What does RAS mean?

The role of science and scientists in society should not be reduced

After the election of the president of the Academy of Sciences, an active discussion continues about the place and role of this institute in the life of Russian society. First of all, the Academy of Sciences (and any, not only Russian) as a public institution is really outdated and looks quite archaic, regardless of such problems as the average age of the Academy members, its qualitative and quantitative composition, structure and organization.

The academies of sciences were a natural and necessary stage in the development of society in the context of continuing political and religious reaction, a general lack of education and culture. In the 17th-18th centuries, national aggregations of intelligent and knowledgeable people acted as the driving force behind progress and the accelerated development of productive forces, as a lever for enlightenment and the improvement of society.

At the same time, the emergence of such public institutions was itself a consequence of a real revolution in science, in particular, in physics, mathematics, the theory and practice of electricity, a complex of knowledge about society and man. So it was in France, and in England, and in Russia, and other countries.

The role of the academy was also great in the Soviet period - during the period of post-revolutionary and post-war reconstruction, as well as attempts by the state to eliminate the patriarchal self-consciousness of the masses, the formation of a new and alien ideology for Russia and, which is very important, with the beginning of a new breakthrough in the development of science, including physics , chemistry, electronics, biology, materials science, nuclear energy and space exploration.

After the 1960s and 1970s, with the general intellectualization of society, the role of the academies of sciences as permanent collections of highly educated and progressive people inevitably declined all over the world. Science is being done today not by a narrow caste of the elite and brilliant, but in various scientific institutions, including academic ones, in educational institutions. Of course, a certain role in reducing the social status of academies of sciences is played by the fact that almost all science, including applied science, has entered, in our opinion, another and quite natural stage of relative calm, slowdown, and, in fact, the accumulation of resources for a new and inevitable subsequent revolutionary breakthrough, for which Russia must be ready.

Does this mean that a structure like today's RAS is not needed at all? Not at all. There are several important functions that can only be performed by a permanent assembly of pundits of the highest achievements and highest qualifications.

First of all, this is the direct management of the entire system of branch and specialized scientific institutes, including academic and educational ones. No administrative body, such as the one created by FANO, can cope with this role. This is not the competence of managers and administrators at all. There is no way to leave scientific search in the hands of administrators, who are most likely guided by translated articles from Western publications.

It is the modernized Academy of Sciences that should set the vector of the country's scientific development, including through the management of the entire system of national scientific and research institutions, the formation of their leadership, material base, staffing, research plans, etc.

Another thing is that the structure and composition of the Academy must undergo certain changes, and above all, have very strong departments in all key branches of science, including social sciences.

Today, the role of the academy, for example, in the formation of economic policy, is unacceptably small. With the exception of publications, interviews and some fragmentary programs of 2-3 strong academic specialists, it can be said that this role does not exist.

The supreme body of the renewed academy (similar to what is today called the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences) may include 15-20 people on an elective basis and be nothing more than one of the structures under the President of the Russian Federation or the Parliament of the Russian Federation. What kind of improvement of the public administration system can we talk about if the smartest and most knowledgeable people of the country, the same V. Polterovich, R. Grinberg, V. Ivanter, are excluded from this process.

FASO should be in the system of the modernized Academy of Sciences and deal not with "science management", but only with the issues of logistics, rational property management.

Alexander Belyakov, Doctor of Economics
Igor Turuev, professor at MGIMO