Chaired by The Guardian’s Science Editor James Randerson.
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Rowan Adams (08 June 2007) I was disappointed by what should have been a good event - I'm a big fan of Steve Jones. There are reasons for people to be suspicious of some scientists because of the links between science and dodgy technology - for example, nuclear weapons, or pesticides. There are also other aspects to the Enlightenment besides science. It's a shame some other speakers at Hay 2007 weren't invited to contribute, for example Mary Midgley, A C Grayling, Eric Hobsbawm, or Simon Schama. And there are reasons for people not to think rationally - usually poor schooling, followed by a lack of rational thought and especially science in the mass media. Almost the only good science being broadcast is on Radio 4. BBC TV does almost nothing - the once-excellent Horizon appears to have been taken over by tabloid journalists - and Channel 4 thinks it can get away with broadcasting downright lies about climate change science. I don't think enough of this came out. Richard Dawkins in particular seemed to believe that those who make a living by such things as fortune-telling are actually rational conpeople abusing the trust of the irrational gullible public. But they probably believe that stuff themselves, and are quite sincere, however mistaken. The cause of rational thinking and science would be better helped if scientists made more of an effort to understand what's going on in people's minds, instead of just attacking them for it.