Opinion: The Limitations of Science

Science these days seems all but omnipotent. Its practitioners build nuclear weapons powerful enough to pulverize much of the world; they put together space vehicles with which man can probe deep into the solar system and beyond. The time seems close when experimenters may actually create life in the laboratory. Small wonder, says Dr. Vannevar Bush, 75, honorary board chairman of M.I.T., that to the general public, scientists are "supermen" who "can do anything, given enough money."

Many people, says Bush, believe "that scientists can establish a complete set of facts and relations about the universe, all...