Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings – CLARITY AND CHAOS

05/05/2018

“Fact-Checking – An Effective Weapon Against Misinformation?”

Over on the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings’ blog, Jude Dineley writes about possibilities of fact-checking:

The rise of the fact-check is partly a response to the deluge of misinformation accompanying the internet and social media: never before could dubious claims be shared so easily, widely and quickly.

Fact-checking is also, however, a chance to document issues more thoroughly than in routine news reporting. An important goal of journalists is to cover all points of view to maintain impartiality. However this, along with increasingly under-resourced newsrooms and tight deadlines, can ironically result in false balance and misleading coverage. Coverage of climate change is a classic example.

26/12/2017

Against hatred and intolerance we need education and civil courage. This is what Nobel science and Nobel peace is about.

Bishop emeritus Gunnar Stålsett, in a speech at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway.

You can read his speech on the importance of science and peace in society on the blog of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings.

09/12/2017

It’s all about balance. Without my writing, I would feel very isolated. The world is such a beautiful and complex place, and science only has limited access to its wonders. Science is dominated by strict rules which preclude emotions, and I would never allow my emotions to influence my research. So, to balance out my life, I write fiction and take photographs.

Joachim Frank, poet, unpublished novelist and co-recipient of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to the development of cryo-electron microscopy.