The Redirection of Science?

Abstract

In his provocative 1984 paper, “The 1984 Global System,” Stevan Dedijer has suggested that “humanity is not yet an entity with a problem-solving capability including the necessary will and commitment.” I think Stevan would agree that one of the major potential sources of this problem-solving capability will be science and the scientific and technological knowledge-generating system that man has been developing since the Enlightenment. The question is whether this enormously powerful engine should and can be redirected to better solve the global problems facing contemporary mankind. If the “will and commitment” which is now lacking were to be exercised, in what ways would it recast the agenda of science, and to what extent would such redirection be compatible with the social system which is responsible for the creativity and dynamism of science? There is a prior question of why we should wish to redirect science, and if so, in what directions would we wish to direct it, and on whose authority?