Matteo Cantiello edited untitled.tex  almost 9 years ago

Commit id: 30e2f91348f89396adf90d837e8542389775b3ed

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As humankind pushes the boundaries of knowledge, the  science is going through a rapid phase of transformation. Two important trends are emerging:  \begin{enumerate}  \item Research is becoming more complex, and requires larger collaborations and bigger experiments  \item Science and technology increasingly affect modern society.   \end{enumerate}  The first trend is easy to understand. Let's think of the cumulative knowledge of humankind as a sphere. Scientists work at the surface "pushing the boundaries", discovery increases the volume. As the sphere's volume grows, so does its surface area; this requires an ever increasing number of researchers to tessellate the expanding cutting-edge of science. Moreover, contrary to a few hundred years ago when the sphere of knowledge was so small that a single person could master large chunks of it, nowadays no human can understand the details of more than a few subtopics of research. To capture the bigger picture and understand very complex research questions, collaborative efforts combining together a number of highly specific expertise are required.  The number of scientists increases. Science and society become more and more intertwined.   In this rapidly changing environment it is important to reflect on the role and the responsibilities of the individuals doing science in the 21st century.