Reactions to an interview with Simon Singh

Simon Singh is a science writer, and his historical account of the development of cosmology theory (the book Big Bang) is the central required text for my course on the subject at SAIC.   Who knew that in addition to covering science history, he's in the business of taking on current pseudoscience? 

Interestingly, Singh was recently sued by British chiropractors for publicly stating in one of his articles that the efficacy of chiropractic for certain ailments isn't supported by evidence.  He didn't back down, and after spending a lot of his own money, he ended up winning the lawsuit. That definitely gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling, although it's depressing that this ended up in a lawsuit to begin with.

In this Wired Magazine interview with Singh, he brings up a few points about science in society that I find somewhat provocative, or at least intriguing.  One of the key quotes from the interview is this:  "you have to decide who you trust before you decide what to believe."  So... why should you decide to trust scientists, as opposed to trusting, say, the anti-vaccine or no-global-warming folks? 

I definitely do believe there are good reasons to trust scientists.   I am willing to trust other scientists because I believe that (if they're being responsible anyway) what they're doing is making reasonable arguments and inferences based on evidence.  I trust other scientists because implicitly I believe that if I were in their place, looking at the same evidence, I'd come to the same conclusions.  But is that a reasonable assumption?  And how much does my trust depend on the fact that I'm trained in science?

To me, a lot of science boils down to straightforward reasoning processes that I might even be tempted to call "common sense."  So that's why it's particularly interesting to me that another quote from Singh's interview is "Science has nothing to do with common sense."  Really?  I can see his point (that sometimes the arguments of science are pretty subtle and convoluted), but his own Big Bang book does a pretty good job of making dramatic claims about the universe feel like common sense...

Lots to think about!  I'll be curious to see what my students think.