The Survival Nexus by Charles Weiss

Abstract

Charles Weiss has written a timely and compelling interdisciplinary book on science, technology, and world politics. He deftly blends insights from science and social science to a number of complex contemporary issues, ranging from the environment to nuclear disarmament to the economy. He concludes with some governance heuristics. The book is appropriate for undergraduate courses in global governance, science technology and society (STS), environmental politics, and world politics, as well as for a popular audience. Weiss provides a matrix (or “nexus”) for understanding these issues and their governance: “the interweaving of science and technology with politics, economics, law, business, psychology, culture and ethics” (14), or, in summary, “science proposes, and politics disposes” (45), where politics encompasses geopolitics, domestic politics, market considerations, and policy tractability. Human survival, according to Weiss, rests on harnessing science and technology (S&T) to deal with current issues. S&T is the co-productive driving force—science enables innovative technology with the potential for human betterment. Whether this potential is realized depends on good governance. S&T is subject to, and interactive with, the broader political nexus. Technology: you can’t live with it, and you can’t live without it. Technological innovations and their governance have helped avoid nuclear Armageddon, promoted historically unprecedented economic growth and poverty reduction, and provided selective success at environmental protection and public health. Challenges remain: climate disruption, nuclear war, pandemics, and job losses from technology that has helped with economic growth and environmental protection, COVID-19, cyberwarfare, and the control of autonomous weapons and hypersonic missiles that can lead to unintended nuclear war. Yet technology offers the promise of developing renewable energy sources to mitigate climate change and agricultural innovation to combat famine. Weiss warns that “we are needlessly allowing technology to take the world to the brink of disasters from accidental climate disruption, nuclear war, and pandemics—while we are allowing the means for controlling these technologies to erode. In effect, we are edging closer and closer to cliffs from which we have removed the guardrails” (251). He also recognizes the growing threat to governance from nationalism and antiliberal social movements.