Convergence as the central concept of modern scientific knowledge

Abstract

The beginning of the 21st century can be characterized as a qualitatively new stage in the development of human civilization, for which the central concept is convergence, unification, rapprochement and interpenetration of sciences and technologies.Particular attention is paid to the convergence of four leading scientific areas: Nanotechnologies, Biotechnologies, Information technologies and Cognitive technologies (NBIC-convergences). It has been emphasized that joining this block of social and humanitarian technologies enhances their mutual synergistic effect.The study of the convergence of sciences and technologies as a new stage in the integration of scientific knowledge is the purpose of this research.The methodological basis of the research is general methods of scientific knowledge, such as analysis, synthesis, generalization; a systematic approach associated with the idea of an object as an integral system, with the identification of diverse types of connections of a complex object and their reduction into a single theoretical picture.The relevance of the topic and its practical significance is associated with the recent strengthening of the positions of fundamental research, for which convergence is becoming the main method and source of future knowledge.Substantiation of the tight entry of the concept of «convergence» into the general structure of modern scientific knowledge in the process of transition to the stage of directed conscious human evolution can be considered as the key conclusion.

Keywords

• convergence
• information civilization
• nbic convergence as a combination of nanotechnologies
• biotechnologies
• information and cognitive technologies
• human evolution
• transhumanism