The Social Irresponsibility of Scientists

Center for Naturfilosofi og Videnskabsstudier inviterer til foredrag med

Jean-Jacques Salomon:
The Social Irresponsibility of Scientists
Tidspunkt: Torsdag den 29. marts, kl. 14.15 til 16.00
Sted: Auditorium A, Niels Bohr Institutet,
Blegdamsvej 17, 2100 København Ø

Abstract:
The future of the world depends upon scientists – men and women who are constantly striving to advance our knowledge. Yet most of them claim to bear no responsibility for the consequences of their work: as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father” of the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, used to say, physics has known sin, but let’s not confuse the actor and the instrument. Today, scientists play a variety of roles: as researchers, experts, strategists, diplomats, in the military and in trade, as industrialists or spies, even as traffickers or mercenaries; they are at home as advisors in government circles, military HQs and on boards of directors. Many are both warriors and missionaries for peace, defining a community in denial which questions whether there is still a place for socially responsible science or whether the courage of individual “dissidents” like Einstein, Bohr and Sakharov remains the only model for resisting the temptations and pressures from the military-industrial complex they nourish but also rely on.

Flere oplysninger om arrangementet fås på http://inespe.org/lectures/