{"id":744,"date":"2009-10-13T22:08:58","date_gmt":"2009-10-13T22:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/2009\/10\/13\/in_which_i_get_skeptical\/"},"modified":"2009-10-13T22:08:58","modified_gmt":"2009-10-13T22:08:58","slug":"in_which_i_get_skeptical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/2009\/10\/13\/in_which_i_get_skeptical\/","title":{"rendered":"In which I get skeptical"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is it like to be a scientist in the modern world, and how does the reality measure up to the average person’s view of the scientist? I’ve been fascinated by this question for years, and now I’ve been asked to speak about it at the next gathering of Skeptics In The Pub<\/a> in London, with a talk entitled Boffins and geeks, madmen and freaks: why are scientists still such a PR disaster?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

\nWhat I plan on exploring is the following: scientists as a group call up very specific images in the public imagination, typically not very flattering ones. This distorted view is reflected in depictions of scientists in fiction, but also tends to spill over into how they are portrayed in more factual accounts, such as documentaries and in the news media. In a world growing increasingly reliant on the latest scientific, medical and technological advances, possibly for its very survival, the expert accounts of scientists are nevertheless often simply disbelieved, which could be due in part to the unease and distrust that the prevailing stereotypes engender. The meme of scientists as out-of-touch\/cold\/arrogant\/mad meddlers has ancient roots and has evolved in interesting ways to the present day. But whose fault is all this \u2013 are scientists themselves partially to blame? If people knew the truth about what modern scientists are really like and really do, would science as a whole be a more sympathetic, persuasive profession? And if so, how we can turn it around \u2013 and is it even possible?<\/p>\n

\nI’d like to come at these questions from a non-predictable angle and to get beyond the standard clich\u00e9d material, into territory that might be a bit more honest and productive.<\/p>\n

\nI’d be happy to see many of you in the audience this coming Monday, 19 October, from 7:30 PM at the The Penderel’s Oak, 283 High Holborn, London WC1V 7HP. You need to book in advance<\/a>, and entrance is \u00a32. According to the website, 143 seats have already been booked, leaving a little more than a hundred remaining. They are very strict about these limits. Come early if you want to actually sit down!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is it like to be a scientist in the modern world, and how does the reality measure up to the average person’s view of the scientist? I’ve been fascinated by this question for years, and now I’ve been asked … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}