Science and Society in the 21st Century. A Quarter of a Century Later

Twenty-five years have passed since the death of Nikolai Vladimirovich Vasiliev (1930-2001), the famous Russian scientist, philosopher and thinker, but the fruits of his foresight continue to surprise and amaze with their accuracy and insight. This article is devoted to a brief analysis of the situation in which humanity found itself at the turn of the century and changes that contributed to the development of civilization. Nikolai Vladimirovich Vasiliev believed that “one of the signs of the immaturity of earthly civilization is not only the disharmony of the technogenic and moral process, but also the level of development of the humanities, biological and technical sciences in modern society.” The article analyzes the parallels of events predicted by N.V. Vasiliev and taking place at present. Biomedicine is considered as a “saving vector of further achievements of developing humanity in the 21st century for improving technologies of disease prevention and health restoration, and maintaining healthy longevity” (Vasiliev N.V., 2001). Surprisingly, the concepts of the development of world processes, relationships of different populations, as well as the tendencies of the development of humanity predicted by N.V. Vasiliev, find their place. In this article, the main attention will be paid to the problem of heterogeneity of humanity, ambiguity of humanity development prospects, and biological and biomedical aspects of science development.