Science has become formidable force in today’s world. It is changing fast and making other institutions also undergo fast changes. Interaction with other social institutions with science and technology is a great challenge of our time. It is changing so fast that they have irresistible effects on other institutions. Commercial establishments, business firms, industries etc require latest technology to get success. Technical changes help government to perform better. Religion adopts its teachings to meet new scientific interpretation. Education seeks to prepare students for scientific and technical developments. Due to lack of systematic control of science and technology the mankind is facing problems. Environment has been the first casualty as far as the technological innovations is concerned. Due to excessive use of chemicals and artificial fertilizers soil degradation has reached alarming proportions. There have been many studies, which prove that food additives may cause cancer, blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases. The hole in ozone layer has led to global warming raising the temperature of the earth’s surface by few degrees. Society should take up the responsibility of fixing priorities for making scientific researches and technological findings.

If such priorities are not fixed then the innovations may not take place in accordance with the defined social goals. The haphazard ways in which the scientific and technological advances take place not only cause unforeseen effects but also distort the priorities of techno-scientific development. The scarce natural resources should be judiciously handled and conserved. They must be used for serving important human needs such as producing more effective life-saving drugs, predicting earthquake, tsunamis and floods. In a participant democracy ordinary people and their elected representatives take part in the decision-making process. In a highly technological society such decision-makers may unknowingly cause great dangers to the society by taking decisions, which can harm the society. For example building of nuclear reactors near urban settlements or giving permission to those industries, which can cause damage to environment. There is another danger caused by what is known as technocracy. Galbraith (1967) and others have warned about technocracy that is rule by technical experts who play their role behind the scenes. There exists a need for establishing a systematic control over scientific and technological developments. Ian Robertson says that this effort in itself involves some difficulties and problems. The task of establishing social control over science and technology gives rise to the problem of conflict of values. The ultimate object of science is the pursuit of knowledge. Albert Einstein one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century points to this conflict in the following words. “There arises at once the question should we consider the search for truth as an autonomous objective of our work? Or should our search for truth be sub-ordinated to some other objective for example to a practical one? This question cannot be decided on a logical basis.

The decision however will have considerable influence upon our thinking and our moral judgment, provided that it is born out of deep and unshakable conviction”. The issue of establishing social control over science and technology gives rise to conflict when society attempts to shift its priorities in applied research from one set of goals to another. For example if a manufacturing unit decides to produce packed food items instead of life-saving drugs it may lead to loss in infrastructure and to certain extent interference in the intellectual freedom of the scientists. Scientific and technological innovations or researches may not always bring about positive results. They may often lead to disastrous consequences. The problem that arises here is who should own the moral responsibility for having taken decisions about research that may have far reaching consequences? The atom bomb and other deadly weapons is one of the examples. The present day scientists in most of the countries are not able to control the uses to which their work is put. Most of them are disturbed about this situation. There is a need to maintain control through an international agency, which can monitor the application of science and technology in social spheres. Also political control over scientific and technological research is increasing. The popular skepticism has increased over the years following two world wars and recent wars and terrorist attacks in US and European countries. Hence there is an urgent challenge to find some means of ensuring that science and technology continue to develop in the direction of serving humanity rather than destroying it.