09. The limits of science

In his essay "What is the future of science?", published in the World Science Report in 1998, John Maddox, who was editor of the prestigious magazine Nature presents an overview of the state of science at the end of the 20th century and visionary speculation about the directions it might take in the future. The most critical aspects that Maddox points out in his report are the impact of biomedicine, and biotechnology in general, particle physics, computer science and, today not surprisingly, artificial intelligence. What is relevant is that all these scientific developments mentioned by Maddox have a great transformative capacity and, as he himself recognized, they entail clear ethical and social challenges; challenges that require open communication with the public and those responsible for political decisions at the international level. In this roundtable we will provide a renewed vision of these same issues in the spirit of providing updated ideas and reflections on how to ensure that the benefits of science are distributed equitably.

• Ulises Cortés, professor of Artificial Intelligence at the UPC and director of the BSC High Performance Artificial Intelligence Group
• Jaume Casals, philosopher, rector of Pompeu Fabra University (2013/2021)
• Luis M. Martínez, director of the Human Cognition Program and the Visual Analogies Laboratory at the Institute of Neurosciences of Alicante