AbstractThis is the text of the Thirteenth Annual Science Policy Foundation Lecture, given at the Royal Society of Arts, London, on 13 October 1977.Mr Maddox, British writer and broadcaster, is a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, the Genetic Manipulation Advisory Group, the British Library Advisory Council, and the Council on International Development. He is probably best known as Editor ofNaturefor eight years (to 1973) and for his books,The Doomsday Syndrome(1972) andBeyond the Energy Crisis(1975).