Massimo Polidoro, ‘Our common thread this year is responsibility’

2023-09-19 16:51:21

“The responsibility concerns everyone: those who produce scientific and technological knowledge, those who work in the world of media and education, and those who make political and economic decisions, as well as the protagonists of the cultural world, up to individual citizens”. This was stated to time.news by Massimo Polidoro, writer and national secretary of Cicap, as well as creator of the Cicap Fest, presented today in Padua, where the event will take place from 13 to 15 October, with the title “Let’s do our part”.

“The main contemporary challenges – he continues – have social and political dimensions connected to scientific-technological dimensions: climate emergency, loss of biodiversity, energy crisis, pandemics, demographic changes… This is why political decision makers cannot do without specialist knowledge, although the science available is often, by its nature, incomplete because it is constantly evolving and progressing, and multidisciplinary, therefore branched and complex. How then can a democracy reconcile the urgency of the decisions to be made, the need for univocal and simple answers , with the uncertainty of knowledge? What rights do non-expert citizens have with respect to knowledge?”.

Questions that “we will try to answer with the help of scientists, popularizers, philosophers and personalities from the world of research, literature, entertainment and culture. “The intent – Polidoro underlines – is to build a shared language and a method of reading reality capable of meeting the global challenges that await everyone and, in particular, the new generations”. (continued)

A new approach between scientific knowledge and public communication

Numerous participants in the event, from Telmo Pievani to Pif; among them we remember Silvia Bencivelli, Guido Barbujani, Giulio Boccaletti, Dario Bressanini, Massimiano Bucchi, Tommaso Calarco, Luigi Cattivilli, Massimo Cirri, Edzard Ernst, Tito Faraci, Chiara Galeazzi, Serena Giacomin, Vera Gheno, Marco Malvaldi, Stefano Nazzi, Helga Nowotny, Luca Parmitano, Lorenzo Pregliasco, Andrea Rinaldo, Federico Taddia, Giorgio Vallortigara, Roberta Villa, Antonella Viola.

One of the possible strategies, for example, is “a civic education in science, based on a new approach to the relationship between scientific knowledge, its public communication and the rules for coexistence”, finally specifies the secretary of Cicap”. science communication expert Nico Pitrelli will explain. We will discuss the impact of catchy headlines, i.e. the media’s improper use of ‘shrill’ and ‘hot headlines’ to appeal to the public, as well as how the artificial intelligence can be a useful tool for debunking, thanks to the insights of journalists Paolo Attivissimo and Fabio Chiusi, who investigate the social consequences of new technologies, automation and artificial intelligence.

AI has a strong impact on scientific communication: to what extent is it possible to use it in writing texts? Is it a crucial tool for developing more precise and clear topics, helping to overcome linguistic barriers? Would it facilitate rapid knowledge sharing, encouraging research? Paola Govoni, professor of History of science and technology at the University of Bologna, scientific journalist Marco Boscolo and Roberto Paura, president of the Italian Institute for the Future, co-founder of the Association of Italian Futurists and director of Futuri” discuss it. , an Italian futures studies magazine, during the workshop for journalists and science communicators organized with the contribution of the MSD Foundation (accredited for the training of journalists, in collaboration with the Order of Journalists). (continued)

Among the topics: communication, AI, space economy, environment

Space Economy, however, will be discussed by the science communicator Nicolò Bagnasco and the aerospace engineer Vittorio Baraldi. The engineer and national coordinator of Cicap Andrea Ferrero, a space expert, will tell the exciting stories behind space exploration. The philosopher Stefano Bigliardi and the anthropologist Eleonora D’Agostino will instead discuss how to harmonize the duty to respect one’s reference values ​​and sources with respect to the public to which research and dissemination are aimed.

There is a responsibility to grasp the danger signals that the planet sends us and which confirm scientists’ predictions: this is what physicist and climatologist Serena Giacomin will insist on when speaking about the climate emergency between science and responsibility starting from a recent report UN, according to which this crisis is faster than our ability to adapt, and any further delay in action to counter it risks compromising the future of humanity.

Another theme is how to react when science says things you don’t like or denies certainties: an invitation to deal with truths that can help you live better. Error in medicine must be accepted because science proceeds by trial and error, but it is equally crucial to avoid it as much as possible: doctors Franco Aprà and Fabrizio Elia, experts in Emergency Medicine (ASL City of Turin), will reflect on this together with Vincenzo Crupi, professor of philosophy of science at the University of Turin. Together with the biologist Antonella Viola we will discuss how, as scientists, to deal with complex situations and topics that can arouse controversy. (continued)

Medicine and errors, the National Health Service, Big Data

In the company of scientific journalist Silvia Bencivelli we will retrace the history of medicine, telling in particular the role of ‘self-experimenters’, that is, those doctors who have decided to test their ideas on themselves, with a touch of madness and recklessness, often with sincere altruism and courage (starting from his latest book “Eroica, folli, visionaria”, by Bollati Boringhieri, 2023).

Up to the present day, with a National Health Service which, to be sustainable and universal, must literally deal with complex issues such as the exhaustion of public resources, on the one hand, and prevention, on the other. The host Massimo Cirri will explain it, protagonist of a meeting in dialogue with the president of the Gimbe Foundation Nino Cartabellotta, and with the pharmacologist Silvio Garattini, starting from his latest book “Prevention is revolution” (Il Mulino, 2023).

Lorenzo Pregliasco, political analyst, co-founder and director of YouTrend, will explain big data, how to describe and interpret it, what are the mechanisms that lead to orienting our perception and how they can be a precious tool for understanding the present. More numbers, but from a financial point of view, we will discuss with the journalist and co-founder of Rame, a platform that aims to provide training and information on economic-financial issues Annalisa Monfreda, Ivana Neffat, Head of Banking Academy Program by UniCredit and the school director Gustavo Matassa on education and gender equality, with a view to authentic social progress.