Based on interviews with eighteen prominent scientists and public policymakers from around the globe, A Parliament of Science provides a rich overview of the challenges, promises, and perils of science and technology in the twenty-first century. What can we hope for? What must we fear? How can scientists, civil society, and politicians work together to harness science and technology into a power for the good of all humanity?

Those interviewed speak candidly of their passions, hopes, and concerns as they explore the scientific and policy implications of the major issues of our time, including sustainability, politics, cloning, ethics, global climate change, the digital divide, and mass extinction of biological species. This welcome introduction to the debate on mankind's needs for a true "science for the twenty-first century" also serves as a sobering reappraisal of where we have been, what our ingenuity has wrought for better or for worse, and where we and the whole planet seem to be headed.