Let's try to imagine a world where scientific illiteracy is the exception rather than the rule. A world, that is, where the vast majority of people are informed and aware of the major scientific debates in progress, and capable of reflecting on them in an independent and critical manner. A world in which each person would have the resources at their disposal to elaborate a considered opinion on the techniques of cloning, genetically modified organisms, the new anti-cancer therapies or even about the origins of life on Earth or the final destination of the universe. If this world were possible, what would it be like? Scepticism about the feasibility of such a scenario is justified; however, at the same time it is equally undeniable that in the course of the twentieth century there have been such profound transformations in the relations between science and public opinion as to make the question legitimate and deserving of an answer.
The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself