The Preface

Creative activity is embodied and accumulated in culture. One of the basic links of culture is Science. Science is a crucial component on which the development and preservation of civilization depend.

Science is the most recognized part of culture, which has quantitative criteria and objective conceptions about the world around us. Science includes knowledge accumulated and systematized by mankind, carriers of knowledge (scientists), system of knowledge transfer (education) and basics of morals, defining ways of knowledge usage.

Besides these basic criterions Science, as the highest achievement of human spirit, reflecting and learning nature, has internal harmony and beauty, emotional content and image reflection of its own. Science in its’ manifestations is capable to produce deep impression on people, even on those who have no special professional knowledge and skills. Introduction of Science as an independent artistic form could help raising prestige of scientific knowledge throughout the world, among all segments of population and thereby to promote the credibility of Science and help the penetration of this type of culture in the minds of a wide range of people in the world.

Examples include the representation of great ideas, hypotheses, discoveries that have emerged in the modern world as a result of the development of scientific knowledge, as well as the presentation of images of Science:

• In the Microcosm these are remarkable pictures of matter given in atomic scale, reflecting symmetry, harmony and surprising elegance inherent in nature. These are structures of living matter – the structure of gene, biological molecules etc.;
• These are pictures of Macrocosm reflecting the beauty of natural phenomena, the dynamics of movement of natural processes, instant copies of the state of matter under different conditions, the remarkable models of natural phenomena created by the application of computational mathematics, etc.;
• In the Megaworld these are magnificent pictures of outer space, star formations, astronomy, cosmogony objects, space phenomena and processes;

and much more.

Some elements of this Art of Science arise from time to time, appear and being demonstrated, but so far they have not been so close to the heritage of the people as traditional works of Fine Arts. In this sense a concentrated presentation of this branch of culture – Art of Science – makes it possible to significantly raise the general cultural level of the world’s population.

The basic motto of this Artistic form could be: «Knowledge for the Benefit of Mankind».

A particular aspect of Science is a moral dimansion associated with the use and dissemination of knowledge. Development of special documents, agreements, laws governing the usage of scientific results as well as dissemination of knowledge which could pose a risk to life, is one of the major ethical issues of our time. Practically there is nowhere to retreat, because now the opportunity of knowledge application is such that mankind can destroy itself, all life on Earth and the very planet in thousands of ways. At the same time, energy opportunities, created by mankind in the form of nuclear warheads, could be extremely important to protect the planet from destruction by large meteorites and other space hazards. The same can be said about biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics and other disciplines.

It is both impossible and inappropriate to stop development. But as the power of knowledge increases, new knowledge emerges and consequently grows the risk of its use. There is another pressing problem of how to behave in this turbulent flow of exponentially increasing possibilities irises: how to find agreements, what moral decisions and based on them political solutions are necessary to be accepted to minimize this danger.

Inevitably there a need for fundamental, global international arrangement – the document which could be entitled «The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Science». This document should be mandatory for all countries and to determine the use and dissemination of knowledge only for the benefit of Man. Undoubtedly, the establishment of such a Declaration is an extremely complex task, requires basic research and concentrated efforts of the entire scientific community. But it is absolutely necessary.

Science and religion.

If we talk about the relationship of Science and Spirituality, Science and Religion, and now runs a series of conferences on this subject. This issue has gained urgency and it must be constructively addressed. It becomes clear that there is no direct confrontation between Science and Religion. This confrontation has been artificially coined by carriers of those or other religions. Not by creators, not by apostles, but by apologists. This sounds horribly in the parable about the great inquisitor in F.M.Dostoevsky’s novel « The Brothers Karamazov». Dzhordano Bruno, Nikola Kopernik, Galileo Galilej – throughout several centuries thousands and thousands of furious collisions of ignorant advocates of belief and inquisitive minds led to irreplaceable losses. A terrible blow has been inflicted on knowledge by militant atheism. For ideological reasons entire scientific trends has been trampled.

Now it is clear that the traditional Science and Religion are two independent channels which lead to a more holistic understanding of the world. Both ways are complementary, and both converge in Man.

Technical progress and civilisation development.

In the age of hi–tech civilization it sounds paradoxical to assert that technical progress is causing harm to Man. This question arose repeatedly before: during the time of occurrence of plants, machinery, transportation, etc. Many thinkers have thoroughly analyzed this situation, as conservatives always say that technique – is a harmful and terrible deed. Meanwhile science and technology kept achieving outstanding results, discovering for Man new exciting opportunities. At the beginning of the last century, a distinguished Christian philosopher N.A.Berdyaev, on analyzing this problem, has precisely formulated the answer:

«Ethical attitude to technology cannot be contradictory and ambivalent. Technique is the discovery of man strength, his royal position in the world, it testifies human creativity and ingenuity and should be recognized as a value and a benefit»...

«Acquittal techniques in the broad sense of the word is acquittal culture, and denying it is desire to return from a state of culture to the natural condition»...

«Dizzy technological advances in the ХІХ – the XX centuries mark the greatest revolution in the human history, more profound than all political revolutions»...

«...The amazing success of physics and technology, based on it, lead to the discovery in the world of a validity unknown before»...

«...Through man, through human knowledge and invention space changes»...

«...Terrible destructive and creative power is given to the Man. And it depends of his spiritual condition whether he will direct this power on creation or on destruction»...

«...It (technique) discovers opportunities for larger spirit liberation».

Moral aspect of a science.

Knowledge itself is indifferent towards good and evil. And this is the same moral issue – the issue of freedom of choice, freedom of will.

Knowledge, of course, contributes to the movement of humanity on the path of ascension.

Development of any civilization is not possible without profound knowledge. But to make this ascension steady, it is necessary to explicitly agree to make fundamental decisions, raising repeatedly the liability for the use of knowledge and the analysis of consequences of implication of new knowledge. This imposes a special responsibility on any civilization, and especially on scientists and governments. This responsibility requires the urgent establishment of a fundamental legal document which could be entitled   The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Science.

Theses of Basic Articles. The Rights and the Responsibility of Science.

The following gives an example of the preliminary text of the articles that should be included in the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Science.

Article 1. Creativity and deepening of knowledge of the Universe is accepted as the main purpose of developing mankind. One of the main goals in this direction is creation and expansion of consciousness. Process of upbringing and education, including the process of training of scientists, should be subordinated to this fundamental problem in its main part.

Article 2. Knowledge is the property of the nation, of people of the country, of all mankind. It is a crime to lose knowledge or to contribute their loss.

Article 3. Knowledge should not bring harm to Man. They can be used only for the benefit. Knowledge should not be in the passive form if it is necessary to use them to carry out the development process, for a breakthrough in the Ascension way, and also in case of need to overcome dangerous trends and situations. Distribution and use of the knowledge that can harm Man, is unacceptable.

Article 4. Knowledge, consequences of which do not meet scientific criteria for safety for the life of Man and the planet may not be offered for realization.

Article 5. Hiding the harmful effects of dangerous knowledge application is criminal.

Article 6. Knowledge should preserve consciousness, contribute to its expansion and formation, focus on ascension to the highest spiritual values. The use of knowledge for manipulation with consciousness and uncontrolled penetration into the inner world of man is unacceptable.

Article 7. The increase in energy capacity, based on the development of new knowledge should be aimed at increasing sustainability of human society life and must not violate the ecology of the planet.

Article 8. Science as the main driving force of progress, evolution, creative growth of man, is entitled to full support of state and society.

Article 9. Knowledge, necessary for preservation, maintenance of live, serving to health protection and evolution of man and society, should be the property of all mankind. Concealment of this knowledge is unacceptable.

Article 10. Distribution and use of knowledge promoting mass destruction of people and any manifestations of life on the planet, is criminal. Knowledge cannot be used for deliberate destruction of Man and Nature.

Article 11. Knowledge, bearing risk of inappropriate treatment, cannot be transferred the persons who do not have relevant qualification, certified by qualification documents.

Article 12. Knowledge (innermost), which can be understood and safely applied only by scientists and thinkers of the highest level, cannot be transferred to a lower level and in this sense is the state and international secret, protected by the relevant institutes and procedures.

Article 13. Each scientist has the right to express freely his views on the nature of things. It has the right to proclaim / I proclaim / any idea, including hypothesis, data on rare event, observation, etc., but is thus obliged to objectively characterize the degree of reliability. Insufficiently understood knowledge is inadmissible to be presented as authentic. Any distortion and knowledge falsification is criminal.

Article 14. Appropriation of some other’s ideas, scientific achievements and discoveries (plagiarism) is criminal.

Article 15. Each scientist should have access to information which is not secret, associated with danger of its use and distribution. (see Items 11 and 12). Access to information noted in articles 11 and 12 is possible by passing special examinations and the admission.

Article 16. It is inadmissible, that application of knowledge for business outpace scientific safety justification for this knowledge.

Article 17. Responsibility for development, preservation of scientific knowledge, Sciences as that, lies on the state. The state is responsible, in particular, for increase of level of Science in the country, for education, focused search of talents and for providing of enabling environment for the development and realization, for continuity of knowledge transfer from generation to generation, for preservation of schools of thought in all branches of knowledge.

Article 18. Self–sustainability of Science can be decreed only at that final stage when the result of research is directly embodied in the goods (technology, device, means of production, etc.)

Essentially – Science, fundamental – first of all, is always self–sustained for the society, as on the basis of the knowledge given by Science, the most expedient way to the future is targeted, the optimum forecast is made, as well as design, construction of technical and technological systems, development of all high technologies is carried out.

Article 19. Science, in its forms, has the right for the financial assistance from the State, for support of reproduction of science education in the country, support for gifted children and Scientific schools.

Article 20. The State is responsible for preservation of knowledge (creation and preservation of databanks, development and preservation of scientific institutes, scientific libraries, unique installations, creation and preservation of museums of science and technology, science information supply).

The State is responsible for preservation of carriers of knowledge – Scientists.

The author finds it necessary to emphasize that the presented ideas about the Rights of Science are of preliminary character, and undoubtedly require development and more profound and explicit wording.

In conclusion, it is my pleasant duty to express my deep gratitude to all those who initiated the idea of the appearance of this document, for the consultations, expressed views, comments and additions.

I am extremely grateful to the Adviser of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Correspondent member МАНЭБ of M.N. Chirjatev, for repeated fruitful discussions, a number of interesting ideas and providing me materials, concerning the considered problem: theses from «Live ethics», statements of some outstanding thinkers, the text of the Declaration of World Ethos etc.

I also heartily thank the Academicians of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences prof. A.I. Livshits and prof. R.G. Barantsev for reviewing the manuscript and their valuable remarks.