Bob May on people’s fear of science

Science has advanced human knowledge more in the last 50 years than in all our previous history; but that’s why people are scared of it, former government chief scientific adviser Bob May told an audience at the inaugural Howard Dalton memorial lecture in London last night.

Scientific and technological advancements have led to huge leaps in life expectancy and quality of life - making today the “best of times”, said May. But population growth, the loss of biodiversity and onset of climate change may well lead the future to be “the worst of times”, he added.

May wasn’t trying to predict doomsday. He was trying to explain why the public, rightly, has concerns as well as excitement about the advances of science, and why we need to listen to everyone in making policy decisions.

Policymakers have a critical role to play in deciding which of the doors science can open should be flung wide and which should remain firmly shut, May told the audience. As chief scientific adviser when the first government guidelines on using scientific advice in policymaking were drawn up in 1996, May, hopefully, is in a good position to judge.

In May’s view, science should play a role in setting the stage for the debate, laying out scientific facts and uncertainties. But scientists should then step back into the role of mere citizen once the play begins. Dissenting and “interest” opinions need to be heard, and honestly identified, while uncertainties must be openly acknowledged. At the end of the day, where possible, people must be given a choice, he adds.

But May recognises that there are problems with this model too – not least that the pesky media confuse things, their eye for debate often meaning “balance” unjustly tips the scale it set out to right. Moreover people don’t view risk objectively, and that facts are not always relevant to those arguing from the standpoint of an immutable ideological belief.

May showed evidence that increasing science education actually makes people question technological developments more, rather than embrace them more readily. 

So what to do when making decisions on BSE, GM, MMR or any other terrifying acronym? Try to stick to these rules, embed them in government, say when you’ve messed up and keep talking about the rules so people don’t forget, he suggests.

Doesn’t sound like much, but the 74-year old must still be optimistic, judging by his sprightly jump off the stage and back to his seat.