Editorial Page . Scotsmen “may -from: the the “something to 6 - Sunday, August J1, 1985 - North Shore News Freedom threat. : jistS Walked out this week. Even BBC and, which sees more strikes than Britis Columbia, this caused raised eyebrows. The effects were felt around the world. Journalist protest the owned BBC 5 tary about ¢% The document Gregory Cam 5 walked out for 24 hours to defision by the government- ot to air a television documen- ifemisis in Northern Ireland. at included an interview with Pra 9 euilitant Protestant Pee artin McGuinness, a leader Politician and the political arm of the Irish Republican Asmy. Margaret Thatcher and ; ent had publicly urged the her . governm ‘ot be shown. n documentary yistS contend the move smacks The journalé of ‘ 4 : course they are right. The of censorship- denies this. BBC s¢ ” ; sBEC, of core government and freedom of pd in hand. This is one of the ne press go W between ‘democracy and dic- tatorship ‘Ané:?*-BBC, by withdrawing the documentary, po matter what their reasons, give the appear#nce of succumbing to gov- ernment pres suse Censorship Eves. ; Journalists FU4e themselves on presenting both’ sides of the story. it is up to the redders, or jisteMers, Or: viewers’ to make a decision based On the facts Presented. A journalist, and # news organization are not i fen presenting the facts. That » bhi Wi ic stow itera are for. And the BBC, by ‘y +. {he documentary, seriously Sotaeee is credibility as an. impartial newsgathering organization, H t Och Rol. finally “be comprehensible bet t- Publishing ‘of The-Concise- ‘since the rece” yp vou can’t tell'a kilt from ; Seots Dictionacosld be a chance.to ingest a ete alter from: the land of thistles vi bit a cultrne dictionary: records words and neater: 42th century to the present - peruse while enjoying a wee dram. i wpa ‘Diaptay Advertising 980-0511 - Classified Advertising 986-6222 “Newsroom | 985-2131 Cireulation 986-1337 Subscriptions © 965-2131 4930 Lonsdate AV” North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 publisher Peter Speck Manager Roger McAlee i$ Manager Berni Hilliard ':. Advertising Olractor - Sales Generé OperatiO Markoting Director oT Linda Stewart. | bob Graham or Advertising Director - Admin. ; Circulation Direc _ Mike Goodsell Production Directo? / Editor-in-Chiet uction Noel Wright : Chris Johnson. @ _ Photography Manag Terry Peters Classified Manager Val Stephenson unded in 1969 ‘as an independent suburban North Shore Nows forget Schedule til, Part Ill, Paragraph Ul of the newspaper and quale ed Bach Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by Excise Tax Act. is publi d. Nd distributed to every door on the North North Shore Free Press if A29istration Number 3885. Entire contents Shore. Second Class Ma @ Plese Ltd. All rights reserved. © aa8s North Snot and west vancouver, $25. per year. Mailing rates Ubscriptions, available on request. cepled for unsolicited material including No responsibitity 3C od pictures wnich should be accompanied by a stamped, manusctipts an sere nomber of th® B.C. Press Council . F §6,245 (average. Wednesday tiday & Sunday} SpA pVisio’ THis papER IS RECYCLABLE i ae ATTER SPENDING A FORTUNE ON RESEARCH COKE AND PERS) HAVE CONE UP WH A SAGE CONTANER FOR THEIR PRODUCT ---MHATS YOUR VERDICT? WARNING SIGNS — PART | Time to listen to Suzuki CANADA’S BEST KNOWN scientist, Dr. David Suzuki, gave a scary speech in Vancouver a little while ago. The audience was the national con- ference of the Canadian Clubs of Canada. By GRAHAM LEA | ‘As far as I can tell, Dr. ‘Suzuki’s remarks went unreported in the media — and that’s too bad, because this eminent scientist and broadcaster was trying to warn us of a very real and impending danger. ’ Dr. Suzuki told his au- dience that their world is be- ing drastically altered by advances in scientific research. Yet most of. us know next to nothing about science, and we act as if the technological revolution has nothing to do with our own daily lives. . Our newspapers and TV Newscasts cover economics, politics and crime. Those are the subjects we worry about, .talk about, try to deal with. Most of us are able to form an opinion and take a stand on these issues, and so we think of ourselves as in- formed citizens, in touch with what's going on in our world. But the real driving force for change in our lives, says Dr. Suzuki, is the revolution in science and technology. Science is rapidly rebuilding our world around us, and we’re just not equipped to deal with the issues science presents us with. How many of us know enough about genetic engineering to have an opi- nion on it? How many of us have even an inkling of what this one branch of science might mean for agriculture, medicine, the energy in- dustry or a dozen other aspects of our society? HOW TO COPE What do we know about the world-wide interconnec- tion of computer data systems, which allows almost anyone with a computer and a telephone to find out vir- tually everything about you and me, without our knowi- edge? What do we know about psychographics, the. new science that fets government and industry predict and manipulate our thoughts and behavior to an extent that would make Orwell’s Big Brother green with envy? What do we know about palte tectonics, or research into fusion power genera- tion, or the possibility of - cloning identical copies of ourselves by the next genera- tion? - The answer, according to David Suzuki, is that we don’t know nearly enough. And what we don’t know about science and technology can hurt us. The past forty years have seen more technological change than our ancestors had to deal with in the two centuries between the in- dustrial revolution and’ the Second World War. In just two generations, we've had to get used to television and atomic bombs, transistors and microchips, jet planes and communications satellites, computers and birth control pills, robots and lasers, Organ (transplants and test- Noel Wright on Holiday tube conception. And the futurists tell us we ain’t seen nothing yet. The next ten years are likely~ to bring as much new change as the past forty. If we are: still reeling from all that has happened in two genera- tions, how will we cope with the same amount of change in only one quarter of the’ time? , Technological change is an avalanche. that. is still building up speed. Most of the scientists who have ever ~ lived are alive today: Twenty years from now, most of the’ workforce will be employed: in industries that do-not yet exist. ; The modern world we are - struggling to get used to will - itself be obsolete in a de- cade. Not one institution of our society — government, the courts, education, mar- riage, the economy — will be unaffected by new scientific discoveries. The world of our children will be as different from ours as ours is from the. world of our great grand- parents, Children born today will be able to live and work in orbiting space colonies, clone themselves, regenerate diseased organs, communi- cate instantly with anyone anywhere on the planet, mine the moon and the asteroids, or even travel to the stars. They will see things that no human being has ever yet seen, and do things that are now not even dreamed of. INVEST IN YOUTH But will we be ready for the incredible new world we will be living in before this century is out? Or will we continue to ig- nore what science and technology are doing te our world,. until it is too iate? - Will we end up as a techno- logically: backwards . people, _ depending. on others for cast-off technology and second-rate systems? --That’s’the future Dr. . Suzuki warns of. The way to prevent that future is to in- vest now in the scientific -education’ -of our “young people.) *: ‘To Dr. Suzuki, investing in the scientific education of young people means spen- . ding the money it takes to keep. our brightest minds at ‘home. “Most « of) Canada’s finest scientists ‘are doing work in the United States or in other. countries that can provide first-class research facilities. . Canada’s b:st universities are only fifth-rate. compared to the dest inthe world, he says. And they’re not likely to improve until Canadians understand that spending money on research and education is our only hope for avoiding a slide into Third World status. . Dr. Suzuki's warning is particularly appropriate’ to British Columbia, where we do Jess research and spend less on education than any province in the country. The dangerous future he is pointing out tous is only a few years away, yet the budyet-cutting at our universities and technical schools continues. Dr. Suzuki should be in- vited to repeat his Canadian Club speech to the Socred cabinet. But, unfortunately, he would probably be wasting his breath. Next week we'll look at the reasons why.