Viewpoint - 02 January 2011

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Dr Barry Jones

Twenty-Nine Years and Counting

 
Dr Barry Jones

 

pdf file-available from Australasian Science

 

Ten years ago TFW published its first editorial. The Australian dollar was then pegged at US$0.48, it is currently at or just above parity. At the time Barry Jones' book, Sleepers, Wake!: Technology & The Future Of Work, had been in print nineteen years with its fourth edition (1995) being then, and still, its most recent.

 

Since its publication the Fraser government has been succeeded by those of Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, John Howard, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.

 

Much has changed in the past decade but much has not. All things considered Australia's relative position in its cohort of nations remains much as it was from the viewpoint of research, development and higher education; indeed in certain areas it has regressed. For example Anna-Maria Arabia CEO of FASTS, the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies, writes in the Jan/Feb issue of Australasian Science: "The progress of women in science and technology has stalled for the past 15 years." The fact that government media releases point to improvements relative to previous positions within the nation, but seldom relative to our cohort of nation's, should be worrisome. The fact that the nation's only Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Lawrence and William Bragg in 1915 while John Cornforth (1975) is the only Chemistry laureate sends a message regarding the enabling sciences.

 

And in both cases the award winning research was carried out in Britain.

 

Here we reprint that first TFW editorial.

 

 

Nineteen Years and Counting

It was 1982, the Fraser Government still reigned and a callow youth of 50 published a book which he hoped would be a 'wake-up call' to Australia. Barry Jones had been in Parliament five years and Sleepers Wake! Technology & the Future of Work created something of a stir, at least in the book review sections of the broadsheets (an updated edition was brought out in 1995). 

Toward the end of 1984 the Hawke Government, Barry Jones as Science Minister, set up The Commission for the Future with much fanfare (the A$ stood above US$.80 at the time), while 1986 saw the dollar drop to 60 cents and the Treasurer use banana as an adjective.

Michael Quinn Patton  of  the Minnesota Extension Service-St. Paul wrote in 1987,  'The Commission for the Future represented a visible, nationwide commitment to become futures-oriented. The commission planned its strategies for a year before becoming fully operational in early 1986. 

Five major participatory, public education strategies are being used: conferences, seminars and workshops, public communication through print and electronic media, a clearinghouse on futures issues, and a community-based science and technology network. The goal of the Commission for the Future is "to foster the development of a productive, innovative culture in Australia, and to encourage all Australians to become involved in shaping their future." '

2001, the Sydney Olympics have come and gone, Australia has won its last 15 cricket tests (quite apart from anything else this may indicate a meteorological record) and the Howard Government is now the recipient of reports from the Chief Scientist as well as the Innovation Summit - covering as a matter of urgency - exactly the same ground. In the words of Yogi Berra, philosopher and former New York Yankee catcher, 'It's deja vu all over again'.

'Sleepers Wake, a Voice is Calling.'

Alex Reisner
Founder, Australian National Genomic Information Service (ANGIS)
Editor, The Funneled Web