06 April 2012

Upcoming Talk

I'm giving a completely new talk next week here at CU that will invoke Dustin Hoffman, Peter Gleick, Hwang Woo-suk, Ward Churchill, Michael Mann and Steve McIntyre, Robert DeNiro, Mike Daisey, Bjorn Lomborg, Steve Schneider, Marc Hauser, Al Gore, the New York Times, NOAA, Fred Singer, IPCC and if time allows, Colin Powell, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and a host of other bit players.

I can guarantee that there will be more questions than answers, and hopefully an extended and rich discussion. Should be fun -- Experimental at least.

Here is the abstract:
CSTPR Noontime Seminar Spring 2012 Series
Mondays 12:00 - 1:00 PM
GOING TO EXTREMES: Science and Social Response
April 9, 2012

WAG THE DOG: ETHICS, ACCURACY AND IMPACT OF THE SCIENCE OF EXTREMES IN POLITICAL DEBATES
by Roger Pielke, Jr.
Center for Science and Technology Policy Research, University of Colorado Boulder

Location: CIRES Auditorium

Free and open to the public

Abstract: Wag the Dog is the title of a 1997 movie in which a political operative and a movie producer together stage a war to cover-up a presidential sex scandal. In the movie one of the characters exclaims, 'What difference does it make if it's true? If it's a story and it breaks, they're gonna run with it.' This seminar is about truth, responsibility and science at the messy interface of the practice of science and the broader society of which it is a part. At that interface traditional roles are often blurred, a situation made even more complicated by the rise of new media -- we see scientists who act much as journalists, and journalists making judgments about science. In this context what does it mean to practice 'responsible science'? Does anything go? How should we act? Are there norms or guidelines for practitioners who work at the science-society interface? This talk will offer little in the way of answers, but will discuss various examples from a range of different contexts to stimulate a discussion and debate.

Biography: Roger Pielke Jr. is a Fellow of CIRES and professor at the Center of Science and Technology Policy Research. He is currently serving on the National Research Council Committee on Responsible Science which has been tasked with updating guidelines for scientists last proposed in 1992. This seminar is also part of his graduate seminar on science and technology policy, which this semester has a focus on 'responsible science.'