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Scientific Freedom outlines what needs to be done to restore the freedom that can transform scientific understanding. The author defines Transformative Research (Venture Research) and explains how an initiative might be designed and implemented; discusses the revolutionary concept of low-risk, high-reward research; explains the wider significance of instability, and introduces the formidable Damocles Zone; explores threats to the university as an institution; and describes how a Transformative Research initiative might work in practice.
This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Scientific Freedom is the first comprehensive collection covering both the state of scientific progress and the ethics, law and history of scientific research. The book gives readers a fascinating range of perspectives on matters of scientific research that directly affect all of us. Examining the ethical, legal, social, economic and political issues surrounding freedom of scientific research, the book evaluates ways in which national and international policies can impact upon individuals' access to potentially life-saving treatment, cures and technologies, and can therefore affect human life and death. With contributions from Nobel Laureates, representatives of patients' associations, scientists, scholars and politicians, this book provides a concise and comprehensive view of the limitations and dangers facing the future of innovation and scientific progress.
The Cold War ended long ago, but the language of science and freedom continues to shape public debates over the relationship between science and politics in the United States. Scientists like to proclaim that science knows no borders. Scientific researchers follow the evidence where it leads, their conclusions free of prejudice or ideology. But is that really the case? In Freedom's Laboratory, Audra J. Wolfe shows how these ideas were tested to their limits in the high-stakes propaganda battles of the Cold War. Wolfe examines the role that scientists, in concert with administrators and policymakers, played in American cultural diplomacy after World War II. During this period, the engines of US propaganda promoted a vision of science that highlighted empiricism, objectivity, a commitment to pure research, and internationalism. Working (both overtly and covertly, wittingly and unwittingly) with governmental and private organizations, scientists attempted to decide what, exactly, they meant when they referred to "scientific freedom" or the "US ideology." More frequently, however, they defined American science merely as the opposite of Communist science. Uncovering many startling episodes of the close relationship between the US government and private scientific groups, Freedom's Laboratory is the first work to explore science's link to US propaganda and psychological warfare campaigns during the Cold War. Closing in the present day with a discussion of the 2017 March for Science and the prospects for science and science diplomacy in the Trump era, the book demonstrates the continued hold of Cold War thinking on ideas about science and politics in the United States.
This book argues for two claims: firstly, determinism in science does not infringe upon human free will because it is descriptive, not prescriptive, and secondly, the very formulation, testing and justification of scientific theories presupposes human free will and thereby persons as ontologically primitive. The argument against predetermination is broadly Humean, or more precisely ‘Super-Humean’, whereas that against naturalist reduction is in large Kantian, drawing from Sellars on the scientific and the manifest image. Thus, whilst the book defends scientific realism against the confusion between fact and fake, it also reveals why scientific theories, laws and explanations cannot succeed in imposing norms for our actions upon us, neither on the level of the individual nor on that of society. Esfeld makes a strong case for an ontology of science that is minimally sufficient to explain our scientific and common sense knowledge, not only removing the concern that the laws of nature are incompatible with human freedom, but furthermore showing how our freedom is in fact a very presupposition for science.
This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. Never before have the scope and limits of scientific freedom been more important or more under attack. New science, from artificial intelligence to gene editing, creates unique opportunities for making the world a better place. It also presents unprecedented dangers. This book is about the opportunities and challenges – moral, regulatory and existential – that face both science and society. How are scientific developments impacting on human life and on the structure of societies? How is science regulated and how should it be regulated? Are there ethical boundaries to scientific developments in sensitive areas? Such are the questions that the book seeks to answer. Both the survival of humankind and the continued existence of our planet are at stake.
There is a great deal of difference between feeling empathy for those whose human rights are being violated around the world and actually doing something about it. This memoir, written by the Vice-Chair Computer Science (CS) of the Committee of Concerned Scientists (CCS), 1962-present, and Vice-Chair of the Committee on Scientific Freedom and Human Rights (CSFHR) of the ACM, 1980-1989, is a first-hand account of computer scientists working with numerous other constituencies to safeguard or advance the human rights of scientists throughout the world. Drawing from the author's considerable archives from the period, "Scientific Freedom and Human Rights" is a treasure trove of historical information about a critical -- and relatively unsung -- human rights campaign, its successes and heartbreaking challenges, and possible lessons to be applied to future human rights campaigns. "The solidarity of the global scientific community was especially important in giving moral support to the intellectual leaders of the struggle for Soviet Jewry, helping them to continue their scientific activity even in a time of persecution. Their activism also helped to link scientific cooperation with the Soviet Union with freedom within the Soviet Union.... You will read these stories and see the support given many scientists throughout the world in this book." -- Natan Sharansky, Jewish Agency Chairman of the Executive "It is not very often that solidarity among scientists is brought to the public eye, and it is certainly not common for people outside science to associate scientists with heroic struggles for human rights, freedom, and dignity. Jack Minker's new book will change this perception." -- Professor Judea Pearl, University of California at Los Angeles
"This book addresses the complex relationship between the values of liberal democracy and the values associated with scientific research. The chapters explore how these values mutually reinforce or conflict with one another, in both historical and contemporary contexts. The contributors utilize various approaches to address this timely subject, including historical studies, philosophical analysis, and sociological case studies. The chapters cover a range of topics including academic freedom and autonomy, public control of science, the relationship between scientific pluralism and deliberative democracy, lay-expert relations in a democracy, and the threat of populism and autocracy to scientific inquiry. Taken together the essays demonstrate how democratic values and the epistemic and non-epistemic values associated with science are interconnected. Science, Freedom, and Democracy will be of interest to scholars and graduate students working in philosophy of science, history of philosophy, sociology of science, political philosophy, and epistemology"--
A revolutionary and timely proposal for reinvigorating transformative scientific discovery, written by a preeminent leader in Venture Research. So rich was the scientific harvest of the early 20th century that it transformed entire industries and economies. Max Planck laid the foundation for quantum physics, Barbara McClintock for modern genetics, Linus Pauling for chemistry—the list goes on. In the 1970s, the nature of scientific work started to change. Increases in public funding for scientific research brought demands that spending be justified; a system of peer review that selected only the research proposals promising the greatest returns; and a push for endless short-term miracles instead of in-depth, boundary-pushing research. A vicious spiral of decline began. In Scientific Freedom, Donald W. Braben presents a framework to find and support cutting-edge, much-needed scientific innovation. Braben—who led British Petroleum’s Venture Research initiative, which aimed to identify and aid researchers challenging current scientific thinking—explains: —the conditions that catalyzed scientific research in the early 20th century; —the costs to society of our current research model; —the changing role of the university as a research institution; —how BP’s Venture Research initiative succeeded by minimizing bureaucracy and peer review, and the program’s impact; —the selection, budget, and organizational criteria for implementing a Venture Research program today. Even in the earliest stages, transformative and groundbreaking research can look unrecognizable to those who are accustomed to the patterns established by the past. Support for this research can, in fact, be low risk and offer rich rewards, but it requires rethinking the processes used to discover and sponsor scientists with groundbreaking ideas—and then giving those innovators the freedom to explore. First published in 2008, this new edition of Scientific Freedom is produced in a gorgeous archival quality hardcover with over 30 new illustrations and an up-to-date foreword by Donald Braben.
This book addresses the complex relationship between the values of liberal democracy and the values associated with scientific research. The chapters explore how these values mutually reinforce or conflict with one another, in both historical and contemporary contexts. The contributors utilize various approaches to address this timely subject, including historical studies, philosophical analysis, and sociological case studies. The chapters cover a range of topics including academic freedom and autonomy, public control of science, the relationship between scientific pluralism and deliberative democracy, lay-expert relations in a democracy, and the threat of populism and autocracy to scientific inquiry. Taken together the essays demonstrate how democratic values and the epistemic and non-epistemic values associated with science are interconnected. Science, Freedom, Democracy will be of interest to scholars and graduate students working in philosophy of science, history of philosophy, sociology of science, political philosophy, and epistemology.