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| Sunday, 22 February 2004 |
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Scientists and the social contract by W. W. D. Modder, President, The National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka Although detractors endure, I am buoyed up by optimism that Sri Lankan scientists can and do work towards making a considerable difference to the life of the country. Our country is beset in every sector of our common life by impediments and vicissitudes, some caused by ourselves, some by accidents of history, some by external factors and forces that may be lumped together under the euphemistic buzz-word 'globalisation'. Typically politics take centre-stage, and those who strut and fret their hour in that position, almost by definition, have to take most of the blame for much of what our countrymen find unacceptable. Crucial We are fortunate in this country to have a Ministry for Science and Technology, but if it is regarded as just another Ministry, co-equal in every way to the other Ministries, its efforts are likely to be overlooked, or not thought of as pertinent, in the various sectors coming under other Ministries. Indeed, science needs to inform and vivify all these sectors. As Dr. Gamani Corea remarked, a few years ago, science is not so much a sector as a dimension. We need to incorporate science, and the thinking that goes with it, as a crucial dimension in all the sectors that sustain the country. Science is not to be regarded merely as another sector, detached and sufficient in itself. The National Academy of Sciences has to do a lot, needs to do a lot, regardless of whether, at the present time, we are largely ignored and not listened to. (I make the qualification 'largely ignored' because one must remember that our submission on the exploitation of the Eppawala deposits was found acceptable, by no less than the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka). We need to keep whittling away at the hard wood of indifference and ignorance until the day, perhaps many moons away still, when the Academy's expertise and experience, and what I like to call 'organised commonsense', have a place in the decision-making processes of public and corporate governance. In working towards this end, the Academy must be minimalist and persuasive, not pedantic, must be passionate, not aggressively critical. In our separate institutions and workplaces, scientists carry out effective science in their particular disciplines. Where that is not the case, and if the Academy can legitimately address the reasons for that (perhaps poor remuneration, inadequate facilities, attitudinal difficulties), it ought to do so. However, the Academy must be careful never to merely transmute into another trade union. Multifarious Rather, we have a wider undertaking vis-a-vis the national interest. We have a social contract, by virtue of our learning, to apply reason to the ills and problems of society. Ills and problems keep proliferating because they have a fertile breeding ground in irrationality (both conceptual and behavioural), and in false notions. The function of science, in all its multifarious branches, is to seek constantly to refine notions about ourselves and our surroundings. Some scientists, in their daily round, need to become involved in the corridors of power. In these circumstances, we must be careful not to become what Noam Chomsky calls 'the servants of Power'. If we do, our contract with society is sullied, remains unfulfilled. What does the social contract mean for our Academy in concrete terms? It means confirming to ourselves that reason is desirable above all else, that reason is the only way out of the trap that society is caught up in. It means setting ourselves the task of identifying and prioritising, by consensus, contemporary issues in which science looms large, and science does loom large in most issues in the world today.We then need to debate among ourselves what might be the most reasonable solution, for a particular problem or difficulty that we have identified. This could take considerable time and effort, and of course argument. "Quot homines, tot sententiae". ("As many persons, so as many minds or opinions.") Documentation setting out the solution or solutions arrived at must be made available for consideration, not only by government, but as widely as possible by all segments of society. Although acceptance or rejection is not in our hands, we would have done our job. Progress will not come easily, will be painful, but we have to keep our part of the contract despite that. After all, at the birth of a child, and a star, there is pain. (This article is based on an address made by Dr. Modder on his recent election as President of the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka). |
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