Truth, Trust, and Hope: My Day at the NAS 2023 Nobel Prize Summit

I’m writing today from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, where I am participating in the Forum of Experts at the Summit.

Day 2 of the NAS Nobel Prize Summit, where experts are discussing the role of trust, truth and hope in dispelling misinformation.

Hello dear readers! I’m writing today from Washington, DC, where I’m attending the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2023 Nobel Prize Summit. You, too, can watch the talks at the Summit. They are being live-streamed, and the recordings are also posted on the Summit website. I was invited to attend Day 2 of the summit Forum of Experts to discuss ways to combat health disinformation. One major goal of the Summit is to foster collaboration among scientists and social innovators to foster an environment of truth, trust, and hope in science.

The accurate communication of science is not only important to scientists but also critical to the public. The scientific enterprise in the USA is only possible through government support, and in turn, only possible due to tax dollars. Science belongs to the people, yet scientists are often ill-equipped to translate the intricate nuances of our fields and findings to the lay public. Moreover, bad actors can spread disinformation and foster distrust in science through social media platforms at a rate never seen before. This goes well beyond the individual but can reach levels of government in the hands of totalitarian regimes. Innovations in Artificial Intelligence (AI) are making the waters even muddier: what is an indisputable ‘fact’ versus an AI-generated ‘fact’, which may have no basis in reality? Cooperation between governments, civil society, and scientists is essential. Data transparency and regulation of these new and emerging tools are crucial to securing peace and democracy.

Here are some of the major points I gleaned from the forum and discussions among experts and Nobel Laureates.

Challenges

• The average person may be unable to distinguish between an expert and someone marketing fraudulent information.

• The challenge of ‘snake oil’ salesmanship is not new, but the internet has opened up new lines of communication and created new networks through which misinformation can rapidly spread.

• The era of AI and deep fakes is upon us. It is becoming even more challenging to distinguish trusted sources of information. We need to think carefully about how these technologies could shape society in the future.

Lessons Learned from COVID-19

Science saved us from even higher death tolls through innovations in vaccine and home testing technology. At the same time, our incapacity to clearly communicate the nature of the virus, how the vaccines work, and why public health measures are needed to stem the spread of disease failed us all.

Within my field of medicinal plants, a number of bad actors emerged with profit motivations to sell untested (and even dangerous) herbs to the public during the pandemic. As a science communicator and expert in medicinal (and poisonous) plants, I felt an obligation to the public to correct the disinformation emerging on the use of quinine and cinchona bark and for oleander.