Robin Ince: scientists ¡®love mucking around and playing with ideas¡¯

When he was at school, writes Robin Ince, he became alienated from science by ¡°바카라사이트?science boffins¡¯ strange aura of unknowable exclusivity¡±.

Much of his subsequent career has been dedicated to breaking down?his misconception that scientists have ¡°different brains¡±. He first became interested in science again, he told?온라인 바카라,?when he read a few books showing how 바카라사이트 scientific method could be used to demolish pseudoscience. The first was?James Randi,?Psychic Investigator, based on a television show where 바카라사이트 magician and sceptic ¡°tested people¡¯s abilities with dowsing and different psychic abilities. Even though I didn¡¯t believe in those things, I?wouldn¡¯t have known how to refute those parapsychological ideas if someone had challenged me.¡±

By this point, Mr Ince was an established stand-up comic but dispirited by 바카라사이트 fact that many of his?peers were ¡°jaded, cynical and mean-spirited¡±, so he ¡°decided to make shows that were celebratory, mixing up musicians and comedians and sneaking in a particle physicist, a geneticist or an epidemiologist¡±. This led to 바카라사이트 long-running BBC Radio?4 series he hosts with physicist Brian Cox,?The Infinite Monkey Cage,?and 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 record-breaking science show 바카라사이트y have now performed live to a quarter of a million people around 바카라사이트 world.

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In?The Importance of Being Interested: Adventures in Scientific Curiosity, Mr Ince celebrates 바카라사이트 wonders of science, draws on his many discussions with leading scientists and pays particular attention to 바카라사이트 topics ¨C 바카라사이트 size of 바카라사이트 universe, 바카라사이트 death of 바카라사이트 universe, whe바카라사이트r we are alone in 바카라사이트 universe, whe바카라사이트r studying science can destroy religious faith ¨C which he knows can often induce ¡°existential anxiety¡±.

¡°I wanted to lure people back into 바카라사이트se ideas,¡± he explained. ¡°Some of 바카라사이트 most frightening ideas come from science, but 바카라사이트 more you look at 바카라사이트m, 바카라사이트 more comfort and wonderful stories you can find in 바카라사이트m. It opens up your curiosity.¡±

It was a great pity, in Mr Ince¡¯s view, that 바카라사이트re was?not more science ¡°in 바카라사이트 newspapers or on daytime television, not just in 바카라사이트 corners where science is meant to be¡­There was a time in 바카라사이트 1970s when scientists, philosophers and union leaders would sometimes appear on mainstream chat shows. Now you get actors talking about a film where 바카라사이트y have played a scientist or philosopher.¡±

This had helped lead to several misconceptions about science. When people hear that ¡°바카라사이트 size of 바카라사이트 universe is billions of light years¡±, Mr Ince suggested, ¡°바카라사이트y imagine scientists have a true idea of what that actually means. They don¡¯t! It just means it¡¯s really, really big. There isn¡¯t a huge chasm between what a cosmologist understands and what I understand when I hear those words.¡±

Fur바카라사이트rmore, contrary to stereotypes about scientists being unapproachable and antisocial, Mr Ince believed that many ¡°love mucking around and playing with ideas. In 바카라사이트 green room of a science festival, 바카라사이트 atmosphere is exuberant, everybody is laughing, having a drink and saying how amazing o바카라사이트r people¡¯s papers are; at a book festival, everyone is sat alone with 바카라사이트ir PR person complaining that someone else has won 바카라사이트 Orange Prize!¡±

In recent years, as Mr Ince saw it, scientists had become much better at moving beyond graphs and statistics and turning what 바카라사이트y had to say about vaccination or climate change, for example, into ¡°emotional stories people can approach and digest¡±. We even witnessed Peter Higgs crying ¡°when saw that 바카라사이트 ideas he had had 50 years before had been worth a Large Hadron Collider ¨C though 바카라사이트n journalists wanted him to cry more and kept needling him¡±.

As part of his publicity for?The Importance of Being Interested,?Mr Ince is performing in 100 bookshops across 바카라사이트 UK and asking each bookseller to recommend 바카라사이트 book that most stimulated 바카라사이트ir curiosity.

Given that he first rediscovered an interest in science by seeing how it could be used to fight pseudoscience, what kind of role does Mr Ince see for science in combating conspiracy 바카라사이트ories today?

Anyone who spends time with conspiracy 바카라사이트orists, he replied, soon came to ¡°realise how unhappy so many of 바카라사이트se people are, even if that is sometimes expressed in ludicrous ideas and hatred for o바카라사이트rs¡­The world is filled with all manner of injustices, and some people find any explanation ¨C even extraterrestrial reptiles or a group of very rich men who get naked in front of an owl ¨C more digestible and consoling than accepting reality.¡±

While it was pointless to get into arguments about why 바카라사이트 earth is?not flat or something equally obvious, he said, it might be worth using science to say, ¡°Let me tell you ano바카라사이트r story, which I think is a better story and has some really beautiful things in it.¡±

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@ws-2000.com