Speaker: Professor Hiroshi Matsumoto
Time:    Tuesday 18 October at 14:15
Place:   Alfvénsalen (F1), Lindstedtsvägen 22, KTH

Talk outline:

When most people hear the phrase ”innovative research,” they tend to
think of innovation for the sake of economic growth or research which
will contribute to a more convenient lifestyle. It is my belief,
however, that such striving for economic growth, and for a better and
more convenient lifestyle could ironically produce very adverse effects,
and could, in fact, ultimately be the downfall of human civilization and
even the cause of human extinction.  Such extreme scenarios do not
generally occur to us as we go about our daily lives, but it is very
likely that our current modes of thinking with regards to innovation and
progress present a very real and imminent threat which could manifest
itself and cause irreversible damage within the next 50 years. This is
what I like to term ”the paradox of growth towards extinction,” the
first paradox that I would like to address.  We have reached a point at
which we must redefine our notion of innovation for the sake of our
permanent survival on this planet.

I would also like to consider the question of whether or not
contemporary academic society is responding appropriately to the
paradigm shift needed to solve the complex problems such as global
warming, shortage of natural resources, water, energy that we currently
face. The second paradox is that our quest for knowledge for better
understanding is, contrary to our wishes, unfortunately toward blindness
if we stick to the form that it takes in our academic institutions at
present.  Actually the current form results in an inability to see the
issues we face from a wide perspective. I call this the paradox of
”knowledge towards blindness.”

To avoid a severe conflict among ever-increasing population and ever
growing wishes for better life despite of our very limited environment
and finite natural resources on our Planet, we may have a fate to
develop our civilization toward Solar System Civilization at least for
the next thousand years.

These matters will be presented in my talk (including the role of space
science and space development). I also wish to touch upon the recent
Nuclear Power Plant accident and a related possible solution for better
energy systems utilizing space technology such as Space Solar Power
Station (SPS).  The SPS is being scheduled to step forward as a Space
Strategy by the Japanese Government.

About the speaker:

Professor Matsumoto is currently President of Kyoto University.
Previously he has held positions as Executive Vice President of Research
and Finance, Director of the Research Institute for Sustainable
Humanosphere, and Director of the Radio Science Center for Space and
Atmosphere, all at Kyoto University.  He has received numerous awards
and honours, including: the URSI Gold Booker Medal, the Russian
Federation of Cosmonautics Gagarin Medal, the IEEE Fellow Award, and the
AGU Fellow Award for Space Plasma Physics.  Professor Matsumoto has
published 297 scientific papers in English in international journals and
133 scientific papers in Japanese, and has authored and contributed to
several books.

The lecture is arranged by the Alfvén Laboratory and supported by the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences through its Nobel Institute for Physics.