Science and politics have collaborated throughout human history and science is repeatedly invoked today in political debates, from pandemic management to climate change.
Leading policy analyst Geoff Mulgan here calls attention to the growing frictions caused by the expanding-and unsolicited-authority being heaped upon science. As science increasingly competes with politics, a defined plan of cooperation is urgently needed.
Mulgan outlines science and politics as two distinct, imperfect forms of collective intelligence. Whereas science is ordered around what we know and what is, politics engages what we feel and what matters. Politics functions because it recognizes the limits of power, the need for delegation and expert advice. The intellectual logic of science, on the other hand, focuses on detail and depth, struggling to place its knowledge in wider contexts. The crux of the matter, Mulgan argues, is how can we ensure that crucial decisions taken in democracies are both well informed and legitimate?
Rooted in understanding that science and politics are not just fields of ideas but also fields of action, this book proposes ways to ensure that the two work effectively together.
A new field of collective intelligence has emerged in the last few years, prompted by a wave of digital technologies that make it possible for organizations and societies to think at large scale. This "bigger mind"?human and machine capabilities working together?has the potential to solve the great challenges of our time. So why do smart technologies not automatically lead to smart results? Gathering insights from diverse fields, including philosophy, computer science, and biology, Big Mind reveals how collective intelligence can guide corporations, governments, universities, and societies to make the most of human brains and digital technologies. Geoff Mulgan explores how collective intelligence has to be consciously organized and orchestrated in order to harness its powers. He looks at recent experiments mobilizing millions of people to solve problems, and at groundbreaking technology like Google Maps and Dove satellites. He also considers why organizations full of smart people and machines can make foolish mistakes?from investment banks losing billions to intelligence agencies misjudging geopolitical events?and shows how to avoid them.