THE END OF SOCIOLOGY AS WE KNOW IT, OR ON SOCIAL MACHINES AND SOCIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING

Sociology as we know it is facing a serious threat. Many natural scientific sub­disciplines seek to usurp the rights to certain areas of sociological issues. This is not simply an attempt to reduce many sociological problems to the laws of physics and biology (vide sociobiology or memetics). For example, certain cognitive scientists and researchers on artificial intelligence are interested in purely sociological issues. For this reason, in the next few decades other disciplines may take the place of sociology. In the authors' opinion this leaves two options for sociology. The first is to continue in its current form. The second option is to adopt a model of science based on a synthetic methodology, the use of laboratories and tinkering.