Role of zoos in the “century of biology”
Professor Freeman Dyon writes tellingly in the New York Review of Books recently (http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20370) as to biology being now “more important than physics, as measured by its economic consequences, by its ethical implications, or by its effect on human welfare”. He goes on to suggest that a bio-technological revolution will not be fully successful until it becomes democratised and de-centralised ( as with the IT revolution).
As an aside, I remember as a child being struck by some dialogue in an early Dr Who Episode . The Doctor asks of a group of golden eyed alien visitors landing in a rather odd space vehicle, how they constructed their space ship. “We did not build our ship”, they reply “We grew it”. The implication being that a highly advanced civilisation might eventually forsake the crudities of manufacturing for advanced forms of bio-culture.
To return to Professor Dyson’s theme, if the issues are to concern the living world, and if the audience to be communicated to should constitute … well, everyone, what might be the crucial role of those highly attended and democratic sites strung all across the developed and developing world, that are our progressive zoos and botanic gardens…?
One Response to “Role of zoos in the “century of biology””
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Professor Dyson kindly sent me this message
Thank you for quoting me accurately. As a frequent visitor at zoos with a large number of grandchildren, I benefit greatly from your
activities.
Yours sincerely,
Freeman Dyson.