We are entering an age in which the complete genome information of individuals will be readily available. The availability of this information will result in a paradigm shift in medical research and in health care, including diagnosis and prevention. Due to rapid advances in the sequencing technology, the costs to determine the full genome of an individual person will soon drop below 1’000 dollars. The promise of ubiquitous availability of personal genome sequences poses opportunities...

Challenging Democracy - 9th Dialogue on Science of the Academia Engelberg Foundation 2010 During this year’s Dialogue on Science held in Engelberg in mid October, experts from various disciplines and countries with different forms of government analyzed the concept of democracy. You can find the reportings, impressions, audio- and video-files of the 9th Dialogue on Science on the website: http://www.academia-engelberg.ch/conference_2010.php5 . Visit also the Blog on...

Challenging Democracy - 9th Dialogue on Science of the Academia Engelberg Foundation 2010 During this year’s Dialogue on Science held in Engelberg in mid October, experts from various disciplines and countries with different forms of government analyzed the concept of democracy. You can find the reportings, impressions, audio- and video-files of the 9th Dialogue on Science on the website: http://www.academia-engelberg.ch/conference_2010.php5 . Visit also the Blog on...

Challenging Democracy - 9th Dialogue on Science of the Academia Engelberg Foundation 2010 During this year’s Dialogue on Science held in Engelberg in mid October, experts from various disciplines and countries with different forms of government analyzed the concept of democracy. You can find the reportings, impressions, the audio- and video-files of the 9th Dialogue on Science on the website: http://www.academia-engelberg.ch/conference_2010.php5 . Visit also the Blog on...

Challenging Democracy - 9th Dialogue on Science of the Academia Engelberg Foundation 2010 At the end of the 9th Dialogue on Science, former Federal Counsellor Arnold Koller spoke about federalism and democracy. He outlined the development of democracy in the past 50 years in Europe and confirmed a real renaissance. Afterwards, he discussed in detail the relation between democracy and federalism and asked the rhetorical question of whether federalism really leads to more and better...

Challenging Democracy - 9th Dialogue on Science of the Academia Engelberg Foundation 2010 In a role play, participants assumed the task of governing different countries such as Germany, Canada, Kenya, Columbia, Pakistan and Serbia. On the one hand, they had the task to increase their country’s prosperity through fishing as the only source of income. On the other hand, they had to be careful to not lose the favour of the voters. This situation confronted several "governments" with real...

Challenging Democracy - 9th Dialogue on Science of the Academia Engelberg Foundation 2010 Professor Stefanie Bailer from ETH Zurich reported that in globalized political order, there are debates of whether the end of parliamentarism has come or whether it is time to declare a postparliamentarist period. She explained the problems of free votes. Afterwards, she analysed voting processes for complex issues and factors which explain these decisions. She came to the conclusion that modern...

Challenging Democracy - 9th Dialogue on Science of the Academia Engelberg Foundation 2010 In his presentation, Professor Günter Abel from the Technical University of Berlin asked the question of whether society can provide reasons for an understanding of democracy beyond the stranglehold of the dichotomy between metaphysical absolutism and resigned relativism. He asked to leave behind the whole picture of the political as a space of truth and knowledge. Rather, one might conceive the...

Violence in Human Society - 8th Dialogue on Science, 14 – 16 October, 2009, Academia Engelberg Foundation. Our views of what violence is are distorted because of the traditional approach to violence as a phenomenon in everyday life. The use and threat of physical and emotional violence against individuals or groups include the use of sheer force as well as the powers of self-assertion in relations of power and control. In a broader sense, violence can be found in all social classes...

Violence in Human Society - 8th Dialogue on Science, 14 – 16 October, 2009, Academia Engelberg Foundation. Our views of what violence is are distorted because of the traditional approach to violence as a phenomenon in everyday life. The use and threat of physical and emotional violence against individuals or groups include the use of sheer force as well as the powers of self-assertion in relations of power and control. In a broader sense, violence can be found in all social classes...