President: SAV Should Be Beacon of Truth, Facts and Scientific Evidence

Bratislava, March 12 (TASR) - The Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) should be a beacon of truth, facts and scientific evidence, said President Peter Pellegrini following his meeting with the management of this institution in Bratislava on Wednesday, adding that it's right to strongly condemn attempts to wedge into society an opinion that scientists in Slovakia would be ashamed of. "In order to ensure that we don't really stop believing what we've been taught and what has been researched by experts and for which there is evidence, it's important that an established society, such as SAV, should be a pillar of truth, facts and evidence-based reality, and that it should help us to navigate through the tangle of different information, which is often no longer just based on falsehoods but is outright lies," said the head of state. SAV chair Pavol Sajgalik confirmed that the academy tries to act as a voice of common sense in society. When someone has doubts about certain information, scientists are willing and ready to answer all questions of the Slovak public in an appropriate and qualified way at the level of current knowledge. Following the meeting, the president also mentioned that Slovakia has a significant task ahead of it to provide encrypted communications between state bodies. As stated during the discussion at SAV, ten years from now everyone should be able to read the encrypted messages that people currently send to each other, he said. According to him, that's why researchers must look for new ways to resist quantum computing. He noted that the first phase of building Slovak quantum communications infrastructure should be completed this year, and it will be linked to the opening of nodes at partner institutions, in which the President's Office could also be involved. am/df