October 29, 2004 -
Recently I was asked, what is the most powerful force shaping our society today? While politics, economics or celebrity may seem like the most obvious answers, I believe it is science when applied by industry, medicine and the military.
Consider this: When I was a child, my parents never worried that I was watching too much television because there was no TV anywhere in the world. Instead, they were worried about me going to public swimming pools or movies in the summer because of the danger of polio. Back then, there were no jet planes, trans-oceanic phone calls, oral contraceptives, heart transplants, genetic engineering, transistors, space travel, computers or many of the other advances we take for granted. Each of these innovations has rendered old ways extinct and changed the very way we think about society and ourselves.
Politicians today usually ask for our support based on their ability to deal with immediate issues like inflation, unemployment or the national debt. Yet many decisions they make will have enormous repercussions long after they leave office. Think about some of the new science issues they must deal with: stem cell research, intelligent computers, depletion of marine fishes, cloning, space research, global warming, toxic pollution, clearcut logging, nuclear power, species extinction, genetic engineering, fish farms, nanotechnology...again the list is long. Can a thoughtful and informed decision be made on any of these issues without a knowledge of science?
Look at our political leaders. How scientifically literate is Ralph Klein or George W. Bush? Both disagree with the vast majority of climatologists who say global warming is happening and represents a huge threat to humanity. Listen to Alberta's Minister of the Environment, Lorne Taylor: "...we have to have a healthy economy in order to have a clean environment." By that inversion of reality, he demonstrates an utter ignorance of the world on which we depend. If our economy is inherently polluting and destructive, then we will never have a healthy environment or healthy citizens.
The Science Council of Canada was a crown corporation established to assess the implications of science and provide guidance to society and government on science-related issues. Yet when Brian Mulroney was prime minister, he abolished it. For five years I sat on a Science Council committee examining science in education. We produced a series of extremely important documents that sadly soon languished on library shelves. It was crystal clear that a society whose citizens were incapable of assessing the implications of science and technology was a society out of control of its own destiny. That's why our final recommendation was for all children to have one hour of science every school day from K to 12.
The current discussion over Canada's involvement with the U.S. proposal of a space-based missile defence shield clearly illustrates the need for scientific literacy. Do we really believe that Defence Minister Bill Graham or President Bush understand the scientific and technological challenges of such a system?
Bush certainly doesn't give us much cause for confidence. On the one hand, he seems to have a tremendous faith that science will be able to take us on a round trip to Mars (in NASA's Houston Space Centre I've filmed a mockup of the spacecraft designed for the trip which seems more like a kamikaze flight than a serious return trip) and create a space-based defence shield. Yet he also concurs with Mr. Klein, disagreeing with the conclusions of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the most prestigious collection of scientists in the world, that global warming is happening and we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It is clear to me that these missile defense plans, like Mr. Bush's response to global warming, are based on vast ignorance and that uninformed decisions of this enormity are dangerous. Next week, I tell you why.
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