The Impact of Science

In today’s world, the impact that science can have on life as we know it remains of high importance. A lot of research is being carried out regarding the risk of viral infections among humans. A quite debatable topic is also genetic engineering, artificial life and stem cells research and as to how far we are willing to go. With the help of technology brain interferences can also be developed. All these issues made part of undesirable side-effects of scientific activity as for example criminals can make use of all this information. The focus here is thus actions of people to people, in other words of society.

One important question in society is why a sustainable economy is so difficult to achieve. Externalities such as for example air pollution are not included in product prices. The economy is not value-free: only exchangeable value is of value, intrinsic value does not play a role meaning that efficiency wins over quality, justice, nature and humanity. Emotional value is not measured meaning that we are moving far from nature. But what about the things that cannot be measured? An example is healthcare which needs to be moved to the market. Consumers cannot evaluate health so measures are taken by insurance companies, the patient’s dimension is in this case ignored. Next to economical costs, political costs are also neglected, populist is uprising: virtues and values such as sympathy, justice, cultural value and friendship are neglected. As a consequence of globalism, society has been left behind. People therefore started to mistrust the economy and socialism is in decay.

In liberalism the individual is autonomous and is free to develop his/her own ideas and defend them. In economics, it is assumed that people are self-interested but that there is also a form of altruism present. Many decisions are taken from your subconscious however free will is limited, it is not absent so the question then arises on how to assume that people are rationale. Measurable outcomes for control: multiple values which are not necessarily commensurable. These can sometimes be conflicting depending on the conditions e.g. a conflict between your family interests and work interests.

Practical wisdom is therefore needed that recognizes that values cannot be added or subtracted. Not everything is rationale, some issues remain conflicting and hence it is important to balance them. Some people argue that altruism goes against evolution because one could not have survived as your own self-interests is what matters. Others argue that this is not true as altruism is part of our nature. Sometimes we sacrifice ourselves in name of for example our loved ones. Loyalty is then very important.

There is currently a debate going on social media and how it is harming public matters including labor conditions. Social media is also making politics lose its power. The positive side is that many local networking platforms have contributed to people connecting with each other and helping each other. Human beings should learn from nature which conserves energy: nature does not conquer but aims for ‘live and let live’, for symbiosis.