Many thanks, Howie, for raising such an important issue. I certainly think
that the Cafes should be discussing not just current scientific ideas and
issues, but also listening to critiques and theories from the history and
philosophy of science, and I would be interested to hear of good,
opinionated speakers.
We have just invited Ad Lagendijk to speak at Leeds. He wrote an interesting
essay in Nature a couple of weeks ago exposing the male battles for power
within the modern physics community, and suggesting a change in norms and
values in physics. (Incidentally we can invite him because he can get from
Amsterdam to Leeds return for £25! - that changes the economics of speakers
if you are near an airport with low-cost carriers.)
Duncan Dallas
----- Original Message -----
From: "Orkney Science Festival" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2005 11:21 PM
Subject: Re: ben goldacre
> I hope you don't mind me coming in to comment, but I think that there is
> an interesting general issue that might be worth opening up.
>
> I think that Dr Goldacre would be a very entertaining speaker for an
> evening and might stir up some discussion. But as I understand it, he is a
> GP who writes mainly about medical treatment which he disagrees with, and
> it might be more reasonable to call the column 'Bad Medicine'.
>
> I do think that there is a need for a serious debate about the nature of
> science but it needs to be led by someone of appropriate scientific
> stature who's not committed to any particular interest-group, for instance
> someone at Nobel level. People like David Bohm and Ilya Prigogine have
> expressed some very profound ideas, but they are no longer alive, and we
> need people to follow up and build on their work.
>
> I think that it would be very interesting to explore questions about the
> nature of science itself. For instance, has it become a church of science
> where orthodox dogma rules, or has it managed to retain the spirit of
> Descartes and Galileo and continually expose every one of its cherished
> beliefs to question and doubt and testing?
>
> I hope I haven't offended anyone by these comments, but I do believe that
> the issue is a very important one. I'd be most interested in hearing from
> anyone who'd like to open up this type of discussion.
>
> With best wishes, Howie
>
>
> [log in to unmask] writes:
> >Have a look at www.lablit.com - Jenny Rohn (the editor) has interviewed
> >him.
> >LabLit's a great site, too!
> >Ann
> >
> >
> >
> >From: Discussion list for cafe scientifique network on behalf of Ann
Grand
> >Sent: Tue 29/11/2005 19:08
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Request from Brighton cafe
> >
> >
> >Hi,
> >
> >Jim Grozier from the Brighton cafe is trying to find contact details for
> >Ben
> >Goldacre - he's had several requests but draws a blank on a google
search.
> >Can anyone help?
> >
> >Thanks
> >
> >Ann
>
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