Has science a future

by Prof. Jean-Marc Lévy-Leblond (Université Nice Sophia-Antipolis)

Tuesday 22 Mar 2011, 16:00 → 18:00 Europe/Rome

Aula Conversi (Dipartimento di Fisica - Ed. G. Marconi)

Modern science has a past of a few centuries. How many centuries is its future long? Since the Scientific Revolution at the beginning of the 17th century, technical practice and scientific activity have progressively converged, the first one inspiring the second before being fecundated by it, although rather lately (19th century). The historically hitherto unknown efficiency of this coupling has led in the 20th century to science being threatened by its very success; progressively invaded by the technology it has generated, science becomes technoscience. This new form of social organization of knowledge production, dominated by economical and political agendas, leads to material activity overcoming intellectual activity; transforming the world undermines its understanding. We could well witness in the near future a paradoxical return to the situation preceding the Scientific Revolution where very sophisticated forms of technical craftsmanship developed without any theoretical basis.