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Confronting the Norm

Dare to confront the norm. The slogan in the Jade ad on the opposite page caught my eye when the copy arrived. It's not just something which visionary leadership should strive for, but something which I believe encapsulates much of the essence of science. After all, science should challenge our view of the world, should recognise that what we think is normal is not necessarily so, whether we're comparing the "normal" world of Newtonian physics with the topsy-turvy relativistic physics of Einstein or challenging the conventions of how we perceive ourselves as a "race" or species.

I particularly liked the phrase appearing, as it did, just after the annual Skeptics conference, where much that is accepted as the norm had been confronted or challenged. One speaker showed us that surgery has as much effect -- and is a lot more intrusive -- as crystal healing when it comes to addressing back pain; another demonstrated why the food sector's preoccupation with MSG (monosodium glutamate) should be redirected at Italian food rather than Chinese.

In amongst the learning and the laughter was a rather sobering account of how the media view Skeptics -- as arrogant scientists who believe that science knows everything and who want to reduce the magic of life to the mundane. It's a view which made me wince, not least because in my role as Chair-entity of the group I've spent the last five years trying to dispell that image, but also because of what it says about general attitudes to science and scientists.

Few people seem to appreciate just how important a role doubt and uncertainty play in science, and how much wonderment is a part of scientific life. Part of this, I believe, stems from the school-based notion that there are definitively right and wrong answers in science, that science exists solely to answer questions rather than to ask them. From that -- and from hundreds of arrogant Mad Scientists in film after film -- comes the stereotype of the humourless, narrow-minded authoritarian that represents scientists to many people.

We need to turn that idea around, to help people appreciate that science, far from supporting authority and the status quo, exists to challenge it. We all need to dare to confront the norm.

Vicki Hyde is the editor of New Zealand Science Monthly.