Intolerance: retain healthy scepticism

The UK government's chief scientist, John Beddington, has done much to promote the potential of science to address pressing global imperatives. But in a straight-talking speech last month, he urged his audience of 300 government scientists to be “grossly intolerant” of “pernicious” and “fatuous” “pseudoscience”. In this he included: scepticism of genetic modification technology; “illegitimate” advocacy of environmental precaution in response to unknowns; and suggestions that science is subject to morality. This approach is a rejection not just of irrational denial but of entirely reasonable social scepticism concerning science itself.