Scientific culture is part of culture in the same way as the arts. Perceiving, approaching, understanding the laws of nature, whether they are intuitively accessible or not, is a source of intellectual pleasure, of pride that can be read in the eyes of children placed in such a situation. However, scientific culture does not have a good press. Admittedly, it requires an effort for which everyone has not always had the chance to be prepared. On the contrary, we observe a rise in relativism and less confidence in scientific data, particularly among young adults, as shown by a recent Ifop study. And ultimately, less recourse to rational thought in explaining the world around us. This lack of scientific culture strikes the entire population, but also political and economic leaders. This is not without potential impact on the conduct of our societies.
The school must be the place of awakening to science, the curiosity of children is a natural leaven. Yet too few are exposed in primary school to scientific observation. initiative The hands-on, which allows them to carry out simple experiments to increase their awareness of scientific reasoning, demonstrates that this is possible. However, only a minority benefit from it. It should be possible to generalize it, which implies that the teachers themselves are trained. Later, in high school, we unfortunately saw the place of science education shrinking within the framework of recent reforms. Mathematician Martin Andler, in a column published by The world last July, showed the imbalance between the teaching of sciences (not only mathematics) and letters. The freedom of choice of subjects, while respectable, has prompted many young girls and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to abandon all scientific education.
Politicians like business leaders are trained in high schools where, until now, scientific subjects are absent. Even among engineers, the fraction that received training through research (doctorate) is much lower than in Germany, for example. Moreover, from the start of their university course, these future leaders no longer meet those who opt for a scientific career, contrary to what happens in most countries where the same universities host these different courses. Hence a lesser scientific culture of our leaders, who (unlike our Anglo-Saxon neighbours) feel less need to surround themselves with experts. It is nevertheless possible that the Covid crisis has raised awareness in this regard.
Science too absent in the media
Can we be satisfied with the place of scientific culture in the media? It is to be regretted that the public service does not offer a science program at prime time, unlike, for example, the BBC in Great Britain. Moreover, very few newspapers have recourse to journalists specializing in scientific issues, the latter being in the end few in number. As for the scientists themselves, too few agree to intervene in the media. Moreover, a minority of them use the press for the purposes of disseminating unconfirmed information and fake news.
This should encourage the establishment of a code of ethics which would specify the rules of intervention of scientists and would also deal with potential conflicts of interest. Research institutions and academies should seize more systematically, in these situations, a right of reply in the name of the defense of scientific knowledge.
We can welcome the initiative of the National Research Agency to support up to 1% of its budget, which is not negligible, actions to promote science. It is imperative to help the actors in the field, the houses of sciences, the associations which intervene in particular in the underprivileged zones. Our democracy is at stake. It is necessary to provide our fellow citizens with elements of understanding of the issues that underlie many political decisions, whether about energy choices, the preservation of biodiversity, ethical questions around artificial intelligence or more medical applications of genomics.
Alain Fischer is president of the Academy of Sciences, professor emeritus at the Collège de France and co-founder of the Institute of Genetic Diseases (Imagine).