{"id":3737,"date":"2025-02-18T11:47:33","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T10:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/?p=3737"},"modified":"2025-02-18T11:47:33","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T10:47:33","slug":"response-to-the-free-speech-unions-article-on-my-letter-to-the-royal-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/2025\/02\/18\/response-to-the-free-speech-unions-article-on-my-letter-to-the-royal-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Response to the Free Speech Union\u2019s article on my letter to the Royal Society"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Free Speech Union (FSU) has published an article<\/a> about my open letter<\/a> to the Royal Society regarding the evident contraventions of its code of conduct by one of their Fellows, Elon Musk FRS. Unfortunately, Frederick Attenborough\u2019s piece contains errors, omissions and speculative rhetoric which together contrive to misconstrue the meaning and intent of my letter.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, I am grateful to the FSU for their piece because it gives me an opportunity to address free speech issues head on. They are very important.<\/p>\n

But first let\u2019s deal with the errors and omissions. Attenborough writes that my letter \u201ccites Musk\u2019s criticisms of net zero-style policy\u201d but in fact it does not mention this.<\/p>\n

He also states that the letter \u201cframes Musk\u2019s actions as inconsistent with the Society\u2019s statement of values.\u201d This is true, but Attenborough omits to mention that this statement is contained within the Society\u2019s Code of Conduct<\/a> which states:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cFellowship and Foreign Membership of the Society is a privilege predicated on adherence to particular standards of conduct. Fellows and Foreign Members, by joining the Society, agree to abide by this Code of Conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To be clear: fellowship of the Royal Society is a privilege which brings with it responsibilities.<\/p>\n

The particular breaches of the Code of Conduct are outlined in the letter, which goes on to express my puzzlement and dismay that the Royal Society has decided to take no action. Attenborough could perhaps have attempted to show that the charges laid against Musk do not amount to breaches of the code, but he did not.<\/p>\n

Instead, he characterises the letter as a call to expel Musk from the Royal Society on account of \u201chis political associations and opinions.\u201d But it doesn\u2019t call for expulsion and the argument is not about associations or opinions. It is about breaches of the code.<\/p>\n

Implicitly, of course, expulsion from the fellowship is one conceivable outcome of the Royal Society\u2019s consideration of the case (and clearly that\u2019s an outcome that some would favour). However, other responses are also possible, for example, a request for Musk to demonstrate his adherence to the code.<\/p>\n

However, what we have is no action and no comment. Attenborough rightly lauds the Royal Society for its principles of intellectual independence and open debate, but there has been no open debate on this matter. He also rightly reminds us of the Society\u2019s Latin motto Nullius in verba<\/em> \u2013\u00a0\u201cTake nobody\u2019s word for it\u201d. But in this instance, ironically, the Royal Society is asking us to do just that \u2013 take their word without any explanation of their decision.<\/p>\n

Free speech is a cornerstone of an open society, but it is a qualified<\/em> right in law and, effectively, within the code of conduct of the Royal Society. There are political views which amount to hate speech which are unlawful in the UK. Equally, there are standards of behaviour (e.g. statements, actions) which can fall foul of the Royal Society\u2019s code. This is not about policing political views or affiliations among Fellows, however much the FSU might want to cast it in that light. Indeed, it is important for Royal Society to accommodate a wide range of political views, and to the best of my knowledge it already does. What this episode has revealed is the need for greater clarity from the Royal Society on how it will manage breaches of its code that have a political character (e.g.<\/em> in Musk\u2019s case, his call to prosecute another FRS, Anthony Fauci, or his involvement in a government that is recklessly endangering the conduct of science in the USA).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to do that well because there will always be instances where rules about speech or behaviour rub up against rights of free expression. Which brings me to Attenborough\u2019s last omission.<\/p>\n

For all his concern about the free speech implications of a letter asking the Royal Society to take action in respect of Elon Musk, Attenborough says nothing about Musk\u2019s control of free speech on X or the censorship being imposed on federal agencies and scientists by the Trump administration of which Musk is a core member.<\/p>\n

If the FSU really cares freedom of speech, shouldn\u2019t they be calling out censorship wherever it occurs?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Free Speech Union (FSU) has published an article about my open letter to the Royal Society regarding the evident contraventions of its code of conduct by one of their Fellows, Elon Musk FRS. Unfortunately, Frederick Attenborough\u2019s piece contains errors, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3738,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3737\/revisions\/3738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}