The Time of Monsters
Tags: academia, research, musings
Writing about the interregnum following the First World War, Antonio Gramsci’s thoughts are often loosely paraphrased like this:
The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.
It is my opinion that we, too, find ourselves in such a ’time of monsters.’ Our monster are manifold, some more subtle than others, comprising (i) the rise of nationalism and authoritarianism, (ii) an ever-increasing polarisation of society, and, finally, (iii) a new deluge of fear, uncertainty, and doubt, driven by misinformation.
These monsters rear their ugly heads in a time where humanity enters a critical stage and should be united since many issues need our attention—whether it is the threat of another pandemic, requiring a science-driven response, the looming climate catastrophe, or the ongoing artificial-intelligence revolution: The voices of scientists, in particular those of younger generations, are ignored, ridiculed, or, at best, politically exploited just to be discarded when popular opinion sways in another direction and it is expedient to ignore them again.
These patterns are particularly visible to me in my own field of research, viz. machine learning or artificial intelligence. Largely unencumbered by ethical oversight, companies promise a new age of human flourishing, while in reality, their tools often only serve as additional food for even more misinformation and fake news, clogging up search engines and databases with ‘AI slop.’ Meanwhile, Europe, once the cradle of democracy, the Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution, is struggling for relevance, trying almost at vain to establish regulations for AI.
As European scientists, it is now our responsibility to help give birth to the new world and provide aid against the monsters of the interregnum. We can do this by advocating for science (and open science), by improving our dissemination efforts, and by focusing on better mentorship. I believe that reaching out to the general public and to politicians to inform and guide them is of the utmost importance to make sure that science is not being considered mere ‘opinion,’ but something larger, backed up by facts, evidence, and the work of prior generations.
I hope we can carry the torch of European science forward—together.