The World Conference on Science, held this summer, called for the creation of a 'new contract' between science and society. Addressing the Conference's 1800 delegates, the ICTP director explored the universal values that drive science as a source of knowledge and culture.

Universal Value of Science

There is nowadays a fashionable attitude that claims there might be many different scientific systems, different methods of validation, multiplicity of truths, and that we should promote science diversity as a way of challenging Euro-centric Northern cultural dominance. In this simplistic vision, promoting modern science in developing countries is as wrong as invading their culture with the commercial products of the entertainment industries of the North.

But science, in fact, reflects a basic drive to examine nature, seek knowledge and search for the logical consequences of reasoning. It is a collective endeavour spanning generations and, as such, its practice and ability to flourish largely depends on the social and cultural contexts in which it is pursued.

To different degrees, all societies have practiced science, perhaps because the scientific method, despite its imposing name, is the simplest, most natural and universal way of acquiring knowledge. It is the extension of our innate instinct to discover regularities in the world surrounding us. Our brains are pre-wired to build models where assumptions of regularity are encoded. Our brains are also pre-wired to detect exceptions.

From the prehistoric hunter trying to uncover the traces of possible prey, to the ancient Egyptian seeking to understand the cycles of the Nile floods, to the modern-day geophysicist trying to predict the impact of El Nino, reasoning has always been the same. A farmer comes home to discover mice have been inside the pantry. How does he or she decide where to put the traps? A scientist examining the energy spectrum in a nuclear reaction notices mass is missing. Something is going on undetected. How does he or she design a new detector to uncover what is happening?

In both situations, the attitude is the same. In both situations, different hypotheses will be proposed and discarded. The only difference lies in the amount of past experience brought to bear on the situations.

The scientific method, simply put, is timeless and universal. It is neither Northern nor Southern. It is the "common heritage of all mankind."

Abdus Salam rejected the idea that modern science is a Western product. We certainly owe the basic philosophical foundations of science to the Greeks. But the Arabs, Persians and Hindus also played a crucial role in building and shaping all the sciences at a time when mediaeval Europe was still stepping backward. Moreover, we should remember the extraordinary Chinese contributions to science and how the Mayas seem to have followed a parallel path.

What should be a cause of concern is that in all historical civilisations, at some moment, progress in science slows and sometimes stops. Why this happens is an important question, if we care for the future.

Let me offer a possible explanation. Knowledge in general and scientific knowledge in particular mean power. Therefore, it is only natural that the dominant sectors of a society try to appropriate it and limit its access. They do that by ritualising knowledge, hiding its experimental roots and above all discouraging further questioning. They may even create a kind of 'clergy' in charge of preserving the 'truth,' but who in practice shields it from further scrutiny. The dominant sectors in power ultimately become content with this stasis.

Today, science seems to prevail. However, we should not underestimate the new dangers that could arise if more stringent intellectual property rights are approved, allowing new types of appropriations. At this moment when technological progress makes dissemination of information so easy, it would be tragic to see the rise of new obstacles inhibiting our access to information. Developing countries could be excluded from the common endeavour of creating knowledge, and I am convinced in the long run all of humanity would suffer.

The Abdus Salam ICTP urges that (at least basic) science results be declared an international public good and access to it made free for everyone. We should defend science as our common endeavour.

We must be proud of the capacity of science to build bridges across cultural rifts. In several parts of the world (for example, the Middle East), a process of peace has started. We hope that programmes of scientific cooperation in those regions, such as the recent proposal to locate a synchrotron laboratory in the Middle East, will help strengthen such movements. The ICTP stands committed to such goals and encourages other organisations to join us in these efforts.

Miguel A. Virasoro
Director of ICTP

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