I was interested to read today that a leading neuropsychologist, Dorothy Bishop, has criticised her fellow Oxford professor, Susan Greenfield, after the latter claimed that the rise in internet use has led to an increase in cases of autism. In an open letter to Greenfield, published in New Scientist, Bishop said she was "dismayed by the way in which your public communications have moved away from science." Bishop suggested that her views depended on a fundamental (perhaps deliberate?) misreading of the evidence, since the rise in cases actually precedes the widespread adoption of the internet, and is best accounted for by a change in diagnostic techniques.

Greenfield's skewing of the evidence to make a point seems to tally with what I felt in my review of Greenfield's ID: The Quest for Identity in the 21st Century. So many of the arguments in this book seemed to be unsubstantiated, deriving from her ideological opposition to new technology, rather than from careful scrutiny of the scientific and social data.

We often bemoan the state of science reporting in the mass media. It does not help when scientists like Greenfield seek to become the story themselves by making lavish and apocalyptic pronouncements about the way in which games, social media and so on can affect the health of children.

Labels: Science and Culture, Susan Greenfield, Technology

I have just posted a review of Susan Greenfield's ID: The Quest for Identity in the 21st Century. It is a strange and in some ways interesting book, not for the science it contains but for what it tells us about Greenfield herself. Her complaints about the impact of technology on society lead this leading neuroscientist to make a series of absurd hypotheses and unsubstantiated arguments. It amounts to a middle-aged grumble about the pace of social change, rather than a rigorous study of the neurological effects of technology.

The full review can be read here: ID: The Quest for Identity in the 21st Century.

Labels: ID, Science and Culture, Susan Greenfield, Technology