Within the pragmatic framework of the industrial society, science
progressively assumed the leading role over philosophy. In fact,
science changed from an elitist practical experience strongly
controlled by the guardians of literacy (i.e., religion) to an
experience integrated in society. Philosophy followed an inverse
path, from a generalized attitude of wonder to becoming the
privilege of the few who could afford to contemplate the world.
Generalized in technology, the rationality of science reached its
peak in the civilization of literacy through standardization and
mass production of processed food, means of transportation
(cars, airplanes), home building, and the use of electricity as
the efficient alternative energy source. But the real challenge
was yet to come.
Einstein took a daring guess. "The tragedy of modern men...is
that they created conditions of existence for which, from the
perspective of their phylogenetic development, they are not
adjusted." The lost balance between rationality and reason is
reflected in the image of all the consequences of the Industrial
Revolution that led to the runaway capitalism of the 19th and
20th centuries. Exhaustion of raw materials, air and water
pollution, erosion of productive land, and mental and physical
strain on humans are the concrete results of this imbalance.
But if these consequences were all people and society had to cope
with, the dominance of literacy in science would still be
defensible. The challenge comes from the new scale of humankind
for which the Industrial Revolution model and literacy are no
longer adequate. Efficiency expectations, of an order of
magnitude incompatible with the underlying structure of the
pragmatic framework based on literacy, result in the need for a
new dynamics, for mediation, acknowledgment and use of
non-linearity, vagueness, and non-determinism. Science, as well
as the implicit philosophic component of this new science,
already approached areas of knowledge beyond the borderline
guarded by literacy. On the initial success of micro-physics, the
first non- literacy-based technological challenge for more energy
was met in the form of relatively rudimentary weapons. In the
meanwhile, it became clear that a new physics and a new
chemistry, and a new biology, along with many disciplines
non-existent within literacy, of a systemic focus with quality
and process is what we need. Some of the scientific themes
mentioned already illustrate how science is evolving. They also
illustrate how a new epistemological condition is established,
one that is based on projecting explanatory models upon the
world and testing them for appropriateness and coherence. In the
lead are practical experiences of science driven by cognitive
resources no longer constrained by observation. What is free of
epistemological doubt is that almost all the science that has
emerged has reclaimed interest in the living. These new
sciences, which are philosophies at the same time, are
computationally disclosed biophysics, biochemistry, molecular
biology, genetics, medicine, and knowledge of the micro- and
nano-universe.
Literacy, because of its inherent structural characteristics, is
no longer the appropriate mold for such new experiences, the
proper container for knowledge, or even an effective means of
evaluation. Among many possible literacies, it maintains a
domain of appropriateness, and within this domain it allows for
local performance synchronized with the general expectation of
efficiency. The shift from literacy to literacies-in fact, the
shift to the pragmatic framework of the civilization of
illiteracy- takes place against the background of conflict
between means of restricted efficiency and new means for coping
with larger populations, and with the newly acquired right to
well-being, or even affluence. Almost all new sciences evolve in
new technologies. We are already familiar with some, since we
were told that from science programs (space exploration, genetic
research, biophysics), products as trivial as calculators,
thermal fabric, and new construction materials were made
available at prices affordable in the global economy. We are
getting used to others as they become available: intelligent
materials able to alter their structure, and self-assembling
materials.