Science and Technology in the Transformation of the World

195 Pages·1982·26.48 MB·English

by  Miroslav Pečujlić, Gregory Blue, Anouar Abdel-Malek (eds.)

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WORLD
Volume 1: Science and Technology
'THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WORLD' SERIES
GeneralEditor: Anouar Abdel-Malek
This series is part of the United Nations University's project entitled Socio-
cultural Development Alternatives in a Changing World (SCA), directed by
Project Co-ordinator Prof Dr Anouar Abdel-Malek, within the Human and Social
Development Program ofthe UNU led by Vice-Rector ProfDr Kinhide Mushakoji.
Spanish and Arabic versions of this series are being published by Siglo
Vienteiunos XXI Editores, Mexico, and the General Egyptian Book Organization,
Cairo, respectively.
The complete proceedings of the series are being published by The United
Nations University Press, Tokyo.
Further volumes in the series are:
2 : Economy and Society
3 : Culture and Thought
4 : Religion and Philosophy
5 : The Making of the New International Order
VOLUME 1
SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY IN
THE TRANSFORMATION
OF THE WORLD
Edited by
Miroslav Pecujlic,
Gregory Blue and
Anouar Abdel-Malek
THE UNITED NATIONS
UNIVERSITY
in association with
M MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
© The UnitedNationsUniversity 1982
English language edition© Macmillan Press Ltd 1982
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1982
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form
or by any means, withoutpermission.
First published 1982 by
Scientific andMedical Division
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Companies andrepresentatives throughout the world
Typeset in Press Roman by Multiplex Techniques Ltd, Orpington, Kent.
ISBN 978-1-349-06309-3 ISBN 978-1-349-06307-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-06307-9
Contents
Preface vii
The Transformation of the World: The Gearbox of Priorities Anouar
Abdel-Malek
Introduction Gregory Blue xvi
OpeningAddresses
I: Science and Technology as Formative Factors of Contemporary
Civilisation: From Domination to Liberation 4
Preliminary Remarks
Keynote Address by Henri Lefebvre: Le Necessaire et Ie Possible dans
la Formation du Mondial
Rajko Tomovic: Technology and Society
J. Leite Lopes: Science and the Making of Contemporary Culture
Y. Barel: Paradigmes Scientifiques et Autodetermination Humaine
A. N. Pandeya: Imagination, Insight and Understanding: Reflections
on the Culture of Science in a Changing World
Discussion 31
II: Technology Generation and Transfer: Transformation Alternatives 39
Preliminary Remarks
Vladimir Stambuk: Conceptions of Scientific and Technological
Development
Kenji Kawano: Science and Technology in Japanese History
Slobodan Ristic: Collective Self-reliance of Developing Countries in the
Fields of Science and Technology
Vesna Besarovic: Legal Aspects of the Transfer of Technology in
Modern Society
Discussion 58
III: Biology, Medicine and the Future of Mankind 67
Preliminary Remarks
Bruno Ribes: La Maitrise de la Vie, pour quoi Faire?
Yuji Mori: Restructuring a Framework for the Assessment of Science
and Technology as a Driving Power for Social Development: A Bio-
Sociological Approach
Viktor Milanovic: Human Aspects of the Medical Sciences: Medical
Technology and the Physician's Responsibility
Discussion 81
IV: The Control of Space and Power 87
Preliminary Remarks
Osama EI-Kholy: Towards a Clearer Definition of the Role of Science
and Technology in Transformation
Jose Silva Michelena: Science, Technology and Politics in a
Changing World
Zoran Vidakovic: The Technology of Repression and Repressive
Technology: the Social Bearers and the Cultural Consequences
Luis Pinguelli Rosa: Nuclear Energy in Latin America: The
Brazilian Case
Discussion 111
V: From Intellectual Dependence to Creativity 120
Preliminary Remarks
Zvonimir Damjanovic: Science and Technology as Organic
Parts of Contemporary Culture
Gregory Blue: Joseph Needham's Contribution to the History of
Science and Technology in China
Tetsuro Nakaoka: Imitation or Endogenous Creativity
Guillermo Bonfil Batalla: La Appropriacion y la Recuperaci6n
de las Ciencias Sociales en el Contexto de los Proyectos
Culturales Endogenos
Miroslav Pecujlic and Zoran Vidakovic: On the Razor's Edge
Discussion 146
Appendix 1: Reports on Sections and General Report on the
International Seminar 152
Appendix 2: Participants 163
Name Index 167
Subject Index 169
Preface: TheTransformation
of the World- the Gearbox
of Priorities
The United Nations University's project on Socio-cultural Development Alterna-
tives in a Changing World (SCA) was launched in mid-1978, within the framework
of the Human and Social Development Program of the University, with a view to
repositing the problematique of alternatives in human and social evolution as of
the wide array of visions of our world, through its interwoven circles of civilis-
ational moulds, geo-cultural areas, formations and nations.
Quite naturally, each of these interlinked circles comprises the socio-economic
and political-ideological system as they obtain in the real concrete world of our
times. However, the SeA Project is oriented towards a deeper level of analysis,
deeper and more compelling too - i.e. the combination of the civilisational and
geostrategic levels. Only by combining these two levels - the more obvious,
traditional, level of the social sciences and the wider and deeper level ofcivilisation
and geostrategy - does it appear possible to reach for the hidden part of the ice-
berg, for the very roots of the formative alternative schools of thought and action,
deep at work. Only thus, and then, do we appear to be able therefore to mobilise
their potentials towards a more humane, fraternal approach to the transformation
of the world: to be precise, the non-antagonistic dialectical treatment of contra-
dictions leading towards complementarity.
This First International Seminar of the serieson The Transformation of the World
deals with the dimension of Science and Technology in the Transformation of
the World. It is thus the first of the series of six international seminars devoted
to the implementation of the sub-project on The Transformation of the World
(TW), itself part of the UNU Project on Socio-Cultural Development Alterna-
tives in a Changing World (SCA), within the framework of the United Nations
University's Human and Social Development Program, directed by Vice-Rector
Dr Kinhide Mushakoji. A parallel series is devoted to the theme of the other
sub-project Endogenous Intellectual Creativity, starting with the First Asian
Regional Symposium, held at the University of Kyoto (13-17 November 1978),
viii Preface
followed by the Latin American Regional Symposium at the Universidad Nacional
Autonoma de Mexico (23-29 April 1979), the Arab Regional Symposium at
Kuwait University (1981), etc. The series of five international seminars dealing
with The Transformation of the World will comprise, after this first Seminar
devoted to Science and Technology, the dimensions of: Economy and Society;
Culture and Thought; Philosophy and Religion; the Making of the New Inter-
national Order.
This First International Seminar was organised jointly by the United Nations
University and the University of Belgrade, thanks to the perceptive help and
deep commitment of Dr Miroslav Pecujlic, Rector of the University of Belgrade,
our host and Chairman, and Dr Kinhide Mushakoji, Vice-Rector of the United
Nations University for Human and Social Development Program.
In launching this series on the Sub-Project of The Transformation of the
World, our SCA Project is aware that it thus fulfils an important part of the moral
and scientific obligations of the international scientific community and of the
United Nations University proper, at the very heart of our joint quest for a new
international order, according to the fundamental decisions of the United Nations
Organization and the Charter of the United Nations University, which coincide
with the aspirations and decisions of the group of developing and non-aligned
countries. The systematic, comparative and critical study of the different dimen-
sions of The Transformation of the World is conceived of as the all-encompassing
general frame and mould of the scientific and theoretical workshop now being
developed, towards providing the international community with a deeper and
more genuine understanding of linkages and differences, of our differing priorities,
through their complex dialectical paths from contradictions to convergence. As
such, this series of international seminars devoted to The Transformation of the
World wishes to implement the aims and ideals of the United Nations University,
as defined in its Charter:
The University shall devote its work to research into the pressing global
problems of human survival, development and welfare that are the concern of
the United Nations and its agencies, with due attention to the social sciences
and the humanities. as well as natural sciences, pure and applied (Article I,
point 2, UNU Charter).
The research programme of the institutions of the University shall include,
among other subjects, coexistence between peoples having different cultures,
languages, and social systems; peaceful relations between States and the main-
tenance of peace and security; human rights; economic and social change and
development; the environment and the proper use of resources; basic science
and technology in the interests of development; and universal human values
related to the improvement of the quality of life (Article I, point 3, UNU
Charter).
The central character of our times, of the real world in our times, resides in
the transformation - not evolution or transition (all historical periods are periods
Preface ix
of transition) - of all dimensions of the life of human societies. To be sure, this
transformation, acknowledged by all quarters and groups all over the world, is
neither unilinear nor synchronic. At the first level, we are witnesses to major
differences in the quality, quantity - and more so, the tempo and impact - of
processes of transformation in different sectors of social life and activity: economic
production; patterns of power; societal cohesiveness; cultural identity; civilis-
ational projects; political ideologies; religions; philosophies; myths, etc. - in
short, all sectors of what is usually termed the infrastructure and superstructure
of society. At a second, more visible and forceful, level,we do acknowledge
distinctions between different types of societies, e.g. in the different types of
socio-economic formations and the accompanying political ideologies (basically
capitalism, liberal capitalism and monopoly capitalism; and socialism, national pro-
gressive socialism and communism). And even more so, in the hitherto neglected
dimension of civilisational, cultural and national specificity, we encounter major,
more resilient and protracted, sets of differences.
This transformation of the world can be recognised in the following three sets
of factors, which lend themselves to being recorded according to different con-
ceptions of priorities:
(1) The resurgence of the three continents of Asia, Africa and Latin America
to contemporaneity, both in the socio-political and civilisational-cultural fields.
The historical processes of national liberation and independence, coupled with
national and social revolutions, have gathered momentum since their inception
in modern times, during the early part of the nineteenth century, until they
became the dominant factor of contemporary history from the years following
1917 and especially in the period 1945-1973.
This vast transformation has been seen by Western specialists as a socio-
political process within the traditional conception of the world's history (as
consisting of one centre - Europe, later Europe and North America, Le. the
Western World - and its periphery, the Orient, Le, Asia, Africa, the Arab-Islamic
world, later joined by Latin America). The three continents were emerging
but what was/is emerging is seen in socio-political terms.
On the other side of the river, especially in the Orient - Asia, Africa and the
Arab-Islamic world - this process of emergence was seen essentially as a process
of renaissance of either culture or civilisation, as in the Arab and Islamic Nahdah
and Meiji Japan, in the Chinese Cultural Revolution and in the upsurge of
Africanism, while Latin America's quest for identity has brought to light the
hitherto hidden Indian and Indo-African elements of the culture.
(2) A parallel, major set of formative factors in this transformation appears
to have developed between 1848 and 1973, and especially from October 1917,
the date of the first socialist revolution in history. The hitherto equanimous front
of the bourgeoisies in power was suddenly faced with the eruption of the labour-
ing people into power, coupled with a populist Weltanschauung geared towards a
persistently more humane life for the have-nots. Sixty years later, nearly half of
mankind lives under socialism - four-fifths of whom belong to Asia and Africa.
(3) More recently, a third set of factors has become more visible, centring