Perez Esquivel in english

The Two Velocities Of Technology And Nature: A Conversation With
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel

Journal: International Journal of Ecodynamics, Vol2, Issue 2
Authors: A. Pèrez Esquivel, R.M. Pulselli and F. Rossi
http://journals.witpress.com/pages/paperinfo.asp?PaperID=266&jID=13&vn=2&in=2


The real world is a place of interactions, exchanges of information
and co-evolution. It is this co-evolutionary component that generates
quality and beauty. Dynamic, mutable, evolutionary forms are
manifestations of the creativity of nature. Complexity, multiplicity,
diversity and evolution in time are part of nature and the basic
values on which the aesthetics and fascination of life is based [1].
Science can decide to study and go with these aspects of nature or to
work against them, which it has often unfortunately done to further
the mechanistic levelling culture of 'progress'. It runs the risk to
separate the time of humans from the time of nature, the historical
time from the biological time, as Enzo Tiezzi affirms [2]. On the
other hand, science can restore a new alliance between humans and
nature, as Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Prize winner for Chemistry in 1977,
highlighted in his book with Isabelle Stengers titled La Nouvelle
Alliance [3]. Awidespread opinion on the role of science and the
entity of scientific progress today reveals a kind of unconditional
faith in human means. Technological progress, triumphant in this era
of electronics and communication, tends to be confused with the
development of scientific thought. On the wings of enthusiasm, science
avoids the path of the pioneer, that of discovery, which climbs, dips,
curves and narrows before opening to the world, in favour of the
straight, fast road to Eldorado. There is the doubt that too much
leeway has been given to demagogy about the cultivation of profit and
the commercialization of ideas. The world seems to have fallen under
the spell of western dream vendors with their magic flutes and charmed
snakes. We present visions, expectations and perspectives of science –
and, in particular, epistemology of science – through a conversation
with Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Price,
especially for his commitment to human rights.


...
INTERVIEW
Riccardo Maria Pulselli & Federico Rossi (RMP & FR): A demand of
recent years is that of
giving a direction to science, especially because one tends to confuse
science with the technology
that is capable of offering very quick and simple solutions, though
technology doesn't provide many
answers. On the contrary, technology often leads to homologation. I'm
thinking in particular of a
passage from one of your countless writings:
The equilibrium between man and nature has been broken. Science and
technology have caused
an acceleration of the natural cycle. Every being has its own cycle
and this acceleration has
changed life's objectives and conditions, resulting in
marginalization. The main novelty of
technology is the acceleration and velocity of time. […] Time in
technology is different from
cosmic time, as well as from human time and because of that,
technology has the awesome power
of modifying not only human nature, but Nature itself. […] We cannot
forget that technology
allows for a geometrical progression of acceleration. This compels us
to address the current
situation. […] This situation leads to the human being becoming more
and more divorced from
nature, because of the use and abuse of natural resources by developed
countries in particular,
and their responsibility for the transfer of pollutants to developing
countries. The application of
these policies gives priority to financial capital over human capital
in a process of accumulation
but no redistribution of goods and resources, losing harmony between
human beings and nature.
Time becomes a critical factor in the production process. It is now
evident that in all cost–benefit
relations, the time factor intervenes decisively and a new system of
individual and social values
operates under the surface. The great danger in the current millennium
is that the fast world and
the slow world are out of phase [4].
...