Is Australia on the front lines of the 21st century human crisis?
Societies and cultures live there which have, for thousands of years, considered that the land itself has spirit and agency.
On the same land, Australia has built prosperity from the extractive industries, using technology to remove resources from the ground in a way which has global impact.
How can these values be reconciled? What part do science and technology centres have to play in the debate about our sustainable future?
“A long time ago, when I was a child, I went to a Science Centre. Back then, there was nothing like it – a truly hands-on space of adventure and learning, in an age when most museums kept their exhibits under glass.
“On most of the Science Centre exhibits, you turned a crank, hoped to see something awesome happen – then read the didactic to see what you were supposed to have learned.
“Pedagogy has moved on, but so has the world. What happens when you “turn the crank” of science and causality breaks down? What happens when social and natural systems collapse, public trust fractures, and old worldviews reveal their blind spots?
“What would the ‘Post-Normal Science Centre’ look like?”
Next month, I’ll be speaking as the opening keynote at this year’s Asia Pacific Network of Science and Technology Centres Conference – ASPAC 2019.
matt finch / mechanical dolphin 
