10 - Epilogue

Summary

In this final chapter, we shall assess how far the HA-IBP project has realized its objectives with respect to the measurement of physiological work capacity, indicating what conclusions can be drawn from the research findings, and what major areas of uncertainty remain for subsequent study.

Unification of scientific endeavour

One fundamental premise of the HA-IBP project was that scientists from different nations and different disciplines would accept curtailment of personal freedom in order to undertake a joint and definitive study of questions relating to the broad field of human ecology. Many other world problems are becoming so vast that they require a similar united attack by the scientific community. The HA-IBP project thus provides a model for those who would examine both the possibilities and the handicaps of international and inter-disciplinary research.

The immediate impression left by HA-IBP was that an exciting degree of international cooperation had been realized. Friendly contacts were established between many widely-separated laboratories, with a very free exchange of both information and scientific staff. In the specific context of the measurement of human physical performance, agreement on a standard protocol was reached quite rapidly through a bench-level working party convened in Toronto. Unfortunately, no rapid and easy mechanism was discovered to make this working party completely representative of the scientific community, and perhaps for this reason other groups (usually with slightly different objectives) put forward their own plans for a national or international methodology at much the same time.