Liberal Arts Services

Civic Engagement

In the past it’s been that scientists do their work in the lab, society benefits from this work, and there hasn’t been too much discussion between scientists and the public. So we’re learning together to communicate together, to understand each other’s fields, to help nations and neighborhoods to better understand science, to better understand the societal impacts of scientific revolutions, and to use the great human imagination to envision where we might go from here.

Elizabeth Keating, Ph.D.
Science, Technology, & Society Program
The University of Texas at Austin

To ensure the best outcomes in the case of the societal impacts of nanotechnology, policy and planning for the future will require the engagement of citizens on a global scale. Past models of the separation of scientists from societal impacts or public debate have not been the most beneficial model for understanding the ways in which new discoveries will impact society. Citizens may believe that they have no say in the direction of scientific research or its impacts.

I think science behind closed doors is an awful idea. Why is it that people respond so negatively to the term nuclear? Why is that? I think in part it’s because of all these tests, clandestine tests, that the federal government ran in the 50s and 60s.

Fred Kronz, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy
The University of Texas at Austin

Some of the questions that citizens and policymakers are engaging are ethical and moral questions. Human cloning and embryonic stem-cell research are areas which arouse passions that are sometimes based on differing philosophies of life, religion, and the role of human interference in the natural world. Since 2001, US public policy has shifted towards not funding stem cell research, citing ethical and religious concerns. However, private companies and even some states are actively funding such research. Some countries, such as South Korea and France, have very different policies and attitudes towards research with human cells, often citing the potential dramatic benefits for all of humanity.

The ban on developing new embryonic stem cell lines for research was authorized despite high-profile support of stem cell research from the public and public figures such as Nancy Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as support from a majority of US voters.