The story of physicist Leo Szilard, who helped develop the atomic bomb, then organized against its use when he foresaw its consequences. The author recounts the struggle between scientists and statesman over use of the bomb. "Politics had been defined as the art of the possible," Leo Szilard said in December 1945. "Science might be defined as the art of the impossible. The crisis which is upon us may not find its ultimate solution until the statesmen catch up with the scientists and politics, too, becomes the art of the impossible."

This was a presentation at "Hiroshima Sans Amour, " Conference on the 50th Anniversary of the End of World War II, Universite de Mons-Hainaut, Belgium, September 15, 1995.

The very qualities giving rise to the positive contributions of scientists and engineers to human well-being also lead to major amplifications of inflicted sufferings. Foremost is their dedication to whatever research they happen to be pursuing at the moment. Most scientists consider it a compliment to be referred to as a "man obsessed with science." As one Nobel laureate declared in 1980, "Unless you are obsessed with scientific questions, you are not going to get anywhere with them."

To be obsessed, however, is frequently to plow "full steam ahead" with technological progress and damn the consequences of potential dukkhas. The author pursues numerous instances of this Faustian conundrum.