Conclusion

In this chapter we first reiterate a red thread which runs through the whole of the argument of this book – the social world as the place of human society in the natural world is facing a crisis immediately of increasing inequality in high-income and high–middle-income countries and in the medium term a crisis in the relationship of human society with the natural world. The latter is first a matter of global warming but that, a product of the impact of waste gases on the atmosphere, is just one part of a crisis of waste as a whole, albeit a very big part! We reiterate that it is the application of the complexity frame of reference to informing governance that is the only way of confronting these crises in an effective fashion. We return to the need for participation in all areas of the production of knowledge and of governance itself. We propose the deployment of investigations having the equivalent status of UK Royal Commissions to review systematically the issues posed by inequality and waste in relation to each other. One key area for this is at the interface of health and social care. However, investigating is not enough. There must be a fundamental change in action and for that the wider public in civil society must become engaged. So we propose a fundamental reform of the methods curriculum in secondary and their level education across the sciences with complexity thinking informing a systematic attention to critical thinking. An educated public is a powerful force and we must create one. We conclude again in a spirit of Gramsci’s pessimism of the intellect but optimism of the will.

Computer Science · Environmental Justice and Health Disparities · Innovation, Sustainability, Human-Machine Systems · Sustainability in Higher Education