Mastodawn

Mike Taylor 🦕

The Royal Society is dead

A few months ago, Dorothy Bishop resigned her fellowship in the Royal Society in protest at Elon Musk's continuing fellowship. This was a highly principled stand. Eight weeks ago, Steven Curry wrote an open letter to the President of the Royal Society asking him to explain how Musk's activities and pronouncements can be considered compatible with the Society's code of conduct.

http://svpow.com/2025/04/04/the-royal-society-is-dead/

The Royal Society is dead

A few months ago, Dorothy Bishop resigned her fellowship in the Royal Society in protest at Elon Musk’s continuing fellowship. This was a highly principled stand. Eight weeks ago, Steven Curr…

Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week

Martin Paul Eve Apr 4

@mike isn't it incredible how quickly a reputation can be destroyed?

Mike Taylor 🦕Apr 4

@mpe Yes, exactly. I was just thinking the same thing. 365 years in the making, then six months to trash it. Whether it's cowardice or avarice, I couldn't say.

Lukas Röseler Apr 4

@mike Interesting recommendation: "Unsurprisingly, **I will not submit any of my papers to Royal Society journals**, as I have done in the past, and I urge others to take the same step. Similarly **I will no longer be providing peer reviews for Royal Society journals**, and I urge every other scientist also to withhold voluntary professional labour. And **I will no longer contribute to their conferences**, and urge others to join me in this."

Mike Taylor 🦕Apr 4

@aufdroeseler I wonder what you mean by "interesting", exactly?

Lukas Röseler Apr 4

@mike I like it a lot. Given that publishers are dependent on reviewers and authors, not submitting and reviewing to/for a journal is the easiest thing researchers can to to exert influence on them (e.g., to lower APCs).

Mike Taylor 🦕Apr 4

@aufdroeseler Right. In general I am a fan of reviewing embargos, despite their collateral damage: see https://svpow.com/2011/10/17/collateral-damage-of-the-non-open-reviewing-boycott/

(It's a bit shocking to see that I wrote that fourteen years ago!)

Collateral damage of the non-open reviewing boycott

Regular readers will know that, as part of a broader strategy favouring open-access publishing, I no longer perform peer-reviews for non-open journals. (I mentioned a recent example in a comment o…

Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week

Boris Barbour Apr 4

Presumably some of those courageous officials are elected?

Mike Taylor 🦕Apr 4

@BorisBarbour I really have no idea. If they are, then they are likely elected by Fellows.

Boris Barbour Apr 4

Unsurprisingly, it seems the Council is indeed elected by Fellows. They could presumably choose more robust representatives.

https://royalsociety.org/about-us/how-we-are-governed/governance/

Governance | Royal Society

Learn how the Royal Society is run, its strategic priorities, and how its members are elected by and from the fellowship.

Dan Stowell Apr 4

@mike Thank you Mike. I also withdrew my labour from the Royal Society this week: https://mastodon.social/@danstowell/114233271103958015 (It was a sad moment, because RSOS had remained one of my preferred journals)

Mike Taylor 🦕Apr 4

@danstowell Thanks, Dan. I added a comment to my post highlighting your post.

Mark Wieczorek Apr 4

@mike What I don't understand is: Why haven't more people resigned from the Royal Society? I think that this says more about the state of science than #ElonMusk.

Mike Taylor 🦕Apr 4

@mrak I agree, it's deeply disappointing that so few people have followed @deevybee's lead. I suppose they still think being associated with the Royal Society is good for their reputation rather than being the drag that it now is.

Geert Aarts Apr 4

@mrak @mike Nice story to read, thanks. I think the whole idea of FRS is rather problematic. It gives selective privileges to a small group (well at least that is the intention) , the selection is biased and non-objective, and the individuals' performance in the past is no guarantee for accomplishments or behaviour in the future. In my view, the only action that can save the RS is to ditch all fellows (no disrespect implied) and become an open membership organisation.

Mike Taylor 🦕Apr 4

@GeertAarts @mrak … which would be much more rational, I dare say, but it would not be near so much like the Royal Society.

@mike Can we normalize laughing in “this might be a political move” hypocrites faces, please?

Any action that affects people beyond the actor themselves is a political move.

Mike Taylor 🦕Apr 4

@slotos Quite.

Alexander Dyas Apr 4

An other way of framing it is - If Musk wasn’t already a member of the society, would you seriously consider making him a member now, today?

I’m guessing the (honest) answer would be a “No” from most if not all people involved.

Mike Taylor 🦕Apr 4

@alexanderdyas Sure it would be a no from _everybody_. It's impossible to imagine _anyone_ who is pro-science supporting his fellowship.

Chris Haynes Apr 4

@mike I suppose getting the King to withdraw his implied patronage is out of the question?

Mike Taylor 🦕Apr 4

@clfh Wouldn't that be something? But the royals very consciously never do anything political.

@mike Who set up that webpage? It is not readable to me: light-grey font on white background. Why do think some designer/people that text has to be fashionable of the cost of readibility? Thanks, that I can read it in Reader Mode.
PS Since some years I notice that bad idea being "en vogue". (Even horrible: white font on black background.)
#UserInterface #accessibility

Mike Taylor 🦕Apr 4

@robertvonherz Really? This is how it looks to me. Are you seeing something different?

@mike Thanks for the reply, that is, thanks for the interest. I took a screenshot: on the left, what your page looks like at 100% scale (Firefox on Linux) on my Laptop. On the right, how I would need the text for readability. Scalability is an individual issue, but the fact that light gray text on a white background is very tiring for the brain to process was written out years ago in studies on web design. (And as usual, I can no longer find the relevant links. Sorry).

Mike Taylor 🦕Apr 4

@robertvonherz I'm sorry this isn't working for you. For what it's worth, the grey is darker than 50% — about 44% in face (#6f6f6f). And in seventeen years of running this site, always with the same theme, yours is the first accessibility complaint I've had.

Then again, who knows how many people have had accessibility issues and just quietly gone away without saying anything.

I'm looking into there there's an easy way to make the text darker.

Mike Taylor 🦕Apr 4

@robertvonherz … and the answer seems to be, no there isn't — sorry.

Christof Schöch Apr 5

@mike @robertvonherz In Firefox, there is "reader view". One click and you have high-contrast, legible font, and adjustable font size, and many more adjustments.

Mike Taylor 🦕Apr 5

@christof @robertvonherz Yes, it's very good. And raises the question of what the name of the OTHER view, that's not for readers.

Christof Schöch Apr 5

@mike @robertvonherz ;-)

@mike He is talking about the same reader view which I mentioned in my screenshot. (CTRL+ALT+R) But aditionally give some explanations about the usage. Am I right?: @christof

Christof Schöch Apr 5

@robertvonherz @mike Sorry, yes indeed, my bad! I did not look close enough to notice.

@christof No worries:-)

Dave Rahardja Apr 5

@mike Thank you for your principled action.

Mike Taylor 🦕Apr 5

@drahardja Thanks. It's cost me absolutely nothing comapred to what others have done!

coldclimate Apr 5

@mike and last week I wrote to them to explain how disappointed in them I am. Not a member, just throught they should know

Mike Taylor 🦕Apr 5

@coldclimate Well done.

Hitsu Yonai Apr 5

@mike "
@deevybee
Feel free to tell me this is a mad idea, or that you hate it, but I ran it past one of the kids who didn't come up with an immediate reason why this would be bad. There is little I can do in support, but this might be something:

I'm considering printing a few hundred copies of your post about your resignation and distributing them at the entrance when people are visiting the Summer Science Exhibition.

I obviously wouldn't do this if you disapprove.

Mike Taylor 🦕Apr 5

@hitsuyonai @deevybee Oh, that would be great! Please do, with my blessing!

Dorothy Bishop Apr 9

@hitsuyonai @mike
I don’t mind.

Stephen Curry Apr 5

@mike thanks for the shout out but it’s ’Stephen’. How long have we known each other!? ;-)

Mike Taylor 🦕Apr 5

@StephenCurry Ha, what an idiot I am! So sorry about that, now fixed.