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Implications: Convergence of Knowledge and Technology for a Sustainable Society

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Convergence of Knowledge, Technology and Society

Part of the book series: Science Policy Reports ((SCIPOLICY))

Abstract

Globally, three interrelated critical problems face society in the twenty-first century: population growth, shortages of vital requirements for human prosperity (water, food, energy, critical materials, full employment, health, hygiene, security, peace), and climate change. There are competing trends in terms of rising use of resources at the same time as converging knowledge and technology provide solutions for reducing or supplanting resource requirements—and in terms of increasing damage to the environment at the same time as the tools are becoming available to remediate the environment. This chapter addresses whether the Earth System under human stress factors can remain in a stable and viable state, or whether imbalance in various “planetary boundary” states (atmospheric CO2 concentration, biodiversity loss, input of nitrogen into the biosphere, chemical pollution, ozone depletion, etc.) could precipitate a planet-wide catastrophe.“Sustainability” encompasses social and cultural values, resources to meet human needs, the natural and built (e.g., megacities) environments, and other factors, all of which must be actively, holistically, thoughtfully, and jointly addressed by society using converging knowledge and technology tools if we are to maintain the balance of the system as a whole within the critical time period of the next 10–20 years.

Corresponding editors M.C. Roco (mroco@nsf.gov) and W.S. Bainbridge (wbainbri@nsf.gov).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-state-union-address

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Mamadou Diallo

  2. Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, South Korea

    Mamadou Diallo

  3. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Bruce Tonn

  4. Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Pedro Alvarez

  5. George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    Philippe Bardet

  6. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA

    Ken Chong

  7. University of California, Irvine, CA, USA

    David Feldman

  8. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, USA

    Roop Mahajan

  9. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Norman Scott

  10. Johnson & Johnson Boston Innovation Center, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Robert G. Urban

  11. University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Eli Yablonovitch

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  1. Mamadou Diallo
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  5. Ken Chong
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Science Foundation, Arlington, Virginia, USA

    Mihail C. Roco

  2. National Science Foundation, Arlington, Virginia, USA

    William S. Bainbridge

  3. Department of Political Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

    Bruce Tonn

  4. Dept of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    George Whitesides

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Diallo, M. et al. (2013). Implications: Convergence of Knowledge and Technology for a Sustainable Society. In: Roco, M., Bainbridge, W., Tonn, B., Whitesides, G. (eds) Convergence of Knowledge, Technology and Society. Science Policy Reports. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02204-8_9

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