Science and Society

Abstract

The world is not changing. The world has already changed. The political geography of the world has changed. Only 20 years ago, the Soviet Union still existed and the world was divided into two blocks which were opposed each other ideologically as well as militarily and economically. Many non-aligned and largely uninfluential countries were merely spectators of this intense cold war between two blocks that were armed to the teeth. Nowadays there is a single superpower, the United States, while a series of countries with developing economies are acquiring new importance and new roles. But what has really changed are the means of wealth production: we have now become a knowledge society.