The End of the Cartesian Dream?
Talk by Daniel Sarewitz at the Joint Research Centre (25 June 2015)
The science enterprise in the U.S.A., and other industrialized nations as well, is experiencing a period of profound and comprehensive stress that is beyond its capacity to comprehend, and thus to address. The main symptoms of this stress are 1) unsustainable growth of the enterprise; 2) poor research quality across broad swaths of science; 3) lack of progress on major priorities despite huge investments; and 4) increasing politicization of science. These problems are typically viewed as separate; I argue that they are causally connected. At their root is confusion about the role of science in human problem-solving, in particular a cultural proclivity to overvalue the importance of physics-like fundamental and general knowledge, and to attribute to such science capacities that are in fact located in technology, in institutional arrangements, and in political processes. This confusion has led to significant misdirection of scientific effort, even as researchers continue to churn out millions of articles (of often dubious quality) each year. The very integrity and legitimacy of science is potentially at stake. Some institutional experiments that can point the way toward a more scientifically and socially effective enterprise are now under way; many more will be needed.
About the Speaker:
Daniel Sarewitz is Professor of Science and Society, and co-director and co-founder of the Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes (CSPO), at Arizona State University (http://www.cspo.org). His work focuses on revealing and improving the connections between science policy decisions, scientific research and social outcomes. His most recent book is The Techno-Human Condition (co-authored with Braden Allenby; MIT Press, 2011). He is editor of the magazine Issues in Science and Technology (http://www.issues.org) and is also a regular columnist on science policy affairs for the journal Nature.
Contro Corrente is a series of seminars with renowned scholars and practitioners of science and technology studies, aiming at raising awareness of science and technology studies and how these types of reflexive activities can help with scientific practice at the Joint Research Centre.
For more information, please visit: http://sts.jrc.ec.europa.eu
