The government’s scientific advisory panel on Free Will has made it clear that science has shown there’s no such thing. Despite this, the government insists on holding people responsible for their actions. Should the chair of the panel resign?
Here’s the thing. Just because you’re a scientific expert on a particular subject, does that mean people should do what you say? Or should they take your scientific opinion and weigh it up against other, non-scientific factors that also matter to them?
If you’re a believer in the supremacy of science, then I guess you’re going to be astonished and exasperated when people shrug their shoulders and decide that, despite what you say, they’re going to stick with their own worldview. I’m not a believer in the supremacy of science as a viewpoint: I think it’s one (very important) angle on how to run a society. There’s more to being human (and being in a human society) than can be measured and reported in scientific terms.
I’m talking, of course, about the David Nutt affair. The UK government’s advisor on drugs resigned last week after the government decided not to follow his advice. I won’t repeat the story: there’s loads of stuff about the controversy at the Guardian.
Yes, science says that alcohol and tobacco are worse than cannabis in terms of harm. But we have a cultural tradition of accepting their use – and we have developed ways of coping with the impact. With cannabis, it’s different: we don’t know how to deal with it. Science has little or nothing to say about the various ways our culture deals with these issues, and so a simple measure of harm can’t be the only factor involved in deciding how we deal with their use.
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