Convergence of the Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering

Some blog followers might be interested in a recent post “Convergence of the Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering” [Hake (2011)]. The abstract reads:

*******************************************

ABSTRACT: Some discussion-list subscribers might be interested in the MIT White Paper “The Third Revolution: The Convergence of the Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering” [Sharp et al. (2011)].

Therein it is stated that: “Convergence is a new paradigm that can yield critical advances in a broad array of sectors, from health care to energy, food, climate, and water.” For reviews of the “Convergence Movement” see MIT News (2011) and Inside Higher Ed's “The Rise of ‘Convergence’ Science” [Berrett (2011)].

For previous work in the “Unity of Knowledge” and inter/trans-disciplinary areas see e.g., (1) Principles of Systems [Forrester (1968)]; (2) Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge [Wilson (1999)]; (3) Emergence and Convergence: Qualitative Novelty and the Unity of Knowledge [Bunge (2003)]; (4) Thinking in Systems: A Primer [Meadows (2008)]; (5) Inspired by Biology: From Molecules to Materials to Machines [NRC (2008); (6) citations in “Over Two-Hundred Annotated References on Systems Thinking” [Hake (2009)]; (7) The Science of Synthesis: Exploring the Social Implications of General Systems Theory [Hammond (2010)]; and (8) Research at the Intersection of the Physical and Life Sciences [NRC (2010a)].

*******************************************

To access the complete 26 kB post please click on http://bit.ly/fI9Zjf .

As stated in the above post, in my opinion, although the White Paper is a valuable contribution to the advance of science, it might have been improved if it had acknowledged:

(a) precursors to its “new paradigm” of Convergence, such as the “Systems Dynamics” work of MIT's Jay Forrester in particular; and inter/trans-disciplinary “Systems Thinking” generally;

(b) world problems in need of inter/trans-disciplinary attention that are even more severe than the “health care” problem emphasized in the White Paper's Introduction - e.g., the “Threat to Life on Planet Earth.”

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University

Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands

President, PEdants for Definitive Academic References which Recognize the Invention of the Internet (PEDARRII)

rrhake@earthlink.net>

http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake

http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi

http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com

http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake

REFERENCES [URL's shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 14 Jan 2011.]

Berrett, D. 2011. “The Rise of ‘Convergence' Science’,” Inside Higher Ed, 11 January; online at http://bit.ly/fVOp3C. As of 14 Jan 2011 10:26:00-0800 there had been 9 comments at http://bit.ly/fomM8o . You might wish to add yours.

Hake, R.R. 2011. “Convergence of the Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering” online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/fI9Zjf . Post of 14 Jan 2011 11:14:07-0800 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to various discussion lists.

MIT News. 2011. “MIT scientists say ‘convergence’ offers potential for revolutionary advances in biomedicine, other fields,” January 4; online at http://bit.ly/gdACA7.

Sharp, P.A., C.L. Cooney, M.A. Kastner, J. Lees, R. Sasisekharan, M.A. Yaffee, S.N. Bahatia, T. E. Jacks, D.A. Lauffenburger, R. Langer, P.T. Hammond, M. Sur. 2010. “The Third Revolution: The Convergence of the Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering,” online as a 3.1 MB pdf at http://bit.ly/eHzKKq .