From Intellectual Dependence to Creativity

As observed by Dr Pinguelli Rosa in one of the last interventions in this Wednesday evening session, there was to be witnessed throughout almost the entire conference a marked ambivalence towards contemporary science and technology. It can be argued that this ambivalence was not merely a subjective attitude of those present: it was rather a reflection of the objective roles which science and technology are and will be required to fulfil. Thus, the various participants frequently seemed to be saying to themselves and one another: “Let us not be too presumptuous in speaking of ‘the role’ of science and technology in the modern world, for their functions are, in fact, variable and often contradictory.” This point was brought home vividly by Drs Pečujlić and Vidaković when, in their position paper, they evoked the image of the ‘two faces’ of science and technology today; and implications for the social sciences were raised by Dr Bonfil Batalla who recalled the complicity of sociology and anthropology in the oppression of subjugated peoples. As stated so often above, alternatives for future developments in the field of science and technology hinge on the question of which social forces exercise effective political and economic power, and the alleged appropriateness or inappropriateness of technologies, for instance, should not be allowed to obscure the crucial question of who is doing the appropriating. Is it being done by alien forces or by endogenous ones? by exploiters or producers?