For a slow science

2017/02/27 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Etika
• Berdintasuna
• Historia
• Giza zientziak

It is not customary for a scientific news to capture the attention of the media in general. Therefore, when it happens, those of us who work to socialize science rejoice. But to some extent we also feel some concern. And if the essence of the news is not the same as the repercussion given to it, it can happen that people despise science. Or even get used to the spectacularity and not give importance to scientific news if they are not accompanied by drum sounds.

All this comes to my mind when you have given the news that the TRAPPIST-1 system has been found. In fact, the core of the discovery is really important, but I thought the propaganda tone of the NASA press conference reduced the scientific aspect. Perhaps it is not a bad time to bet on slow Science.

Slow science claims time. In 2010 the Academy of Slow Science was also created in Berlin, and its members wrote a statement. This is what the Slow Science Manifesto says:

We are scientists. We do not bloge. We do not tweet. We take our time. Do not understand us badly. Yes to the continuous flow of scientific publications and impact indices. To scientific blogs and social networks. Yes to the growing specialization and diversification in all disciplines. Yes to investigations that provide greater surveillance of health and a better future.

However, we have considered that this is not all. Science needs time to think. Time to read and time to make mistakes. Science does not always know what it can be right now. Science develops unstable with sudden movements and sudden jumps. But at the same time it drags on a very slow temporal scale, for what must be left space and be just.

For hundreds of years science was slow. Today we believe it must be recovered and protected. Society has to give time to scientists. But it is more important for scientists to take the time they need.

We need time to think. We need time to reflect. We need time to understand ourselves badly, especially when we foster the lost dialogue between humanities and natural sciences. We cannot constantly tell you what science means or what it serves, because we still do not know it. Science needs time.