Conference Report: Trends in mathematical modelling

A conference report on UNESCO and Fundacion Bariloche sponsored conference with policy-oriented scientists from Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the United States of December 1976. The focus was on global modelling, its formalization and reliability. The applications were to problems of population growth , the environment, energy, and alternative economic development strategies.In the context of a world divided for some purposes into North and South, developed and underdeveloped areas, global models become a tool for dialogue on the question of new international economic orders. The theoretical problems were challenging and the solutions proposed did not even meet them half way. One had the feeling that large portions of available mathematical and socio-economic knowledge were missing there. At any rate, some of the modelling efforts help to establish that certain things can be observed and though about with scientific tools. The underdeveloped world might well be in the process of shaping intellectuals well as historical reality: it is expected that further and improved work be forthcoming.