The Right to Science

The first serious, extended effort to use a human rights-based approach to address the scientific issues affecting society and the often-neglected human right to science.

Leading academics, civil servants, lawyers, policymakers, and civil society representatives reflect on the powerful-but-neglected human right to science. This will appeal to anyone interested in how this right is pertinent to numerous issues at the intersection of science and society. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.That everyone has a human right to enjoy the benefits of the progress of science and its applications comes as a surprise to many. Nevertheless, this right is pertinent to numerous issues at the intersection of science and society: open access; 'dual use' science; access to ownership and dissemination of data, knowledge, methods and the affordances and applications thereof; as well as the role of international co-operation, human dignity and other human rights in relation to science and its products. As we advance towards superintelligence, quantum computing, drone swarms, and life-extension technology, serious policy decisions will be made at the national and international levels. The human right to science provides an ideal tool to do so, backed up as it is by international law, political heft, and normative weight. This book is the first sustained attempt at turning this wonder of foresight into an actionable and justiciable right. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.