The economic crisis is changing the structure of our society, introducing insurmountable inequalities, marginalizing younger energies, stifling scientific research and so inhibiting the possibility to develop the new ideas and innovations that could help to guide us out of the crisis. Science can provide crucial tools that could be instrumental both in comprehending the problems of our time and in outlining perspectives that might constitute a solid and viable alternative to the rampant jungle law—a misconstrued Social Darwinism—that is currently very widespread. In this talk I discuss the interface between science dissemination and scientific policy and show how the ideas developed over the past century in natural sciences actually play a major role in understanding the seemingly diverse and unrelated problems lying at the heart of the current crisis and thus suggesting plausible and original solutions.
francesco sylos labini 