Latin America and its advances in open science “out of necessity”

Latin America It is one of the most advanced regions of the world in open science and it is due to the “need” of its experts to continue a long tradition in research with low resources to develop it.

This is stated by Guillermo Anlló, regional head of the Scientific, Technological and Innovation Policy Program of UNESCO, within the framework of the International Science Day and in full celebration in Paris of the General Conference of that agency of the HIM-HER-IT, from which global agreements on open science and artificial intelligence are expected.

“The region has a strong and long tradition in the scientific community, but with few resources and investment, which is why it has fought hard for these synergies and cooperation,” explains the Argentine expert, who remarks that, outside of Europe and the United States, they are ” the great axes of science ”, Latin America was advanced“ by necessity ”.

The Cielo and Latindex networks or the Clacso institution (Latin American Council of Social Sciences), promoted by UNESCO itself, are examples of shared spaces with public access and open to content that represent a milestone in collaborative science for the region.

And, as Anlló himself indicates, the recognition of the region can be seen in the fact that Fernanda Beigel chairs the International Advisory Committee on Open Science of UNESCO, made up of four other representatives from Latin American countries: from Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela and Colombia.

Open science, according to the expert, “must break certain parameters of the traditional scientific culture”, such as biased “peer reviews” or publications in “large scientific publishers”, which “are the best private legal business in the world, with a net profit margin above 35% ”, and also open up to the agenda of social demands.

“An open science should open the agenda and bring other problems that should be addressed not only by local researchers but also by the great health centers of the world,” he points out.

Artificial intelligence: the next pandemic?

A well-known audiovisual content platform suggests a movie based on our tastes or a company advertises a product by mail from an internet search. They are some of those small actions that we have already incorporated into our daily lives and that are examples of artificial intelligence.

The ethical dimensions of this technological advance are also the focus of the Paris debates, since, alongside its beneficial side, such as the early detection of cancer or the cure of psychological trauma, there are also the risks of stimulation for consumption or mental manipulation for negative purposes.

“All these phenomena that we are seeing on the communication and information technology platform, which are already affecting us, you don’t know the vertigo it means when you include the biological part. It is already in laboratories, I am not talking about science fiction, I am talking about reality: the chip in the head to change memories and memories is a reality ”, he comments.

The one who was undersecretary of Technology and Innovation in the first Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of the Province of Buenos Aires between 2016 and 2017 says that he usually makes the joke that “the next pandemic will be artificial intelligence or neuroscience”, since “it is going to have similar effects and, therefore, you have to be prepared.”

In his opinion, in the field of artificial intelligence, Latin America has “something weak in the academic leg”, since its talents “went abroad”, while the public sector “is much more behind schedule”, without having managed to “conform good committees to identify the challenge it implies and the opportunity ”.

And, once again, he insists that the countries of the region must “share” all their efforts in moving towards a single agenda, considering that they already have common “genetic life histories”, similar “social demands” and “global challenges” that will impact everyone equally, such as climate change or migration.