From Here to Infinity
Scientific Horizons
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
The BBC Radio 4 Reith Lectures were given in 2010 by the Astronomer Royal, Professor Martin Rees. In this expanded version of the lectures (doubled in length with new material) Martin Rees shows how important science will be to the global economies of the 21st century, to solving some of our apparently intractable problems and to understanding the risks that the world faces.Science is often seen as difficult or obscure, but some great scientists (like the author) are so clear that we can all understand it and participate in the great debates that should concern us all whether they are about swine flu, global warming, oil running out, or even space travel.
In four dazzling chapters (plus introduction and conclusion) Martin Rees shows the pleasures and importance of science, warns all of us (including governments intent on cutting funding) why we must take science deadly seriously and why it apart from everything else it is so satisfying - one of humankind's greatest achievements.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rees, Britain's former astronomer royal and a scientist's scientist, offers his thoughts on how science should navigate its ongoing interaction with culture, politics, and ethics in the 21st century. Rees's major thesis is that scientists, politicians, and laypeople must engage in meaningful dialogue about how science should be deployed to address the century's looming dangers: "the threats without enemies." This list includes developing reliable energy sources, a burgeoning world population, climate change, diminishing biodiversity, the misuse and unintended consequences of gene manipulation, and the design of drugs that may alter human beings themselves. Rees offers no set-piece solutions, but instead suggests rational and achievable responses some scientific, some sociological that might ameliorate these potential dangers. He champions better funded universities and the idea that science should remain agnostic as to religion; he says that the benefits of globalization must be fairly shared, and, most intriguingly, "There are doors that science could open but which are best left closed." There is enough hard science for this book (based on a series of lectures) to satisfy readers concerned with science's future horizons, as well as a surfeit of wisdom on science and its role in society at large.
