IF THERE was ever a gap between the two cultures of science and literary intellectualism, as C. P. Snow famously argued 50 years ago, the swine flu episode testifies to its disappearance. Science is now appreciated more deeply, and has more influence on policy, than Snow imagined possible.
In the early days of the outbreak, scientists, far from their reputation for dry empiricism, proved adept at using narrative and metaphor to shape public understanding. They proved to be more aware than ever of how their findings are interpreted by wider society.
Policy-makers also proved that Snow’s strictures have been broken. When the World Health Organization urged that the new flu be called not “swine flu” but by its “scientific name”, H1N1, it displayed an awareness of both how the jargon of science has become lingua franca and how appealing the terms of science are. Invoking science is now a way to summon support for policy.
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The general public, supposedly addled by popular entertainment, turns out to be hungry for scientific details about the virus and perfectly capable of understanding them. Nary an “H-one-what?” cry has been heard; news reports are laden with statistics and scientific findings. Contrast that with the coverage of the early days of AIDS, when numbers were rarely reported and the occurrence of a new disease was barely considered newsworthy.
Perhaps the strongest testament to the integration of science into culture was what was left unsaid. What officials did not and could not say was that when it comes to disease outbreaks, science can tell us very little about what is going to happen next.
It seems that to admit science’s limitations is to utter a heresy. We have faith in science and we have high hopes for ourselves on that basis. Shaking that faith is not done lightly.
If officials are in a bind now, it is not because they are caught between two cultures. It is becausethey must be delicate with the new public engagement with science lest they jeopardise the progress we have made. We are not necessarily less adrift in a troubled world than Snow suggested, but at least we are all in the same boat.
