Theme : science
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Research Fortnight go two more rounds with Demos
‘Time to disengage’
Research Fortnight, Editorial, 14 September 2005
There is a slightly Soviet feel about last week’s pamphlet from the Demos think-tank, its latest attempt to push ‘engagement’ further and faster.
from : jameswilsdon 6th October 2005 - Small talk I've just written a piece on open science, as part of OpenDemocracy's current series on accountability. from : jameswilsdon 28th September 2005
- Precautionary tales Demos associate James Harkin had a interesting thing in Saturday's Guardian. He sketches the idea of the precautionary principle, "better safe than sorry" at its dullest, and stretches it to the war in Iraq. Big Don's "unknown unknowns", a phrase he borrowed from environmental and science policy, were used to justify action when inaction might have had serious consequences, had the US's worst suspicions been confirmed.In science, the precautionary principle is a useful way of justifying... from : jackstilgoe 25th September 2005
- Demos in 'Stalinist' slur: a response to Research Fortnight ?Time to disengage?Research Fortnight, Editorial, 14 September 2005There is a slightly Soviet feel about last week?s pamphlet from the Demos think-tank, its latest attempt to push ?engagement? further and faster.The idea that the research councils should hire social scientists to work alongside research groups and help them with engagement is no doubt well meaning. But in what way would putting a few social scientists in positions of such leverage enhance democracy? There is something of the... from : jameswilsdon 23rd September 2005
- Debating the public value of science Richard Jones, a nanoscientist at Sheffield University and author of Soft Machines, has blogged his thoughts on our new Public Value of Science pamphlet. from : paulmiller 12th September 2005
- Designs on Nature - FT review Designs on Nature: Science and Democracy in Europe and the United States by Sheila Jasanoff (Princeton University Press, ?22.95, 374 pages)Science and politics have an uneasy relationship at the best of times. Negotiations between them often take place out of view ? in the corridors of Whitehall or the dry workings of expert committees. Now and then, particular developments spark controversy or become condensation points for a wider set of public concerns.Since the 1980s, information... from : jameswilsdon 10th September 2005
- How to write your own obituary It wasn't clear to me why she was at festival. Was she getting tip offs from someone? Or perhaps she possesses a Miss Marple-like gift for being in the right place at the right time (or the wrong place at the wrong time, depending on your point of view). Spooky.She was kind enough to let me in on a few trade secrets. Apparently, obituaries can be written 'in advance' for two main reasons - one is achievement and the other is what the obituarist politely refers to as 'longevity'. And... from : samhintonsmith 7th September 2005
- valuing engaged science The AS have a great system of involving those who care for Alzheimer's patients in decisions about science. This has had a few beneficial effects. It eases the carers' burden of dealing with the disease, it engages them in trusting relationships with doctors and scientists, it prompts new areas of research and it reconnects scientists with their original motivations. This form of public engagement has also given the AS a unique voice in debates of public importance, such as with the recent... from : jackstilgoe 6th September 2005
- It's not rocket science Yesterday took me to Nottingham for a debate on nanotechnology-"Radical science or plus se change?". Turns out, it's somewhere in between. The event was a showdown between the quiet voices of British reason (represented by Richard Jones and Saul Tendler) and the simulated braggadocio of the American molecular manufacturing movement. Drawing on the dreams of Drexler (of "Gray goo" and desktop nanofactory fame), the Americans presented some animations showing the tiny insides of atom assemblers.... from : jackstilgoe 25th August 2005
- Slippery Syndromes On Wednesday, we heard from Simon Wesseley in the third Demos Science Cafe. He talked about his career spent at the heart of controversies about illnesses that refuse to be understood. He described how arguments over Gulf War Syndrome, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and a host of others force us to confront the politics of knowing about and intervening in illness. His analysis suggests that these things can mostly be understood as illnesses of modernity, implying that the explanation is... from : jackstilgoe 25th July 2005