Today’s world is one in which science and technology play an essential role in almost every aspect of life. Almost all the changes that are taking place are due to advances in science and technology, as can be seen in the emergence of the internet, which enable information to explode exponentially in the past few years, and biotechnology, which has made such scenarios as human cloning and genetic manipulation of organisms an everyday reality.

The problems spawned by these rapid advances in science and technology, therefore, require sustained thinking and research effort in order to understand what is going on and to chart the course not only for people in Thailand and other developing countries, but also for everyone in the world. These efforts are not limited to any specific disciplines in the humanities, the social science, or even the natural sciences themselves. Thus, Chulalongkorn University has approved a proposal by a group of scholars who are concerned with this interdisciplinary effort to set up the Center for Science, Technology, and Society, which works as a focal point within the university for studying the multifarious aspects of this fascinating intersection between the natural sciences, the social science, and the humanities.