ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents the main ideas, discussions and findings of the workshop on Interfaces between Science and Society held in Milan in November 2003. It details the organisers of the breakout sessions of the workshop, who are leading academics in their fields. The book contributes to the overall improvement of the interfaces between science and society. The aim of the project of science has been to provide answers for questions about the world and how it works. In his utopia New Atlantis of 1624, Francis Bacon wrote: The end of foundation is the knowledge of causes and secret motions of things, and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire, to the effecting of all things possible. A new concept of knowledge is emerging, based on this plurality of legitimate perspectives and awareness of complexity, uncertainty and values.
