The Discipline of Curiosity: Science in the World - Softcover

Inhaltsangabe

In the 20th century, more than ever before, the world is being shaped by science. Science has an intrinsic value in trying to find out how the world ticks, and it has an enormous and increasingly social value too. The scientific enterprise of today provides the information for the society of tomorrow. Scientists have become leading actors in world history. The discipline of curiosity, as science may be called, is not just a discipline of form, it is also a discipline of ends: political, moral, cultural and commercial ends. Science and technology have become features of daily life. In this book of interviews, fifteen opinion leaders (prominent figures from international politics, business, communication and science) give their vision on the changing role of science in society. They all agree that scientific information is essential, not just for the scientist. For with the recognition of its crucial importance comes the understanding that the scientific enterprise is, or should be, a concern to everybody. The scientist is a central figure and has to communicate with politicians, entrepreneurs and the public at large. The problems to be faced are manifold and include questions like: How should education policies be adjusted? How to combat the dangers of an unequal spread of knowledge within human societies? How to prevent groups getting excluded from democratic processes because they have not learnt to understand? How do we get scientific information in a form that is adequate and comprehensible to the various groups of potential users? Will the knowledge and technology gap between the industrialized countries and the Third World widen even further? What are the consequences of different cultures having different approaches to science? Those, and other questions come up for discussion in this book.

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