Sex, Drugs & DNA: Science's Taboos Confronted; Michael Stebbins (Macmillan) Credit: Mark Weiss
Michael Stebbins warns that in his new book he has tried to deal with science and health issues as though he were haranguing you at a party. Then he's off, careering through the treacherous territory that is US science policy in 2006. From cloning to bioterrorism and evolution to sex ed, Stebbins, director of biology policy for the Federation of American Scientists, tackles them all with brio. What follows is just a warm up.
Why did you write this book?
I was pissed off. After [9/11], the rhetoric and the bullshit started getting to me, and then it started to affect science in such a horrible way that I just had enough. This book became an experiment. I decided to see how people would respond to a ranting polemic about science, from a scientist's view.
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What do you hope to accomplish?
For a lot of these science policy issues, there is no single answer, which is typical of science. So, getting across the fact that there's so much that we don't know, and that the policy and rhetoric don't reflect that—is really important to me. What's even stranger is that where science really does know what's going on, for example with evolution, the denial of fact is absolutely crazy. So I also want the reader to get the sense that it's time to take people who are denying scientific knowledge and rub their noses in it, like a dog that just piddled on the floor. They're hurting our education system and the tone of discourse—and they're in absolute denial that science and technology drive our economy.
Your tone is frank and language aggressive—some would say abrasive. Do you worry about alienating the very people who stand to learn something from you?
I've thought about that. You can say that I'm preaching to the choir, but the choir isn't even singing—or at least not singing loud enough, because I can't hear them. Do I worry about increasing the polarization? Yeah.
Michael Stebbins Credit: Mark Mahaney
It's striking because science should unite; it needn't be a partisan cause...
But that's what conservatives in this country have done. They've turned it into some sort of war. And the heady days of science in the ivory tower are over. It now requires scientists to actually speak up.
That leads to my next question. You write that "scientists are not equipped for or generally inclined to form aggressive, rhetorical grassroots campaigns." How, then, do they combat such well-armed opponents?
I think scientists have to start posting things on their web sites, writing to newspapers and to their representatives. There's a massive scientific community out there, and it only takes a couple of pit bulls to really scare people. If I'm going to act in that role, others have to step up and do the same thing. Once an entire community is doing it, I don't think you're going to see the chilling affect that people are afraid of. Anyway, at some point you just have to say, "Screw it. I have to get involved."