Present formulations of the responsibility of scientists for the social consequences of their efforts are not very helpful for the stabilization of society. More accurate estimates of the impact of a set of new developments can be generated if administrative scientists assigned a small group of specialists to the task while the ground-breaking research was still under way. An efficient procedure for such a group would be to (1) achieve an understanding of the scientific foundations of the impending innovation, (2) select those “futures” for the society for consideration which offer interesting changes in structure, and (3) developad hocmodels for these futures into which the innovation may be introduced and exert changes. By such means a first approximation of the effects can be deduced. A more refined picture can be obtained by considering the relevant public decisions which have to be made, the convergence of the path of this innovation with others, and hypothetically “looking back” from some point in the future and describing the successive stages of the impact. These techniques are aimed at minimizing the surprise afforded at decision-making levels by developments in science.