Abstract

Minority Report

Crossing the threshold of the researcher Edward Teller's den is an experience to flutter even the most insouciant. It becomes evident with gratifying speed that for Teller this involves a matter of personal and professional solidarity. In Teller's opinion, the whole controversy arises because of a warped relation between science and secrecy. Secrets should have a time limit. For people at this Olympian level, the concerns of moles and spies and cops and journalists are unimportant. The decision to classify something as "secret" or as private property, like the decision to make such classifications a matter of treason one day and of international scientific brotherhood the next, is taken by a caste of experts who elect only one another, and who are not bound by normal codes and rules.