Anyone familiar with cartoons and political commentary in India knows who R. K. Laxman is. He has had a series of political cartoons (series is an understatement) around the Common Man. I have always admired his work, so you will forgive me for using that metaphor in this post.
GTO pointed me to a killer post on overselling genomics from Jonathan Eisen (who has to have one of the best attitudes I have ever seen from a successful scientist). Unfortunately, overselling science seems to be part of the mandate of the mainstream press (as is alarmist writing). But this becomes more real when you had the kind of conversation that I did yesterday. I was streaming live on UStream.tv, when I had a conversation with an anonymous visitor on genetics, genetic engineering, etc. It became clear to me that there is so much hype, so much misinformation and so little balance in the news that even smart people like the person I was talking to are not quite sure what is true and what isn’t. That is alarming to say the least. The Common Man is the world in which we operate. Whose responsibility is it to make sure that such misconceptions are not spread, as they are often by the mainstream media. It reminds me of the time Jay Leno picked up on work that my lab was doing. At the time we were developing 3D protein volumetric memories where the protein was embedded in a gel. The translation, computers made out of jello. Great copy, good jokes, but not accurate. A newspaper story which came out around the same time had a similar headline.
The Common Man has peripheral knowledge of science, looks at it with hope and mistrust at the same time. If all the information is either alarmist or overhyped, no wonder the mistrust or misunderstandings have reached a level where you don’t know what is right and what isn’t. You end up believing what you think should be right, and as a result you end up channeling all your information in that direction.
Further Reading:
Marketing Science
Thoughts from someone who hangs out with too many pharma types
The life science hype cycle
Science and the Common Man
Anyone familiar with cartoons and political commentary in India knows who R. K. Laxman is. He has had a series of political cartoons (series is an understatement) around the Common Man. I have always admired his work, so you will forgive me for using that metaphor in this post.
GTO pointed me to a killer post on overselling genomics from Jonathan Eisen (who has to have one of the best attitudes I have ever seen from a successful scientist). Unfortunately, overselling science seems to be part of the mandate of the mainstream press (as is alarmist writing). But this becomes more real when you had the kind of conversation that I did yesterday. I was streaming live on UStream.tv, when I had a conversation with an anonymous visitor on genetics, genetic engineering, etc. It became clear to me that there is so much hype, so much misinformation and so little balance in the news that even smart people like the person I was talking to are not quite sure what is true and what isn’t. That is alarming to say the least. The Common Man is the world in which we operate. Whose responsibility is it to make sure that such misconceptions are not spread, as they are often by the mainstream media. It reminds me of the time Jay Leno picked up on work that my lab was doing. At the time we were developing 3D protein volumetric memories where the protein was embedded in a gel. The translation, computers made out of jello. Great copy, good jokes, but not accurate. A newspaper story which came out around the same time had a similar headline.
The Common Man has peripheral knowledge of science, looks at it with hope and mistrust at the same time. If all the information is either alarmist or overhyped, no wonder the mistrust or misunderstandings have reached a level where you don’t know what is right and what isn’t. You end up believing what you think should be right, and as a result you end up channeling all your information in that direction.
Further Reading:
Marketing Science
Thoughts from someone who hangs out with too many pharma types
The life science hype cycle