An important change in the past fifteen years of British skepticism is the shift from reactive to proactive. One of the best examples of this new breed is Simon Singh, broadcaster, author, and founder of the Good Thinking Society (GTS). Perhaps most famously, in 2008 Singh faced off against the notoriously horrid British libel law and its astronomical costs and reversed burden of proof.
The case was brought by the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) over a 2008 Guardian article in which Singh said the BCA “happily promotes bogus treatments” despite the total lack of evidence. The article was part of promoting Trick or Treatment?, his book with Edzard Ernst.
In 2009, Singh lost. At that despairing moment, we all wondered whether anyone would ever be able to risk publishing scientific criticism again.
Rewind. Singh’s career began with a PhD in physics from Cambridge and a two-year stint at CERN. At that point, “I could see that there were people who were brighter and quicker, and those would be the ones to make the great discoveries. I loved physics and my PhD, and I seriously thought about carrying on, but I wondered what else I could do that other people couldn’t.”
He loved TV and science and enjoyed teaching; his PhD got him a traineeship on the science program Tomorrow’s World, where he spent four or five years making documentaries such as 1996’s The Proof, which told the story of the long just-ended struggle to prove Fermat’s last theorem. The program led to the suggestion that he write a book. He’d done much of the research and had plenty of material he couldn’t fit into a TV documentary, so off he went. The book became the first book about mathematics to become a number one bestseller in the United Kingdom, and the film won a BAFTA award.
“Television was informed by how I did my PhD, so I did films a bit differently, and it was also informed by having been in a classroom and having taught kids. My writing was informed by writing for TV; you have to be dramatic, get people on board, reach a wide audience.” In addition, his favorite part of filmmaking—editing—requires many of the storytelling skills writers need: “How to pace, balance light and shade, drama, narrative.”
The book’s success took him by surprise. A brief mention of cryptography in the Fermat book led to an expanding interest in the subject, leading to 1999’s The Code Book, a history of cryptography that coincided with early political battles over encryption and the internet. This book later became a TV series. He followed it with 2008’s Big Bang, on cosmology, and Trick or Treatment? The libel case arrived as he was beginning his next book, The Mathematics of The Simpsons, which finally appeared in 2013.
It was alternative medicine that led him to skepticism. “I was getting angry about homeopathy and how people were being misled. Homeopathy was definitely the thing that hooked me in. I did a project where I worked with Sense About Science. We had a young graduate visit ten homeopaths saying they were worried that they were going to Africa and would be exposed to dangerous bugs and wanted something other than conventional malaria remedies. Ten out of ten homeopaths were willing to prescribe sugar pills. It was the first time I got so angry about something that I tried to do something to highlight the problem.” The “something” got the issue onto the BBC’s flaghship Newsnight and into the national press.
Shortly afterwards, while he was still pondering what else he might do on the subject, he saw the three-part BBC documentary series Alternative Medicine: The Evidence. He assumed it had to be serious; it had all the right credentials. But no: “Then it starts with a clip of a woman in Shanghai having major surgery with acupuncture instead of a general anesthetic.” Singh began making phone calls and learned from a member of the Royal College of Anaesthetists that the woman was in fact under the most powerful sedatives available. It took numerous attempts at complaining before it was finally upheld by the board of trustees. “I learned that if you’re going to complain, be tenacious, do one letter, and make sure it hits the target.”
This was how he met Edzard Ernst, who, in appearing on the program, had faced the usual conundrum: participate to counter the claims or leave and abdicate control? Singh and Ernst had high hopes for Trick or Treatment?
“We assumed that if people will pay £10 for a bottle of homeopathic pills, they will pay £10 for a book that tells them which therapies work and which don’t.” Instead … “We didn’t sell that many books.” Nonetheless, Singh remains proud of it and the impact it did have.
The greater impact, however, was from the resulting libel suit. Among other things, the outrage over the initial ruling joined together many communities: skeptics, Sense About Science, English PEN, Index on Censorship, and the Skeptics in the Pub network. In 2010, a panel of judges overturned the ruling with a fine defense of the public interest in science. Tens of thousands of people donated funds to support the successful campaign Singh then launched to reform libel law.
Singh continues to fund and participate in GTS. However, he is currently more occupied with increasing the number and diversity of excellent mathematicians in the United Kingdom by helping gifted kids at schools. This year, 700 kids are participating in his program of weekly online tutorials designed to stretch and develop their skills.
The project is, he says, all part of his overall approach: “I try to do the things that no one else is interested in.”