The Changing Climate for Science, Society and Public Policy

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The Changing Climate for Science, Society and
Public Policy

• World Science Forum
• November 11, 2005

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The climate is determined by

• Issues within science itself
• Government regulations, priorities and funding
• How the public relates to science

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Within science.
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Advances in science are coming at a very rapid
pace, in part because

• Big science has spread into new fields
• Increasing inter-dependency of sciences
• Advances in science are being fueled by advances
  in technology

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The life sciences began doing big science
projects
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Human Genome Other
Species Genomes
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Genomes Proteomes
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Trends of the last decade

• Big science came to the life sciences
• All scientific fields are now clearly
  inter-dependent
• Diminishing amounts of disciplinary science

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The Leading Edge is Multidisciplinary
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Sciences top 125 include

• What is the universe made of?
• What is the biological basis of consciousness?
• How and where did life on earth arise?
• What determines species diversity?
• What genetic changes made us uniquely human?
• How are memories stored and retrieved?
• How does Earths interior work?
• Are we alone in the Universe?
• How hot will the greenhouse world be?

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Advances in science are coming at a fantastic and
accelerating pace, in part because

• Big science has spread into new fields
• Increasing multi-disciplinarity of science
• Advances in science are being fueled by advances
  in technology

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Technologies are enabling

• New kinds of science
• New questions
• New understanding

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Functional MRI of a normal subject
Anterior
Right
Ventral
R
L
Brocas area
posterior
Left
Parietal Cortex
L
SMA
R
Brocas area
Dorsal
L. Chang, M.D., T. Ernst, Ph.D., O. Speck,
Ph.D. Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Generating words (left brain dominant)
Chang, et al.
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The context is set by

• Issues within science itself
• Government regulations, priorities and funding

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Post 9/11 Security Issues

• Ease of travel
• Travel to foreign meetings
• Visas for foreign students and colleagues

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Recent Changes in International Student Interest
in US SE Graduate Training
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Post 9/11 Security Issues

• Ease of travel
• New research priorities

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New research priorities

• Bioterrorism
• Transportation security
• Cybersecurity
• Safety of the food supply

These are affecting both funding and research
community behavior
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Overall, research funding has become a lower US
national priority.
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the committee is deeply concerned that the
scientific and technical building blocks of our
economic leadership are eroding at a time when
many other nations are gathering strength.
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Measures of International Standing Authorship
Trends
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Federal policies can shift the lead in particular
scientific domains.
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Origin of Embryonic Stem Cell Papers
Source Levine, A., Politics and the Life
Sciences, Sept. 14, 2005.
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Recommendations

• Increase talent pool by improving k-12 science
  and math education
• Strengthen US commitment to long-term basic
  researchto maintain the flow of new ideas that
  fuel the economy, etc.

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The climate is determined by

• Issues within science itself
• Government regulations, priorities and funding
• How the public relates to science

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People generally still respect science and
technology.
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US publics view of scientific research
National Science Board, Science and Engineering
Indicators - 2002
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People still respect ST.
.but not everywhere in the same way or degree
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In Europe, the overall view of science has
deteriorated

• In 2005, 52 of people felt benefits of science
  outweighed its risks vs. 61 in 1992
• Thats almost 20 percentage points below the US.

Eurobarometer 2005
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The American situation is not as good as it might
appear.
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People have little understanding of what is and
is not science

• 60 of Americans believe in extrasensory
  perception
• 41 think astrology is somewhat scientific
• 47 still do not answer true to the statement
  Human beings developed from earlier species of
  animals

Science and Engineering Indicators, 2004
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The science-society relationship is deteriorating

• Much more tension in the relationship
• A new dimension has been added to the publics
  view of and behavior toward science and technology

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Historically, science and technology have been
evaluated primarily on the basis of their
costs/risks and benefits
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Now, values (and politics) are being overlaid
onto simple risk/benefit calculations
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We have seen values issues in the past

• Galileo, the earth and the sun
• Whether scientists should work on nuclear weapons
• Values (and political) issues are now very
  present in our society

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One political (economic) example

• Is there global warming?

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Human values issues

• Cloning and stem cells
• Studying personal topics
• Sex
• Genetics of behavior
• Teaching intelligent design in science
  classrooms

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Intelligent design claims to believe in gradual
change

• But a supernatural being guided the process
• Claims to be a scientific alternative to evolution

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You have to admit that evolution theory is not
complete. Dutch Education Minister,
Maria Van der Hoeven, 2005
Not just an American issue
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Overlay of values is having serious consequences
for the whole science-society relationship

• Society wants to influence science
• Rather than just the reverse
• Creating a growing divide between science and the
  rest of society

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Causes of the Great Divide

• Encroachment on/of values
• Misunderstandings about the word theory
• Theory has different meaning to scientists and
  lay persons
• Sciences assumption that scientific illiteracy
  is the major obstacle

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We cannot just educate our way out of it

• The problem is not just lack of understanding
• People do understand much of what were saying or
  want to do
• They dont like it
• The conflict with their core values trumps their
  view of societal benefits

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. science is valuable for telling us what we
need to know, whether we like the answer or
not.
Cong. Rush Holt, AAAS Carey Lecture, 2005
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What can we do?

• Continue protesting/lamenting the situation
• The problem is not going to go away
• Insanity is doing the same thing over and over
  and expecting a different outcome

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What can we do?

• Continue protesting/lamenting the situation
• Adopt a more assertive strategy
• Engage with the public on the issues
• Try to find common ground

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Public
PublicUnderstanding
Engagement
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Monologue Dialogue
We need to change the intent and the style of the
conversation
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We need to hear from the public about

• Their concerns about science and technology and
  their concomitants
• Risks and benefits
• Encroachment on human values
• Their priorities among research areas
• Questions they would like or need us to answer
• Help frame the research agenda

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Go Glocal!
Julia Taguena Parga, 2005
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Some groups are working on it already
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Public engagement is now a concept we are hearing
in Europe, Canada, Mexico and the United States

• It should be a strategy used throughout the world

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Formal dialogues in the United States

• NIH/NHGRIs Ethical, Legal and Social
  Implications (ELSI) Program
• AAASs Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion
• Johns Hopkins Univ. Genetics and Public Policy
  Center

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AAAS Center for Public Engagement with Science
and Technology

• Town meetings
• Topical public workshops
• Partnerships with science museum and centers
• Active outreach
• Clubs
• Lodges
• Religious institutions

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We need a global commitment to engagement!
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Only Working Together Can We Improve the
Relationship
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