Annual-Report-2024 - Flipbook - Page 14
Greetings From Berlin
Science, Freedom, and the Future
In her welcoming address, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, then German Federal Minister
of Education and Research, conveyed a message of hope, emphasizing the importance
of cooperation in tandem with freedom, the value of sharing knowledge and
experience in fostering new achievements, and the essential role of science in
addressing today’s challenges.
Peak performance in science is usually about something
really big. It’s about understanding the world. Peter Higgs
like no other drew his motivation from this; his fascination, his craft focussed on the theory of the smallest
building blocks of the universe. Particle physics is essentially about what holds the world together at its core. In
the world we live in right now we are witnessing various
types of centrifugal forces. So, what in fact holds our society together at its core?
Curiosity, courage, innovation, collaboration – all
these aspects and characteristics are at the core of bringing humankind forward. But I would like to add another
ingredient to that, and that is freedom. Science and scientific cooperation thrive from freedom. Freedom is the
strength that we must bank on, particularly in eventful
times like this.
You, dear Nobel Laureates, have my greatest respect
for your scientific achievements, but also for being here,
for sharing your knowledge, supporting young research
talent and thereby sowing the seeds of new peak performances. That’s what the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting
is about. About lively discourse and the free exchange
12 | 73rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting
of ideas. And this is why I’m counting on the visibility
which this meeting has: It is a lighthouse in times we are
facing right now for science, for society as a whole.
Science is the unbreakable. It is a constant source of
hope. And we are currently standing on an interesting
threshold in terms of technology. One important factor
is the growing use of artificial intelligence. AI will impact
virtually all aspects of life and work. It will open new
doors for you too, to new knowledge, which means progress for us all. Science sets the pace of this progress, and
what I like about this is the openness.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg once wrote: ‘One has to
do something new in order to see something new.’ That
is the way it is: to be open to new technologies, to be creative in finding new technologies. We see the opportunities in new technologies, but we also have to address
the risks associated with that. So, it’s good that you come
together, you discuss what is going on, what our future
will be like, and we find a common ground for maintaining humanitarian values. You as a young generation, you
epitomize all of that. I’ve seen it time and time again. This
is what Lindau thrives upon.
