Public Servant Lifestyle

Will we all be sprinting at 80? Or sitting in self-driving cars? Will robots be serving us breakfast? Will our fridges be talking to our shopping trolleys? Will organ donors be a thing of the past?

These questions form part of sciencehorizons - the first ever mass public engagement programme designed to get the nation talking about the science and technology of the future.

Sciencehorizons - which is funded by the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) - has been launched by Minister for Science and Innovation, Malcolm Wicks, with students from the Royal College of Art. The students are taking part in the first of many discussions about the how science and technology could affect our lives in the next 15-20 years.

Science and Innovation Minister, Malcolm Wicks said: "What's important about sciencehorizons is that we're inviting anyone and everyone to get involved in the discussions, not only the scientists. We want discussions about science to involve the whole community.

"Over the coming decades, we're going to have some huge ethical debates about science as new discoveries are made and new technologies emerge. We will all need to be part of making informed decisions about how we develop and use scientific and technological advances. Science and technology is now an intrinsic part of our daily lives and this will only increase in the future. I hope sciencehorizons helps to spark lively debates on these important issues."

The sciencehorizons discussions will use a specially designed pack showing how life in 2025 could differ from life today. The pack is based on a series of papers called Horizon Scans, written by expert scientists mapping out potential future technological developments.

Martin Earwicker, the director of London's Science Museum, heads the group overseeing the project. He said: "The exciting new sciencehorizons project will help us learn what people think about the future of science and enable the scientific community to hear and respond to both their hopes and concerns for the future."

Community groups, schools, families and friends up and down the country are invited to get together in village halls, classrooms, living rooms and pubs to have their own sciencehorizons discussions using the free packs. The sciencehorizons packs use stories, cartoons and a CD-ROM to prompt discussion. They cover four topics: mind and body, home and community, work and leisure and people and planet.

Along with the pack, an interactive web site will stimulate discussion and debate. Visitors to www.sciencehorizons.org.uk can sign up to receive packs and run their own discussions, find out about larger sciencehorizons events across the UK or comment on the sciencehorizons blog.

The results of all of these activities will be used to inform policy setting the direction of research and regulation of science and technology.

More information available in Education & Training