Can Science Save Us? Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees (#271)

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Brian Keating

Science, Physics, Natural Sciences

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 November 2022

⏱️ 106 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In his most recent book If Science is to Save Us, Astronomer Royal Martin Rees argues that, in his expert and personal analysis of the scientific endeavor on which we all depend, that we need to think globally, we need to think rationally and we need to think long-term, empowered by twenty-first-century technology but guided by values that science alone cannot provide. In this timely work, Lord Rees details how there has never been a time when ‘following the science’ has been more important for humanity. He warns that our world is so interconnected that a collapse - societal or ecological - would be a truly global catastrophe. So it’s ever more crucial to ensure that science is deployed optimally, and that brakes are applied to applications that are dangerous or unethical. At no other point in history have we had such advanced knowledge and technology at our fingertips, nor had such astonishing capacity to determine the future of our planet. Therefore, decisions we must make on how science is applied belong outside the lab and should be the outcome of wide public debate. For that to happen, science needs to become part of our common culture. Science is not just for scientists: if it were, it could never save us from the multiple crises we face. For science can save us, if its innovations mesh carefully into society and its applications are channelled for the common good. Martin Rees is the UK's Astronomer Royal. He is based at Cambridge University where he is a Fellow (and Former Master) of Trinity College. He is a member of the House of Lords, and a former President of the Royal Society. His research interests include space exploration, black holes, galaxy formation, the multiverse and prospects for extraterrestrial life. He is co-founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risks at Cambridge University (CSER). In addition to academic publications, research papers he has written many general articles and ten books, most recently 'On the Future: Prospects for Humanity'. Watch the video of this episode here: https://youtu.be/0GNxaMZry28 Connect with me: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php 🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast Subscribe to the Jordan Harbinger Show www.jordanharbinger.com/podcasts for amazing content from Apple’s best podcast of 2018! Can you do me a favor? Please leave a rating and review of my Podcast: 🎧 On Apple devices, click here, https://apple.co/39UaHlB scroll down to the ratings and leave a 5 star rating and review The INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast. 🎙️On Spotify it’s here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2G3PRMUhxGQkyQzLiiCqlf?si=8656119458df4555 🎧 On Audible it’s here : https://www.audible.com/pd/Into-the-Impossible-With-Brian-Keating-Podcast/B08K56PXJX?action_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp&shareTest=TestShar Other ways to rate here: https://briankeating.com/podcast - Support the podcast on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating or become a Member on YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Our Earth has existed for 45 million centuries, but this one is special.
0:12.0	It's the first where in one species ours has the
0:16.3	planet's future in its hands. Over nearly all of Earth's history threats have come
0:21.6	from nature, disease, earthquakes, asteroids and so forth.
0:25.0	But from now on the worst dangers come from us.
0:30.0	And it's now not just the nuclear threat. In our interconnected world, network breakdowns can
0:38.1	cascade globally. Air travel can spread pandemics worldwide within days and social media can spread panic and
0:46.5	rumor literally at the speed of light. We fret too much about minor hazards.
0:54.0	Improvable air crashes,
0:55.9	Castegenzian food, low radiation doses and so forth.
1:00.4	But we and our political masters are in denial about catastrophic scenarios. Hello everybody out there in the universe the multiverse of minds that I call
1:16.3	the into the impossible audience you're in for a tremendous treat you are going
1:20.5	to hear the voice and the wisdom of the Astronomer Royal, the man who tells the
1:26.8	Queen her horoscope, or at least he did, until that fateful day when she woke up no more.
1:31.5	We talked about the Queen and how he knew her, but Lord
1:33.8	Martin Reese has been a fixture in cosmology, theoretical cosmology, but not
1:37.4	only that as a public intellectual speculating on such varied and variegated
1:41.6	topics as the origin of the universe and the impact of
1:44.6	pandemics long before the COVID-19 pandemic struck us.
1:49.1	Today's conversation is about his book, if science is to save us, We go through the origin, the genesis of that title and of the
1:57.2	contents therein and what Lord Martin is looking forward to in the future of humanity
2:02.4	if we can get our ideas and minds and hearts behind these vexing and challenging problems.
	...

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