The Era of Convergence

For more than a decade, hundreds of scientists and engineers debated in conferences and contributed to books exploring the need and value of convergence across their fields and with society. Convergence advances an integrative approach across human dimensions, is based on the material unity of nature, and is best facilitated by a holistic approach with shared methodologies, theories, and goals. Convergence seeks to transcend existing human conflicts to achieve vastly improved conditions for work, learning, aging, and physical and cognitive wellness and to achieve shared human goals. Seven theories offer different perspectives on this complex dynamic and suggest why this century may be the Era of Convergence: (1) Economic Growth, (2) Specialization Network, (3) Reverse Salient, (4) Fundamental Principles, (5) Progress Asymptote, (6) Exogenous Revolution, and (7) Social Problems. Science and technology should serve the needs of human beings, and innovation is a complex social enterprise. Thus, convergence must include transformative tools, ethics, the social sciences, political diversity, the arts, and humanities. For the sake of clarity and comparison, the chapters of this handbook are organized in six sections: (1) Concepts and Methods, (2) Foundational Technologies Platform, (3) Human-Scale Platform, (4) Earth-Scale Platform, (5) Societal-Scale Platform, and (6) Convergence in Education.