30.10.2009
Seventh Lecture: Prof. Luis Radford

"Mathematics, knowing and being:
Is there a way out of the individualist self of modernity?"

Auditorium 001, Copenhagen Institute of Technology, Lautrupvang 2B, DK-2750 Ballerup.

Abstract:
The late Middle-Ages and early Renaissance witnessed the emergence of a new conception of the self. One distinctive trait of this new conception was an emphasis on self-making. Such an individualistic conception served to build the modern idea of what a person should be. Within the spectacular growth of Renaissance trade and commerce, mathematics lost (some of) the aristocratic ethical value with which Plato endowed it to become, in the hands of merchants and business men, a tool to pursue the quest of personal interests. But the sphere of actions and implications of mathematics was not limited to the construction of new identities. Mathematics also played a role in the formation of a new idea of nature.

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Science and Democracy:
The Dialogue Between Scientists and Citizens

by Jean-Paul Lainé
November 2008

Science and Technology are Today at the Very Heart of our Societies
They concretely influence the life of all people at all levels, regional, national and international. They range from the basic day-to-day work conditions to their cultural surrounding and the media in their country, from politics to economy, from environmental issues to military budgets. However the enormous development of knowledge and technologies is suffering from two mistakes: it is mostly happening in a few countries and is not shared amongst all populations. These characteristics influence the nature of research, particularly of applied research and the kind of people who benefit from it.

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World Forum on Sciences and Democracy

By Reiner Braun and Jean-Paul Lainé
October 2008

Since 2001, World Social Forums have gradually structured the agendas of thousands of NGOs, the  media, unions, social movements, local authorities, institutions and even governments across  the planet. Today they are considered as major events to elaborate, share and build social, cultural and economic transformations on global  and local levels.  The next WSF will be in Belem, Brazil, from January 26th to February 1st 2009.

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28.09.2007

The INESPE Lecture Series on the Social Responsibility of Engineers and Scientists

Dr. David Krieger: Nuclear Weapons and the Responsibility of Scientists.
Friday, September 28, 2007 at the University of Copenhagen.

Abstract:
I will discuss how nuclear weapons have changed our world and how some key nuclear scientists have responded to them. I will discuss Leo Szilard, Albert Einstein, Joseph Rotblat, Linus Pauling and Hans Bethe. I will also discuss the importance of the student protest at the University of California to the University's continued management and oversight of the US nuclear weapons laboratories.

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Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility

By David Krieger

I have just returned from Berlin and the annual Council meeting of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility (INES). This is an organization much needed in our world, one that supports the ethical uses of science and technology for disarmament and sustainable development. The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation has helped to foster the work of this international organization since the inception of INES more than 15 years ago.

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18.04.2007

Jean-Jacques Salomon: The social irresponsibility of scientists

Venue:
Auditorium A
Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen
Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen.

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.

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