A Basis for a New Relationship Between Mathematics and Society
In today’s society, mathematics is present more widely than ever before, but this is rarely acknowledged, even by mathematicians. As a result, exactly at a moment where citizens need to be comfortable with situations involving mathematical knowledge, so a
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In today's society, mathematics is present more widely than ever before, but this is rarely acknowledged, even by mathematicians. As a result, exactly at a moment where citizens need to be comfortable with situations involving mathematical knowledge, so as to be helped with the ever-complex choices they have to make, mathematicians are not ready to properly face this new challenge. Time has come to look for a basis for this new relationship between mathematics and society. This is not an easy matter since the image of mathematics is often distorted, and obstructs the correct perception of its role by a lack of understanding of what mathematics is really about and how it functions and develops. The urge to write such an article grew from discussions with many people inside and outside the research mathematical community - in particular, with teachers - and the perception I developed from them. I strongly feel that, for the most part, mathematicians have not realised how big the demand is for mathematics in society, and what are the consequences they must draw from this fact. To start with, one has to analyse what makes mathematics special among the sciences and why the development of modem societies requires more mathematics. This is not enough though to ensure that mathematics will have the impact it should. For that purpose, one needs to understand how mathematics is perceived by groups of people that have to deal with it in some way or another -parents, professionals, managers and mathematicians themselves, as teachers or as researchers. Elaborating on the ordinary perception of mathematics, I present what I see as a basis for a new relationship between mathematics and the society at large. Detailed implications on the internal organisation of the mathematical community are then considered, together with the needs to be addressed in the development and teaching of mathematics. Nothing will be achieved in this matter without a real involvement on the part of mathematicians at several levels. It is not clear that they are ready to make such investments, although one must
* This article is an expanded version of a lecture given at the invitation of Prof. Jean-Paul
Pier at the conference "New Trends in Mathematics" held in Luxemburg in September 1998, whose proceedings have been published as a volume of the Publications Mathematiques of the Centre Universitaire de Luxembourg. ** The author thanks heartily Prof. Ivar Ekeland and Prof. Misha Gromov for providing useful information on economic design and on molecular biology, respectively, and Ms Joylene Vette-Guillaume for the language editing. B. Engquist et al. (eds.), Mathematics Unlimited — 2001 and Beyond © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2001
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acknowledge the eagerness of a large number of them around the globe to get involved in activities fostered by the World Mathematical Year 2000. For the mathematical community, it is most important of course to estimate the possible long term effects of this new situation on the discipline's devel
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