Note from Jan: I just found a very good article by John Polanyi, one of the Nobel Laureates who worked on the statement below. I'll add it to this posting as well. ******************************************************** From: "Brian" <•••@••.•••> Sent: Friday, December 07, 2001 5:10 PM Subject: 100 Nobel Laureates Issue Statement Friday, December 07, 2001 From the Best Minds in the World OSLO, Norway-December 7, 2001 (OTVNewswire)--At the Nobel Peace Prize Centennial Symposium here yesterday celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Nobel prize, 100 Nobel laureates have issued a brief but dire warning of the "profound dangers" facing the world. Their statement predicts that our security depends on immediate environmental and social reform. The following is the text of their statement: THE STATEMENT The most profound danger to world peace in the coming years will stem not from the irrational acts of states or individuals but from the legitimate demands of the world's dispossessed. Of these poor and disenfranchised, the majority live a marginal existence in equatorial climates. Global warming, not of their making but originating with the wealthy few, will affect their fragile ecologies most. Their situation will be desperate and manifestly unjust. It cannot be expected, therefore, that in all cases they will be content to await the beneficence of the rich. If then we permit the devastating power of modern weaponry to spread through this combustible human landscape, we invite a conflagration that can engulf both rich and poor. The only hope for the future lies in co-operative international action, legitimized by democracy. It is time to turn our backs on the unilateral search for security, in which we seek to shelter behind walls. Instead, we must persist in the quest for united action to counter both global warming and a weaponized world. These twin goals will constitute vital components of stability as we move toward the wider degree of social justice that alone gives hope of peace. Some of the needed legal instruments are already at hand, such as the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Convention on Climate Change, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. As concerned citizens, we urge all governments to commit to these goals that constitute steps on the way to replacement of war by law. To survive in the world we have transformed, we must learn to think in a new way. As never before, the future of each depends on the good of all. [See list of signatories below.] ### Stupidity is the enemy; idealism is our only hope Canadian laureate JOHN POLANYI tells why he and his colleagues have issued their challenge By JOHN POLANYI The Globe and Mail - Toronto Friday, December 7, 2001 – Page A21 Nobel Prize winners are presumed to be intelligent. But why pay attention to the views of the 100 who have supported the statement above, issued to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prize? Because one's perception of truth comes not from intelligence but from a sense of values. Scholarship embodies values: This was evident to Alfred Nobel, the Swedish tycoon and explosives manufacturer. In his will, he stipulated that his prizes recognize idealisk riktning -- idealistic tendencies. And what led to the Nobel Prize winners' statement? Not a sense of oracular wisdom but of obligation. Individuals who had shared the experience of discovery would likely be able to agree on a great deal more. Alfred Nobel was right; science engenders "idealistic tendencies." Why? Because the pursuit of discovery shot through with idealism. Discovery originates in the unsupported belief that the book of creation is open to being read. So deep is this idealism that many are willing to devote the best years of their lives to the quest for discovery, though the odds against success are huge. Idealism must also triumph over the painful fact that the first to read nature's story may well be someone other than oneself. But the truth must be acknowledged whatever the hands that uncover it. Christian truth cannot be elevated over Muslim truth. Nor can accepted truth, backed by the massed armies of orthodoxy, be protected against the claims of upstart facts. One can trace the sense of "Nobel-esse oblige" to these idealistic origins. What, then, do these 100 voices say? The opening sentence is bold enough to claim that the dominant forces shaping history are rational. This was contentious when written in early July, and appeared still more so following Sept. 11. The ferocity of that attack led Americans to believe that the attackers were insane. But it came to be recognized that the sustained terrorism has its causes and purposes. The question is important, because what lies (to a large extent) within the realm of reason can (to a large extent) be countered by policies grounded in reason. Of course, the statement is as much about threats from states as from non-state groups, and about threats of mass destruction as about conventional threats. The dominant setting for conflict in each case, it claims, is a world in which the rich and the poor live in full sight of one another. If, in addition, the poor are voiceless, they may well be induced to speak through violence. Particularly so if their predicament is aggravated by the environmental carelessness of the rich. It is a peculiar folly, under these circumstances, for the rich to seek greater riches by selling weapons to the poor. Even without this, the prosperous grow ever more vulnerable. Advanced societies are complex and fragile. They operate efficiently by being open, not guarded. Like any complex mechanism, they are, therefore, vulnerable to the wrecker's ball. To avoid a tragic outcome, the statement says, we shall be forced to do what we should have done previously. That is to recognize abroad what we have long recognized domestically: the right of all to food, shelter, education and freedom of expression. This is a revolution in thinking that is already under way. What is lacking, in this country as elsewhere, is a sense of urgency. A Chinese leader, asked whether the French Revolution was a success, reportedly replied that it was too soon to tell. But it's not too early to identify its origins: the willful blindness of the French ruling class of the 18th century. Possessed of wealth and power, they offered only promises to the poor. Unless we recognize that the future of each depends on the good of all, the coming years will bring escalating conflict. One need not be a rocket scientist to see that. But the recognition that science has thrived on change could persuade us to behave more like rocket scientists. We might even come to realize that idealism is the highest form of realism. Nobel laureate John Polanyi, a University of Toronto chemistry professor, was involved in framing the Nobel statement above. THE SIGNATORIES Zhohres I. Alferov Physics, 2000 Sidney Altman Chemistry, 1989 Philip W. Anderson Physics, 1977 Oscar Arias Sanchez Peace, 1987 J. Georg Bednorz Physics, 1987 Bishop Carlos F.X. Belo Peace, 1996 Baruj Benacerraf Physiology/Medicine, 1980 Hans A. Bethe Physics, 1967 James W. Black Physiology/Medicine, 1988 Guenter Blobel Physiology/Medicine, 1999 Nicolaas Bloembergen Physics, 1981 Norman E. Boriaug Peace, 1970 Paul D. Boyer Chemistry, 1997 Bertram N. Brockhouse Physic, 1994 Herbert C. Brown Chemistry, 1979 Georges Charpak Physics, 1992 Claude Cohen-Tannoudji Physics, 1997 John W. Cornforth Chemistry, 1975 Francis H. Crick Physiology/Medicine, 1962 James W. Cronin Physics, 1980 Paul J. Crutzen Chemistry, 1995 Robert F. Curl Chemistry, 1996 His Holiness The Dalai Lama Peace, 1989 Johann Deisenhofer Chemistry, 1988 Peter C. Doherty Physiology/Medicine, 1996 Manfred Eigen Chemistry, 1967 Richard R. Ernst Chemistry, 1991 Leo Esaki Physics, 1973 Edmond H. Fischer Physiology/Medicine, 1992 Val L. Fitch Physics, 1980 Dario Fo Literature, 1997 Robert F. Furchgott Physiology/Medicine, 1998 Walter Gilbert Chemistry, 1980 Sheldon L. Glashow Physics, 1979 Mikhail S. Gorbachev Peace, 1990 Nadine Gordimer Literature, 1991 Paul Greengard Physiology/Medicine, 2000 Roger Guillemin Physiology/Medicine, 1977 Herbert A. Hauptman Chemistry, 1985 Dudley R. Herschbach Chemistry, 1986 Antony Hewish Physics, 1974 Roald Hoffman Chemistry, 1981 Gerardus 't Hooft Physics, 1999 David H. Hubel Physiology/Medicine, 1981 Robert Huber Chemistry, 1988 Francois Jacob Physiology/Medicine, 1975 Brian D. Josephson Physics, 1973 Jerome Karle Chemistry, 1985 Wolfgang Ketterle Physics, 2001 H. Gobind Khorana Physiology/Medicine, 1968 Lawrence R. Klein Economics, 1980 Klaus von Klitzing Physics, 1985 Aaron Klug Chemistry, 1982 Walter Kohn Chemistry, 1998 Herbert Kroemer Physics, 2000 Harold Kroto Chemistry, 1996 Willis E. Lamb Physics, 1955 Leon M. Lederman Physics, 1988 Yuan T. Lee Chemistry, 1986 Jean-Marie Lehn Chemistry, 1987 Rita Levi-Montalcini Physiology/Medicine, 1986 William N. Lipscomb Chemistry, 1976 Alan G. MacDiarmid Chemistry, 2000 Daniel L. McFadden Economics, 2000 César Milstein Physiology/Medicine, 1984 Franco Modigliani Economics, 1985 Rudolf L. Moessbauer Physics, 1961 Mario J. Molina Chemistry, 1995 Ben R. Mottelson Physics, 1975 Ferid Murad Physiology/Medicine, 1998 Erwin Neher Physiology/Medicine, 1991 Marshall W. Nirenberg Physiology/Medicine, 1968 Joseph E. Murray Physiology/Medicine, 1990 Paul M. Nurse Physiology/Medicine, 2001 Max F. Perutz Chemistry, 1962 William D. Phillips Physics, 1997 John C. Polanyi Chemistry, 1986 Ilya Prigogine Chemistry, 1977 Burton Richter Physics, 1976 Heinrich Rohrer Physics, 1987 Joseph Rotblat Peace, 1995 Carlo Rubbia Physics, 1984 Bert Sakmann Physiology/Medicine, 1991 Frederick Sanger Chemistry, 1958; 1980 José Saramago Literature, 1998 J. Robert Schrieffer Physics, 1972 Melvin Schwartz Physics, 1988 K. Barry Sharpless Chemistry, 2001 Richard E. Smalley Chemistry, 1996 Jack Steinberger Physics, 1988 Joseph E. Stiglitz Economics, 2001 Horst L. Stormer Physics, 1998 Henry Taube Chemistry, 1983 Joseph H. Taylor Jr. Physics, 1993 Susumu Tonegawa Physiology/Medicine, 1997 Charles H. Townes Physics, 1964 Daniel T. Tsui Physics, 1998 Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu Peace, 1984 John Vane Physiology/Medicine, 1982 John E. Walker Chemistry, 1997 Eric F. Wieschaus Physiology/Medicine, 1982 Jody Williams Peace, 1997 Robert W. Wilson Physics, 1978 Ahmed H. Zewail Chemistry, 1999