An evening with Stephen Fry and Venki Ramakrishnan | The Royal Society
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Published 2020-10-20
The very nature of science is to establish truth about the world around us, from groundbreaking new discoveries, like the Higgs boson, gravitational waves or the potential for life in the clouds of Venus, to issues with major social implications like climate change and biodiversity loss.
While the growth of the internet and social media makes it easier than ever before to obtain information, the free-for-all nature of the internet also makes it difficult for the average citizen to distinguish fact from fiction, truth from mistruth, and legitimate sources from fake news. The onslaught against evidence-based facts is a growing problem.
As an army of scientists continue to find themselves on the frontline of scientific discovery as they battle Covid-19, the role of scientific evidence and rational thought in an internet age of superstitions, rumours and pseudoscience has never been more apparent.
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All Comments (21)
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❤ Stephen Fry has been a constant inspiration to my life ~ the world is evermore knowledgeable because of him. Thank you. 😊
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I am unsure of why science communication has not become global. Brilliant conversation. Fry is such a treasure.
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Why are these conversations not shown on popular tv channels? It would be beneficial to the population. Thank you for uploading. Even though I don’t understand everything they say, it does further my education (at age 66) to listen and re listen to intelligent conversations such as these. Stephen Fry, in my opinion, ought have a huge role in the country’s education system. He is able to put complex concepts into ordinary language. A gem of a man. ☘️🌝🌲
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Stephen, the internet IS exactly everything you said you thought it would be. It can break down borders, it can dissolve differences, it's a university for everybody, a resource, a library, a museum, a theater, a concert hall, a public square. It is the most wonderful thing that humanity created. That's why I'm sitting here, listening to you. It also has it's dark and nasty corners, there's no denying it. But the beautiful side of it is also in there, and it will always be for anyone who chooses to engage with it over wasting their time searching for offensive things in the mud. And maybe that is the story that has to be told more often to more people. A story that compels most people to come out of the mud and engage with the best side of the internet, because it is there.
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An hour well spent. Wonderful conversation, a much needed one, thank you.
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More talks, more expert panels and more engagement. Also teaching everyone how scientific peer review works. Loved this. Thank you
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Just excellent thank you so much. We need more discussions like this to be aired, more informed critical thinking in context . Full of gems to widen knowledge and understanding of the issues around trust and evaluation of scientific findings and outcomes, I have a new booklist now :)
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Thank you for defending scientific method and critical thinking. We do not teach critical thinking skills in the U.S.A. anymore, and we are seeing the effects now.
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In and amongst all the craziness right now this was wonderful to listen to while doing the housework….
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Fantastic and thought provoking, thank you Stephen Fry and Sir Venki
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Thank you both for talking so clearly on subjects we should all ponder.
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Thank you very much gentlemen❤
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Terry Pratchett — 'A lie can run round the world before the truth has got its boots on.' People resent science monopolising wisdom, and will take every opportunity to declare that the common man is the equal of the scientist, and the interesting falsehood by its own nature will propagate at the expense of the dull truth.
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Thank you for this Venki and Stephen. My key take-away: "logic without emotion doesn't work." Wisdom seems to require we understand our own visceral reactions and biases.
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Wonderful conversation. Thank you.
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Extremely interesting and thought provoking conversation, thank you both.
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Thanks for the conversation. I really enjoy it.
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Salman Rushdie had mentioned that the good and the bad, the right and the wrong are existing today at the same platform and makes it difficult to discern the right from the wrong.
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This discussion seems to be far more relevant than they realized.
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I remember the school days when I did not know the name of even C.V. Raman, only the works of scientists were part of the science textbooks and 'who has done what' was not there. But these days, the names of scientists of the last 400 years and beyond are everywhere.
