doing a lot of quiet argumentative work here: Compton frames it not as a civic virtue but as infrastructure, the circulatory system without which the modern world simply doesn’t function. “Lifeblood” is a strategic metaphor coming from a scientist. It smuggles in a claim of necessity, not preference. You can disagree with a policy; you can’t sensibly vote against oxygen. By tying science and technology to co-operation first, he chooses a domain his audience already treats as evidence-driven and productive, then pivots that legitimacy outward to society. The move is almost architectural: if the most reliable engine of progress depends on collaboration, why would we expect politics, economics, or public life to thrive on isolation and antagonism?
The subtext is mid-century and unmistakable. Compton lived through two world wars and the acceleration of “big science,” when breakthroughs were less the lone genius in a lab and more networks: universities, industry, governments, international conferences, and, uncomfortably, military projects. In that era, scientific achievement became proof that coordination at scale could work - while the same scale also made collective failure catastrophic. His phrasing gestures at that double truth: co-operation is how you build antibiotics and radar; it’s also how you prevent the social body from turning its tools against itself.
Notice the conditional “If...thus...” structure. It reads like a lab demonstration: accept the premise, follow the inference. The intent isn’t poetic uplift; it’s a scientist’s attempt to rebrand social solidarity as pragmatic engineering.
The subtext is mid-century and unmistakable. Compton lived through two world wars and the acceleration of “big science,” when breakthroughs were less the lone genius in a lab and more networks: universities, industry, governments, international conferences, and, uncomfortably, military projects. In that era, scientific achievement became proof that coordination at scale could work - while the same scale also made collective failure catastrophic. His phrasing gestures at that double truth: co-operation is how you build antibiotics and radar; it’s also how you prevent the social body from turning its tools against itself.
Notice the conditional “If...thus...” structure. It reads like a lab demonstration: accept the premise, follow the inference. The intent isn’t poetic uplift; it’s a scientist’s attempt to rebrand social solidarity as pragmatic engineering.
Quote Details
| Topic | Teamwork |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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