I think it was very courageous of you to invite an academic to speak to you at lunch time. You know, of course, that all academics are conditioned to talk in 50-minute blocks, and to try to stuff in 90 minutes of material. Fortunately, the antidote to that is the military cultural imperative to stay on schedule, so you probably won't have to sneak out the fire exits. I'm very honoured to be asked to give the W. B. Lewis Memorial Lecture, and I feel that way for at least three different reasons. First, we live in an odd time, when large numbers of otherwise logical folks have become inappropriately sceptical about the possibility of progress through science. Such a view would have been anathema to Wilfred Bennett Lewis, who never lost confidence in the ultimate benefit to humankind of advanced scientific knowledge. I share that opinion and delight in the fact that you honour his memory. Secondly, I am honoured to be counted amongst the ranks of the erudite crew who have carried out this annual task for you since 1988. And thirdly, ever since I first visited Chalk River as a young undergraduate physics student some 44 years ago, I have been convinced that the Canadian approach to nuclear power made more inherent sense than the approach of other nations. Both geopolitical and environmental events of recent years have strongly reinforced my original biases.
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