Commonly Asked Questions

1.  Who is this conference for?

 

If you are someone who is looking for a non-exploitative direction for new innovations,

if you have been excited by physics or chemistry but never had the chance to explore it to your satisfaction,

if you have wondered what kind of technologies could be undreamed of today,

if you are curious about the errors hidden in the foundations of science,

if you have concerns about social impacts of artificial intelligence,

if you are a student, a researcher, a teacher, an engineer or a tech professional,

or if you simply want to experience hands-on what novel ideas in science can offer…

This conference is for you.

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2. Isn’t Science already very advanced? Why do we need a Renewal?

 

Yes, the technical achievements in the past few decades have been great, but they are still based on knowledge that was developed more than a century ago. There have been no big breakthroughs in the last 50 years, and fundamental progress in our scientific institutions is affected by a reduction in disruptive science. The problems of our own time are increasing, and science is still not able to tackle the key questions about human existence. It still has a long way to go, and can benefit from a renewal.

 

3. Why the focus on Science? Isn't Tech more important?

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We often forget that Tech is built on the bedrock of science. Science is the root, and Technology is the fruit. Until the science underlying technology is changed, technology itself can only be refined, but not fundamentally changed into a less destructive form. We need to take the time to debug the source code, once in a while.

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4. While changing science, how to avoid pseudo-science?

 

Science is the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, and is the true motive of scientific progress. Other motivations such as ease and convenience (e.g. taking logical shortcuts or attachment to favorite theories), personal glory, career ambition, or economic benefit, distort the true spirit of science. These are the various pseudo-scientific interests that give rise to pseudo-science.

 

5. Have our own prejudices gotten in the way of real scientific progress?

 

Scientists can spend a lot of time at the lab, on the computer, or even in the field, but rarely go through a single course that highlights all the mental biases they could have. Prejudices amongst scientists have held up progress, sometimes for centuries, but without any correction in the way science is done. We prefer a way of doing science that tackles these mental biases head on, and fights them at their very root, before embarking on the research itself.

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6. Is non-institutional science important for the renewal of science?

 

Before science and research became a large and costly institution bound by consensus, there were plenty of researchers who made groundbreaking discoveries that were acknowledged by the "experts" only decades later. Today, a programmer can quickly make his talent known to the world, but the talented  scientist has no pathway to make an impact without institutional approval. This is where we come in, as we create that pathway for freelancing investigators who can join hands with the professionals and create an influx of new ideas that can in turn reinvigorate science.

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7. How is culture related to science?

 

We usually attribute the word “culture” to religious beliefs, arts, customs, language, national feelings, and traditions. But at its root, the word came from the proto-Indo-European "kwelt", which meant to churn over, or cycle (from where we get the tilling action: cultivate). Hence, in essence, anything that we freely put the effort to cultivate becomes culture.

When this effort and activity is directed by individuals towards understanding and ordering what we can observe, as an organized objective knowing, it becomes science. Science is hence a crystallized subset of culture as a whole. Or: science is one specific differentiation of culture.

This is why the Foundation for Cultural Renewal has chosen this year’s theme to be the Renewal of Science.

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8. How does changing science change society?

 

Science has become the primary lens through which we view the world, coloring everything we think and do. Our goals, aspirations, what is good, what isn’t, are all determined more or less consciously through scientifically influenced ideas. Any change in the methods of science changes our entire worldview. Without a properly grounded science, its withering effects impact culture and society as a whole.