This document presents the 1970 W. O. Atwater Memorial Lecture, delivered at the Third International Congress of Food Science and Technology, Washington, D.C., August, 1970. Elaborating on life a few centuries hence, using reasonably realistic prospects based on understanding already available, Handler contends that the dreams of a peaceful, future society are indeed feasible. His principal thesis is that, even now, science has provided the basis of understanding necessary to fashion many elements of this society and that it will be fulfilled if mankind can survive the crises of this century. Reviewing the nature of some of the crises and the potential contributions of biological sciences to their solutions, he examines the problems of population, food supply, environmental quality, resource utilization, and world peace. Summary statements indicate that biological and physical research can permit us to refashion ourselves and our world, and that if the dream fails, it will be because of the limitations of man the social creature, not the elements of science. (BL)