Science and the future

Impossible, likely, desirable - Economics growth and physical constraints

28-31 Ottobre 2013, Politecnico di Torino

Presentation

Turin gave birth to Aurelio Peccei in 1908. Peccei was an economist, manager and intellectual who fostered the awareness of the limits to the economical growthposed by the physical constraints on the Planet. He promoted the famous report on “The limits to growth”, developed at MIT and published in 1972.

After more than 40 years, the worldwide economical crisis unveils more and more visible connections to the availability of fossil energy, mineral resources, exploitation of biomass, soil degradation and instability of agricultural production, pollution and climate change. On the same time science has made tremendous progress in its knowledge of coupled natural and human processes, coming to the conclusion that present Anthropocene is the geological epoch where one single species – seven billion Homo Sapiens –has taken an absolutely dominant position on the whole biosphere, producing changes, at an unprecedented rate, in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere.

The risk of a dramatic transition of the terrestrial system under such a never before experienced pressure is real, but economy, politics and humanistic culture do not realize yet the urgency to face such scenarios and the unavoidability of the physical constraints on any project of a future for mankind, presently dominated by the market logic alone, by growth and competition: an impossible future.

The changes presently under way –from climate to biodiversity –outline instead probable futures which can endanger the quality of human life on the whole planet for thousands of years to come.

Only a resolute turn towards a cultural evolution bringing the use of natural resources within the terrestrial bio-geo-chemical cycles can lead us to the desirable future of a stable and sustainable species and society. Four days of discussion at the Politecnico di Torino with some top exponents of the international research, both on hard sciences and economy, will be an opportunity to bring to light a concrete debate, more and more necessary at all levels of culture and politics.

The videos of the conference talks are available at the conference website http://scienceandthefuture.polito.it/

Scientific Committee

Scientific Editors

Organizing Committee

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