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Transforming Research and Higher Education Institutions in the Next 75 Years Proceedings of the 2022 Endless Frontier Symposium (2023) / Chapter Skim
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4 Is the Science and Technology Enterprise Optimized to Benefit Society?
Pages 23-28

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From page 23...
... . An earlier inscription said "promoter of industry" rather than "pilot of industry" and "healer of the sick" rather than "conqueror of disease." "I don't want to overread these editorial changes," said Nelson, but "these edits are telling about our shifts in thinking about science and its applications." The many societal benefits of science and technology are evident from the world around us: mass production of electric vehicles, virtually instantaneous Internet speeds, vaccines developed in record times, algorithms that prevent credit card abuse.
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From page 24...
... " implies the existence of a yes or no answer, observed Darshan Karwat, assistant professor at the School for the Future of Innovation in Society in the College of Global Futures, Arizona State University, and a member of the National Academies New Voices program, which provides mid-career experts with opportunities to bring their collective ideas about critical and emerging interdisciplinary issues to the work of the National Academies. "I fall on the no side," Karwat said, before adding that the answer to the question is based not just on things that are only partially knowable but also on values, assumptions, and biases.
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From page 25...
... Engineers for gun manufacturers refine assault weapons while other engineers design medical instruments to treat gunshot wounds. Engineers design intentionally addictive social media apps while other engineers design apps that seek to cure the resulting addiction.
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From page 26...
... We need to become more conscious of the need to overtly support translation into the social and environmental demands of the broad range of policies and actions." Many of the difficult issues now facing society ultimately result from past scientific and technological developments, as with the relationship between the industrial revolution and climate change, between the Internet and loss of social cohesion, or between the growth of the global population and the origins of pandemics. And despite enormous investments of public funds in science, especially by high income countries, recent progress on the societal benefits seen and experienced by the world, as measured by, for example, the Sustainable Development Goals, "has, by any measure, been disappointing."3 Achieving equitable, healthy societies requires new modalities of research that extend beyond the traditional model of creating new knowledge and assuming that it will be translated by the private sector into global societal benefits, said Gluckman.
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From page 27...
... Vannevar Bush identified one mechanism by which new knowledge benefits society, "and I do not want to, in any way, underestimate the political value and importance of that research," said Gluckman. But circumstances change, "and maybe we need to think not about the endless frontier but about the impending boundaries against which we live." Universities must engage with the organizations and sectors affected by academic research, accept processes that result in codesigned structures and pursuits, and embrace transdisciplinarity.
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From page 28...
... Ranking Member Lucas' remarks highlight the bipartisan efforts taken to prioritize the positive effects and influence the scientific enterprise can have on society through the CHIPS and Science Act. BOX 4-1 Statement by Oklahoma Representative Frank Lucas When I first took leadership of the House Science Committee as ranking member in 2019, develop ing legislation to strengthen America's science and technology was my highest priority.
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Key Terms

  • environmental justice
  • benefit society
  • societal benefits
  • enterprise optimized
  • scientific enterprise

  • science act
  • engineers design
  • vannevar bush
  • endless frontier
  • social media

  • economic opportunity
  • nelson observed
  • sustainable development
  • global perspective
  • frank lucas

  • oklahoma representative
  • karwat noted
  • codesigned structures
  • development goals
  • extend beyond

  • accept processes
  • fossil fuels
  • traditional model
  • public values
  • artificial intelligence

  • health disparities
  • scientific elites
  • scientific integrity
  • house science
  • social scientist


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