In his utopian book “The New Atlantis“, Francis Bacon explores many ideas, one of which is the concept of the “Merchants of Light”. These are special people tasked with trading in the light of understanding – knowledge, experimentation, truth:
“For the several employments and offices of our fellows, we have twelve that sail into foreign countries under the names of other nations (for our own we conceal), who bring us the books and abstracts, and patterns of experiments of all other parts. These we call merchants of light.”
This was the theme of a panel discussion in the most recent edition of The Science Review, chaired by Roger Bingham of The Science Network. The panel consisted of some of the finest scientific minds on offer: Richard Dawkins, AC Grayling, Brian Greene, Lawrence Krauss and Steven Pinker.
Each scientist has a different area of expertise and offers a different perspective on science as a discipline in itself and the role which science plays in our social, educational and political systems. Each panellist also discusses a particular frontier of science which they are most excited about, and the concepts are truly breathtaking.
The video runs for 57 minutes. You don’t have to be a science buff to appreciate the quality of the intellectual content or the excitement of what’s around the corner. Make some tea or coffee, sit back and be mesmerised.
Is science the ultimate narcissm?
Um, no…what’s narcissistic about the search for the truth about the world in which we live?