Musk should consider resigning from UK Royal Society, new president says

Musk’s attacks on publicly funded scientific research make his position as a member difficult, says Sir Paul Nurse

The Times
@davidho yep, that would be a logical and fair decision.
@davidho Or even better, getting rid of the elite FRS status altogether and becoming an open membership organisation. The real problem is that they praise people based on acchievements in the past, which is no guarantee for life-time achievements or behaviour in the future. Not to mention the bias and non-objectivety in the award decision-making process.
@davidho We could do, and should do, but the Council doesn’t want to. Nurse won’t take over as president until December.

@davidho I don't understand how the Royal Society doesn't realise how much damage it did to their reputation to admit him in the first place.

Even before all of the fascist stuff, he was not a scientist, not a researcher. His contributions to science and engineering were that he was a rich person who funded some work.

Making him a FRS made it very clear that it's not an institution for scientists, it's an institution for plutocrats.

It used to be that being a FRS was something to aspire to an a scientific career. Now it's an easy decline if offered, because who would want to be associated with an institution like that?

@david_chisnall @davidho Wondering how many other open eugenicists are or have been distinguished members of Royal Society though.

@KarlHeinzHasliP @davidho

Like every other old British institution, its history is entwined with Empire. I don't judge it based on what it did a hundred years go, I judge it based on what it learned from the mistakes it made back then and how it's acting now. And, right now, it's not looking good.

@david_chisnall @davidho I however do judge it on what it did since inception and it seems to be a smoldering pile of shit.

@david_chisnall @davidho

(UK) Royal Society are collaborators with Fascists like Musk for political gain....

@david_chisnall @davidho
**"I don't understand how the Royal Society doesn't realise how much damage it did to their reputation to admit him in the first place."**
@davidho They should indeed just kick him out. He should not have been there in the first place, he's just a numpty with a lot of other peoples money

@davidho
I'm frankly baffled by what position is being taken here by Nurse. The idea that this row is about whether you would want to have dinner with Musk is a crock of bullshit, the notion that Musk's wholesale attack on science complicates matters rather than simplifies them enormously is perverse, the layperson might think undermining science and science research on ideological grounds more heinous than having a row about paying a subscription, and the idea of being not timid is to perhaps ask the person attacking your core purpose if they might want to think about resigning is risible.

The Royal Society has always had an eye on the patronage of the rich and powerful (the clue's in the name) so Musk's election wasn't the surprise it should have been. His retention, and the convolutions involved in defending that, just calls the Society's whole purpose into question.

@davidho I guess he bought the membership and he is paying his annual 'rent'. He should get one for his horse!

@davidho People waiting for sociopaths to "resign" or being "sensible" are delusional.

Musk is expecting people to be too afraid to act against him and he is unfortunately right. People are too afraid to "cause a disturbance"....as if this sociopath has not already.

@davidho

They should of cause get rid of him and his alike. Those being part of Trump's fascist regime will remain toxic forever. 👀

@davidho I think you may have made a typo there, the fifth letter... s not c...

@davidho (Edit to reduce misinformation spread)
I'm an idiot and mixed up the Royal Society and the RI, which are not the same (thanks to Tim and Stuart for pointing that out.

Please continue enjoying the Christmas Lectures!

@philpem Are you thinking of the Royal Institution's Christmas lectures? That's a different organisation to the Royal Society.
@slowe ... OH THANK GOD!
@philpem @davidho Somewhat confusingly the Christmas Lectures are run by the Royal Institution, which is not the same thing as the Royal Society.
@tim DOH. Thanks for pointing that out. Edited.
@davidho Flush the turd, he won't get better with age.

@davidho

Every now and then I consider doing a PhD. Maybe try for a life in academia. Get a professorship, sew some leather patches on a tweed jacket and get all the babes.

Then I think about how a PhD would be a life of hard work and poverty, and I focus on other things. Leave PhD to the pros. The idea of being accepted into the royal society would never occur to me.

But hey, maybe I should have just published "I Hope Artificial Intelligence is Nice to Us" [2014].

@davidho He should just bekicked out!