Wolfgang C.
Goede[1]
In 1667 London's Royal
Society published a guide to writing scientific papers: directly and precisely,
no bombastic or foggy sentences, using instead the language of farmers,
craftsmen and tradesmen instead of the jargon of scholars. This influenced
Europe and also eventually my own country, Germany. 20 years later the first
lecture was held in plain German at the University of Leipzig - but the message
still hasn't reached everyone. Recently I had an appointment with a doctor and,
boy, did he confuse me. I didn't understand a word he was saying. It was as if
he had been speaking Japanese! Fortunately, my dentist does a much better job
of explaining what he is doing in my mouth. I can relax and even painful
treatments become bearable since I know what he is doing.
He sticks to the teaching of Alexander von Humboldt who claimed that "to
know and to recognize is a general human right". The German natural
scientist became famous because of an extensive tour he made through South
America at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1827 Humboldt presented his
findings in Berlin in addition to an absolutely clear and fascinating rundown
of almost the entire knowledge of mankind at that time. His audience included
the king as well as masons and maids. If there were a gallery of science
popularizers Humboldt would deserve a prominent position.
Then came the Industrial Revolution. It
catapulted people into a new world with a flood of technological innovations,
ever increasing speed and profound cultural changes. Trains, automobiles,
airplanes dreams of mobility came true and lured people into becoming
frenetic proponents of progress. For more than a century nobody dared to touch
science’s truth monopoly, that is, until 1945 when two atomic detonations here
In Japan shocked the world. In the aftermath people began realizing that
indefinite growth was not possible. Growing poverty, misery and hunger had
split the world into a developed and developing world. The realization that
natural resources and energy supplies would only last for another 100 years
became inescapable and that the environment and the climate were deteriorating.
Even nutrition is up for grabs. Mad cow disease BSE worries Europeans and nobody
knows how it will affect human life and other regions and this part of the
world. The British in particular are
upset about their politicians blatantly lying to them when they were claiming
just a couple of years ago: Don't worry, no danger for humans and had their
children publicly eat beefburgers on
television!
What were the reactions? On the political level the Green Party, activist
movements like Robin Wood and Green Peace and most recently the globalization
adversaries emerged; the experts at the universities had to abandon their ivory
towers and present their research at the market place in order to rebuild
public confidence. In Germany this is called PUSH, Public Understanding of
Science and Humanities and has led to science festivals in major cities. Last
August in Berlin research institutes and museums opened until 2 in the morning
on a Saturday night. Last but not least as a result of this distrust the news
media discovered science, finding a new huge platform in newspapers, magazines,
radio, television and in the Internet.
Society
The pillars of modern
society are government, political parties, the business community, scientific
institutions, labor unions and churches. The main pillar though consists of the
citizens who have the vote and decide who gets elected, who shall represent his
or her views and concerns. Citizens pay taxes and the salary of elected
politicians as well as civil servants. Moreover, it is they who largely foot
the bill for the scientific community. Furthermore, citizens are also clients,
consumers, users and stockholders. They buy the products which scientists have
researched with tax money and which are put on the market by companies which
citizens partially own. Whereas in the 17th century king Louis 14th proclaimed,
"I am the state," citizens in the 21st century legitimately and
rightfully insist: "We are the state."
In other words, throughout history societies were constructed like Egyptian
pyramids, steep and with a few leaders on top who made decisions for the people
below. The advent of democratic constitutions has leveled the pyramids and
hierarchies and has introduced participation by the lay people. Nevertheless,
there remains a lot of discontent and more and more voters and consumers, at
least in Europe, feel excluded from power.
You may notice that this is a profound change compared to the pyramid.
Paternalistic communication from the top down is enriched and supplemented by
bottom-up flows which provide urgently needed feedback to decision makers. Of
course, this creates much more conflict - but isn't this what democracy is all
about and isn't that its strength? "You have to allow controversy before
confidence can develop", says Sir Robert May, scientific advisor of the
British Prime Minister. Struggles over contrary positions integrate society,
pull in the dissidents as well as the indifferent people, break their
isolation, give them a voice and build consensus among conflicting groups.
To summarize: Civil society
forms the fabric, the web of society and produces its social capital which is
equal to or perhaps more important than the financial and natural resources of
a nation.
The Future
Contrary to existing stereotypes, the public has something important to
contribute. This is both political, in terms of enhancing democratic
legitimacy, and also intellectual, in terms of providing important intellectual
input to the scientific process. Wynne[2]
asks: Whose knowledge is counted as valid abstract genetic science
accompanied by a strong prescriptive moral which was not respectful of the
life-worlds it proposed to overthrow? or the life-world practical expertises?
Knowledge is clearly more than one-dimensional.
If we agree that this world needs an updated communication model to meet the
challenges and risks of the new millennium, then what can be done what can
you possibly do in your daily life and work to put it into practice?
If you are a science
journalist, start with local networking, reach out to your colleagues in
various media and shape your agenda. No matter whether you are connected to the
print or electronic media, science sells well these days and there is a great
demand for innovative approaches and formats to reach audiences. If you want to
get involved on an international level you will find plenty of contacts here at
the conference for example the Presidents of the International Science
Writers Association (ISWA) and the European Union of Science Journalists'
Association (EUSJA), moreover representatives from South American and Asian
organizations.[3]
If you are a scientist or researcher you might like to get involved in Public
Understanding of Science (PUS), also dubbed Public Understanding of Science
& Humanities (PUSH) or Public Understanding of Science & Technology
(PUST). That can be a lot of fun for both, actor and audience. An English
physics professor has specialized in what he calls "Science in the
Pub". He presents quiz shows and asks the pub visitors questions about how
beers and liquors are produced and the chemistry behind it. Meet the people
where they are and deliver your science through various events dealing with
food, gardening, cooking, sport...! Professor John Durant is chief executive of
At-Bristol and president of the European collaborative for science, industry
and technology exhibitions (ECSITE). He
is a worldwide-acknowledged expert on PUSH, can give you ideas.
If you are a plain citizen
or a lay expert, get organized to feed your lay knowledge into the scientific
pipeline. Join the civil society groups and set up your strategy. UNESCO has
registered almost 30 000 organizations, unofficially more than a million are in
operation. The Danish Board of Technology has invented so-called consensus
conferences and citizens' juries[4].
A randomly selected group of people designed to represent the public is
impaneled to study a local and regional public policy issue. They invite
experts, ask questions as to the risks and benefits of a proposed project or
technique and cross-examine them. After the lay panel has reached a consensus,
a press conference is held which has a significant impact on the opinion of the
public and the policy makers.
Let me finish with six theses:
q Only when we constantly reinvent ourselves civilly
and democratically can we meet the scientific and socio-economic challenges of
this century.
q Knowledge in
our era belongs to everyone. We need "research of the people, by the
people, for the people" to paraphrase US president Abraham Lincoln's
Gettysburg Address.
q "Expertocracy" is out "radical
knowledge creation thrives in a society where authority can be challenged"
(Charles Leadbeater, British science author).
q Civil society calls for civic science (scientists who
go public), civic journalism (journalists who reach the people), civic
engagement (active citizens who care and do more than merely go to the polls on
election day).
q We shall have reached this state when "access to
science is as natural as access to art, literature, music" (John Durant)
and when "science news is as feverishly discussed as the latest soccer and
football scores" (Edelgard Bulmahn, Germany's Federal Minister of Science
and Technology).
q According to the US computer expert Bill Joy, the GNR
technologies (gene, nano, robotics) can cure our earth but they also can turn
out to be more destructive than all weapons on earth!
This article is an abridged
version of a lecture given to the International Conference of
Science & Technology Journalists - Tokyo 2001.
[1] Wolfgang C. Goede, born in 1951, has a masters
degree in political science and communication. He is a graduate of the Bosch
Foundation which in the 1980`s launched a highly recognized training program
for science journalists. Goede has been working as a science writer for the
past 17 years. He is science news editor at P.M. magazine - Knowledge matters,
Germany's leading popular science publication. As a science communicator he
contributes regularly to the PCST conferences. He is a member of the Forum
Community Organizing (Foco), which engages in the implementation of civil
society concepts ( http://www.casa-luz.de/co).
[2] Brian
Wynne, University of Lancaster http://www.lancs.ac.uk/depts/csec/staff/BW_first.html.
[3] Following
the “Budapest
Declaration” (2nd World Conference of Science Journalists, July
1999) and the “Tokyo
Manifesto”, there is a move to establish officially a World Federation of
Science Journalists (WFSJ) at the 3rd
World Conference of Science Journalists , 24th – 27th
November, 2002, in Brazil. The
tentative goals of this network are: improving international contacts and flow
of information, provide training for science journalists (especially those from
developing countries) and form a world-wide operating lobby group to ease and
counteract the challenges of globalization.
[4] See the
article Scenario
Workshops and Consensus Conferences in this issue of The Pantaneto Forum