Artists and Scientists in Times of War

Some time ago, I was contacted by Leonardo co-editor Michele Emmer, who proposed a Leonardo editorial project on "The Role of Artists and Scientists in Times of War." At that time Michele found himself under the flight paths of bombers headed for Kosovo. As a result of Michele's initiative, Leonardo has published a number of articles by artists and scientists documenting their work that seeks to grapple with the continuing conflicts in our world. Contributions have come from members of the Leonardo network, from Colombia to Los Angeles, from Italy to Russia.

Today, I am writing this from my office in Marseille, and overhead I hear the bombers readying for action and warships are steaming for the Mediterranean. Marseille is a port city and has been for at least 2,600 years. This city has witnessed the warriors of innumerable cultures pass through, from Hannibal's elephants to the Third Reich's enforcers, from the Crusaders to Napoleon, from Roman centurions to Arab stallions. Now Americans and their allies are in a new war for minds and hearts, for bodies and resources.

I am the American Director of a French astrophysics laboratory. Last week we held our three minutes of silence and, like many of you, I felt emotionally reassured by the spontaneous outpouring of support and the cry "We are all Americans," echoing the rallying cry of "We are all Berliners" at the peak of the Cold War. Today I feel less sure of the reassurance. Are we all Americans? Or is this the wrong kind of categorization? I have no doubt the phrase "We are all Romans" was heard two millennia ago on these very streets of Marseille. And only 50 years ago, my father Frank Malina, founder of Leonardo, was one of the founding staff of UNESCO--a generation dedicated to building world organizations that would prevent the occurrence of a new world war. At that time we were all Europeans.

During the week of the atrocities in New York and Washington, we were meeting here in Marseille with American colleagues, discussing our dreams to build a new space telescope that would study supernovae, the largest of cosmic explosions, in order to understand the very forces that structure our universe. Nervously, we joked that the same telescopes we were imagining to unravel the mysteries of the newly discovered repulsive force (ironically called Dark Energy) could also be pointed down at the earth, and with sufficient resolution and sensitivity, track warm bodies moving around the surface of the earth. We live in a highly linked system that has particular vulnerabilities. The crimes in New York and Washington resulted in thousands of victims and tens of thousands of displaced people. This is far less than the human losses in recent years in floods in Bangladesh or earthquakes in Turkey or China. Yet the attack in the U.S. triggered almost instant global reaction. The largest industry on the planet, the tourist industry, has seen a drop in business by a factor of several. Already layoffs and increased unemployment numbers in the hundreds of thousands in the U.S. alone within 1 week of the event. We live in a highly linked world. The same Internet that promotes diversity of opinion and of analysis can also show global oscillations that manifest themselves as group-think and group instabilities. Whether in the bunkers of Camp David or the new Arab quarters of Marseille, each one of us is forced to analyze, to try to understand and decide what is an appropriate response. And in a highly linked network, a well-mobilized minority of the world population can lead to large-scale system response. And as we all know, inaction, lurking or listening in the network, is also part of the system behavior that will determine the course of future outcomes.

Since the attacks, the Leonardo editors, like all of you, have been in touch making sure that each is well, and bringing friendship to those who have experienced deep loss in the attacks. We thank all those who have contacted us and the Leonardo community, and we send our support to all those hurt and displaced.

Now the Leonardo network must decide an appropriate course of action. Michele Emmer is preparing a new editorial, updating "The Role of Artists and Scientists in Times of War" project. The Leonardo publications and projects belong to the Leonardo community. We are open to your ideas and thoughts on how we can all contribute to a saner and safer world that respects the rights and dignity of every person.

Art & War Project Description and Call for Papers

Posted 28 September 2001
Updated 31 October 2007

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