4 | New Scientist | 21/28 December 2019
the world stage – at the end of this decade both
the world’s biggest polluter, and its biggest
developer of green tech – will continue to
challenge Western norms and assumptions, in
science as in geopolitics. A renewed space race
(see page 33) may herald a bright new future for
humanity – or risk exporting the worst of our
bad habits to other worlds.And yes, climate change, pollution and
the collapse of biodiversity... if we don’t get to
grips with these huge problems in the coming
decade, we never will, with grave consequences
for life on this planet. Indeed, the 2020s look
likely to be a defining time for the future of
humanity and the natural world.
One thing we can all do, as we enter the
next decade together, is to reject fatalistic
pessimism and instead embrace an optimism
based in facts and a belief in human ingenuity.
Our actions – what we do, and what we fight
for – have always mattered, and they will
continue to do so. ❚the scientific consensus on other controversial
issues too – vaccines for example. Scientists
have a big part to play in this, obviously, but
they do have one massive thing going for
them: public trust. Whatever you may have
read about a rejection of experts in the
modern age, poll after poll reveals huge
levels of public belief in science and its
ability to both flag and solve problems.
A related aside: one of the great unsung
achievements since 2010 has been the
new insights we have gained into human
behaviour. This tells us that the cognitive
biases hardwired into our psychology cause
us to focus on bad news rather than good, and
local rather than global issues. But it also tells
us that change, both positive and negative,
can happen very suddenly, seemingly out of
the blue. Social attitudes are fluid, but social
norms take time to catch up, and when they
do, rapid shifts can occur.
Of course there are huge challenges ahead.
The ongoing rise of robotics and AI will cause a
degree of economic insecurity and dislocation
that will need to be tackled. Technologies such
as gene editing will continue to throw up
urgent moral questions. The rise of China onThe leader
“ The 2020s look likely to be a
defining decade for the future of
humanity and the natural world”EDITORIAL
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