Vol.4 No.4 2012

53/62

Round-table talks : Systems and synthesiology−243−Synthesiology - English edition Vol.4 No.4 (2012) side, and these are analyzed from viewpoints of individual disciplines. For example, there are physics, chemistry, biology, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and others. Nature and entities are observed from individual viewpoints, ranked into hierarchy, broken down into elements, and knowledge elements are organized to enable logical understanding within individual disciplines. For example, in Discipline A, laws, formulas, and data in physics are organized, while in Discipline B, those of mechanical engineering are organized.On the other hand, human beings have manipulated nature and entities, or have used technology to create “artifacts” that are socially valuable. In solving current complex issues, the final goal of making “artifacts” on the right-hand side in Fig. a, or social values, cannot be attained unless scientific results transcending various disciplines are used. The lower part of Fig. a shows what processes are taken for synthetic R&D. If there is an artifact that one wishes to create, one must make a scenario for realization. In a company, it may be proposals and planning, but in general, it may be “hypothesis formation”. The hypothesis for creating a target artifact is considered by researchers and engineers, and various scenarios are made. Researchers and engineers engage in scenario-driven R&D based on the scenario that they consider best. Optimal items are employed amongst the knowledge elements accumulated in the individual disciplines to create materials and part elements. Then products, systems, services, and environments are created as “artifacts”.Created artifacts are put into the market, undergoes evaluation, and returns to the proposal, planning, and hypothesis formation, to enter the loop of evolution. If the created artifact is recognized as an “entity”, it will be incorporated into the above loop and becomes the subject of scientific (Type 1 Basic Research) analysis.Current research papers mostly describe the upper processes in Fig. a. The academia highly evaluates the act of organizing knowledge elements such as how an important knowledge element was discovered or how important laws or formulas were found. On the other hand, the lower processes are also an advanced intellectual activity, and I wish to consider it as an extension of science. To do so, it is necessary to separately define the originality and novelty of the lower processes. This is a challenge of Synthesiology.Mr. Kuwahara indicated that it is important to consider how to set up a scenario when the artifact that one wishes to create is determined. This is also another challenge of Synthesiology. I think that a person who completed good R&D valuable to society must have had a good scenario. I want him to reconstruct and describe his own scenario in retrospect. When the industry, academia, and government share such scenarios, I hope it will greatly promote mutual understanding and further collaborations.

※このページを正しく表示するにはFlashPlayer9以上が必要です