WEBVTT

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A good evening to all.

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The Nobel Prize in Physics 2014 
was awarded to three scientists.
.

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Three researchers from Japan,

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for their fundamental role in
developing new light sources:

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the blue light emitting diodes
called LEDs.

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These light sources are effective
and environmentally-friendly.

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And then these light sources will be,

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as I put it here,
the lights of the 21st century.

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LED lights will be the lighting
of the 21st century,

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like Edison's lamp
was the lighting of the 20th century.

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This is a technological breakthrough.

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A technological breakthrough
that is based on a theory,

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the quantum theory.

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In fact, this quantum theory
was born in the early 20th century

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and led to a number of important
and fundamental applications:

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the transistor, which is
the basis of electronics;

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but also an object that was very
mysterious at first: the laser,

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which has become a valuable tool
for doctors in surgery

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but that is more commonly found
at every cash deck

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for reading bar codes.

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So initially, however,
quantum theory was not accepted.

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It was not accepted because
it was questioning

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our vision of physics.

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In fact, it was a breakthrough.

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Breaks are rarely accepted easily.

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At the same time,
in the early 20th century

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there was a break in art.

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Yes, abstract painting.

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Abstract painting also changed

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the vision we had of the world,
of representation.

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So, what did quantum physics
actually bring?

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What did it proposed?

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It proposed new objects.

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Neither particle nor wave,

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"totally crazy things",

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to quote the great physicist
Richard Feynman.

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It proposed another vision
of the microscopic world.

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It proposed to enter
a Terra Incognita

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which physicists occupied pretty soon.

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And in fact, this evolution of science
was possible only because

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science freed itself from dogma.

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Science has gained its independence.

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This long history of science

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is the history of intelligence
against obscurantism,

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of critical minds against dogmatism.

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This is the story of reason and doubt
against certainty.

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It's a long and beautiful story.

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We should tell it to our children,

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explain the perseverance of scholars,

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explain that scientists had to fight

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against those who did not accept
the ideas they were bringing

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because it was thought
these ideas would disturb beliefs.

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And, yes, scientists have had to fight
against a concept of knowledge

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locked inside a single idea
of what the truth was.

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Whereas, on the contrary it is necessary
to promote a knowledge

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open to the world, to civilizations.

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This is what Kheireddine,
whom you see here,

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who was Prime Minister of Tunisia
in the second half of the 19th century,

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wanted to introduce in
a new education system

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which was fundamental
for the evolution of Tunisia,

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this teaching called
the Sadikian education.

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What did Kheireddine want to do?

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Kheireddine wanted Tunisia
to catch up in science

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because for centuries,
Tunisia had forgotten science,

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like other Arab-Muslim countries.

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Yes, the Arab-Muslim world forgot
the science of its ancestors.

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Let me tell you the last episode 
of Arabic astronomy.

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In Istanbul, in 1577,
an observatory was built.

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Beautiful... with the most efficient 
instruments of the time,

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like this other observatory that
was designed in... "the North"

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by the great Danish physicist Tycho Brahe,

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(at the time, the term would have been
astronomer, not physicist).

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And this observatory was installed
in the Palace of Uraniborg.

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The two observatories,
in Istanbul and in this northern country,

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had completely opposite fates

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after the appearance of 
a comet in the northern sky.

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For Brahe, it was fundamental observations

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which subsequently led 
to the extraordinary development

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of astronomy in the European world.

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I think everyone knows about it.

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But in Istanbul, unfortunately,

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that was the end of a beautiful
scientific adventure.

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Why? Because in fact, this comet
had been interpreted differently.

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In Istanbul, on the orders of the Sultan,
the observatory was destroyed in 1580

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because the Sultan had not
accepted the astronomer's omen.

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So today, we know more about comets,

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you know more now...

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we even make appointments
from Earth!

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Science is also at the heart 
of economic development.

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Europe was built, 
was economically developed

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thanks to scientific development.

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And Kheireddine, whom I mentioned earlier,
understood this.

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Kheireddine who said we had to take
science wherever it comes from.

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Yes, we had to take science 
wherever it comes from

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and our children had to
discover it early.

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We had to educate our children
in this double culture.

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Give them a traditional instruction, 
of course,

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- at the time, in the 19th century,
it was hard to say otherwise -

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but also give them 
the teaching of modern science,

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of foreign languages.

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Yes, it is thanks to this double
culture that modernity came into Tunisia.

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Yes, this modernity that is in me,
that I carry with me, that I am proud of.

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My parents taught me this modernity, 
they instilled it in me.

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My grandfather, 
a French and Arabic teacher.

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My father, a pharmacist-biologist.
Look at this picture.

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This photo -
my father is one of those pupils.

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These pupils of
the French-Arab school of Sfax.

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It was the school year 1921-1922.

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All dressed in jebba,
except the teacher,

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and all loving the
values of equality and freedom:

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the values of the French Revolution.

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All for opening up to other cultures.

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Yes, openness to other cultures...

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This is what allows to know the other,

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what allows to respect the other,

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what allows sharing.

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This must be at the heart 
of the education system.

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Yes, a teacher's mission is a rich one.

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They are passers of knowledge.
They are passers of cultures.

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They are also passers of values.

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Values to share everywhere on the planet,

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I mentionned equality:
equality for all.

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Equality for women and men.

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Yes, equality for women and men.

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So as a Tunisian woman,
I want to say

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that being from a country
of Muslim culture,

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I believe that women in Islamic countries

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do not have to undergo
an inferior status. I do.

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Already, this principle of equality 
between men and women,

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was stated by Tahar Haddad,
a Tunisian theologian, in 1930

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and his famous work "Our woman,
Islamic law and society "

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was translated into French -
you see here the book cover.

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And at the end of the book, 
a figure which may surprise you.

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We don't have time to comment on that
but I'm going to read the small caption:

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"Our woman, between a faded past 
and a promising present."

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Let's talk about the present.

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We are worried. We are.

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We are concerned by the violence,
by the acts of barbarism in the region.

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Yes, we are worried.
March 18, Tunisia, my country,

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the Bardo Museum was attacked,
there were victims.

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I pay tribute to them,
but the Bardo Museum

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is the museum of
the Mediterranean.

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This is the museum where all the
Tunisian history is present.

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Tunisia was Berber, Punic,
Roman, Byzantine, Vandal

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then Muslim and Arab.

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So what can we do?
How to deal with this violence?

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Yes, we must protect our children.

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We must protect our children 
from those who invite

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to camp in "the field of the curse

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to maintain the henchmen of the Demon
and the sequence of destructive hatred".

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This is a quote from 
a great Tunisian thinker

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Abdelwahab Meddeb, who died recently.
I pay tribute to him

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Yes, this violence...
how to react to this violence?

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Well all together, each of us 
in our own way. Each of us where we are.

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So as a teacher and a scientist,

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I would like to mention very quickly
two examples.

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One is the story of my colleague,
Aroua Saida, a biologist and didactician,

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who understood that, in fact, students,

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our students in their final year,
studying the theory of evolution

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had a... shall we say
composite understanding

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of the diversity of life.

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They muddled up the scientific 
and theological references.

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And she worked with them.
And the students understood.

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They understood you had to step
into the researcher's shoes

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That you had to accept the keys 
to science, to knowledge,

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to accept questioning 
and critical thinking.

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The second example concerns
the scientific community.

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The scientific community 
must fight against obscurantists,

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who unfortunately,
are currently investing the Web.

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Yes, the scientific community

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that of Academies of Sciences

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made a declaration.

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It gathered the Academies of Sciences 
of 68 countries

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Europe, Latin America,
USA, Africa, Asia,

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and among these countries
Arab Muslim countries:

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The Islamic Republic of Iran, 
the Kingdom of Morocco

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Turkey, Palestine...

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perhaps I forgot some of them
but anyway...

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What did this declatation say?

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It shows that it is important
to teach the theory of evolution

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that is so attacked on social networks,
on the Internet

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and that teaching this theory

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which is actually accepted 
by the scientific community,

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will bring students important knowledge

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since the theory of evolution is one
of the great advances of knowledge.

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And this declaration called
teachers, policy makers,

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parents to educate their children
so they can understand science.

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But it also reminds of
something interesting:

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that number of questions

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cannot be explained by science.

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Then we should take other approaches:

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philosophical, social, cultural, religious.

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These approaches have 
different fields of action.

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They have different fields of action 
and owe each other mutual respect.

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So this declaration is a wonderful call.

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A wonderful call from
a scientific community,

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of different culture,
diverse culture.

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But a call for young people to
understand what science is.

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For young people to understand
that science is universal.

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And I would add, because that is 
what is implied in that declaration,

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human rights too,
are universal.

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And it is this universality
I'm fighting for.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)