Whichever side of the fence you sit, it’s fair to say that Donald Trump is a divisive figure. One area where he has brought a lot of people together, however, is within the scientific community. Many view the US President’s rhetoric and policies so far to be anti-scientific, particularly in the area of climate change.
The December issue of Wired quizzes arguably the two most well-known physicists working in the UK on Trump, the anti-science movement and a number of other issues. They weren’t interviewed together unfortunately, though they have done joint interviews before. Sitting down with the Guardian a few years back, the pair were asked which living scientist they most admired.
“The scientist I most admire would be you,” Cox said to Hawking. “You have combined a world class scientific career with a world class career in science communication. This is very difficult to do, but it is vitally important that our great researchers can also be great teachers.”
Despite this, Hawking would later go on to mow down his younger colleague in his motorised wheelchair (albeit for a particularly rib-tickling Monty Python sketch).
What did the UK’s two most recognisable scientists have to say this time out on politics, science and alien life? Read on…
The physicists on Trump
The Cox piece starts with a Trump-related anecdote.
“I saw some rally where he was talking about his favourite hairspray and berating scientists who told him that by spraying out of the can you could have an impact on the atmosphere,” Cox told Wired interviewer James Temperton.
“And he told the gathered throngs of supporters, ‘Come on folks if the windows are closed how can you possibly have any impact on anything outside of your own space, your own apartment?’ Such a deep fundamental... and of course the crowd cheered. And to watch this...”
When asked what he would say to Trump if he had the chance, Cox said that he would point out that humility is the path to wisdom. Further in the piece, he suggests that humility should be taught within the school system and that being challenged and proven wrong is a vital part of being a scientist.
Asked the same question, Hawking also initially steered clear of global warming and said that he would ask the US President about the reasoning behind the Muslim travel ban.
"I would also ask him to renounce his denial of climate change. But again, I fear neither will happen as Trump continues to appease his electorate," he added.
Anti-science rhetoric
In April this year, the March for Science saw scientists and supporters stage rallies in more than 600 cities around the globe. The goals of this non-partisan movement were to emphasise that science upholds the common good and to call for evidence-based policy in the public's best interests.
Hawking said: “People distrust science because they don't understand how it works. It seems as if we are now living in a time in which science and scientists are in danger of being held in low, and decreasing, esteem. This could have serious consequences.”
He suggested that an interest in science could be reinstilled into younger generations via a new and ambitious space programme.
Cox, meanwhile, said: “I think politicians often make the mistake of viewing society as a series of groups competing for finite resources. I think that’s the wrong way to think about it. A society needs to be viewed as a single organism. It seems to me self-evident that understanding more about nature makes your society better. The opposite is understanding less about the natural world and that can’t be right. History tells us that’s not correct.”
Aliens and artificial intelligence
The conversation didn’t entirely revolve around the increasing politicisation of science, though it could be argued that all science is political as it deals with how we see the world around us.
On artificial intelligence, Hawking suggested that AI could outgrow its human progenitors.
He said: “The genie is out of the bottle. We need to move forward on artificial intelligence development but we also need to be mindful of its very real dangers. I fear that AI may replace humans altogether. If people design computer viruses, someone will design AI that replicates itself. This will be a new form of life that will outperform humans.”
Cox weighed in on the prospect of finding life outside Earth.
“I think the chances of detecting microbial life beyond Earth are high,” he said, while admitting that the chances of finding an advanced civilisation could be far less likely.
Read more of our latest Industry Updates news stories
