For a number of years now I have been part of the National Science Week Committee in Victoria (Australia) which has dared to push for resources and support for public science events which do anything but the old-style, earnest public lecture. Our ‘Market of the Mind’ is more cabaret and sideshow and it takes place in a few small tents down at Southbank each August. Roll up, roll up and hear the sword swallower explain how she does what she does - it can be just as entertaining and thrilling as if it were at the circus, but here you are given the opportunity to enquire, question and ask our talent - what is going on?
Serious public lectures have their place. Just get a ticket to the Graham Clarke Oration and walk into the Melbourne Convention Centre and feel the buzz in the air as 2000 other people gather, this year, to hear Thomas R. Insel, MD, neuroscientist and psychiatrist, who joined Verily (the Life Sciences Team at Google) in December, 2015. From 2002 to 2015 he was Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, with a $1.5B budget to spend on mental health research. I certainly am keen to know why he has gone to work at Google and to hear his thoughtful insights into new research directions in the study of mental health. This venue and format is entirely appropriate for this guest and it offers Melburnians true high-culture and plenty of stimulating post-talk discussions at nearby bars and restaurants. I highly recommend it.
Last week I went to the opening night of Nicholas J. Johnson’s adult show Deceptology at Melbourne’s Magic Festival at the Northcote Town Hall. Otherwise known as the Honest Conman, Nick delights in sharing what he has learned from studying how con artists and tricksters take advantage of the shortcuts our brains take in making sense of the world. I have now seen audiences of all ages wowed by Nick’s confronting lesson on the placebo effect and his equally confronting visual tricks. Somehow he manages to show and explain what is going on, while retaining those essential theatrical tricks to entertain and delight. Its a fun night of theatre. Cross-modal perception, neural adaptation, placebo effect - this is brain science as fun, as information, as insight into how we study the brain.
When I see a notice of a public lecture by a visiting academic I wonder - is it really fulfilling our charter to engage the public in science? As science communicators, we need to select the right tool for the job, asking ourselves what will work for what we are trying to achieve? In a one hour show a magician like Nick can do more to explain how scientists think and work than a lot of public lectures I have been to.
So if your job is communicating brain science, why not employ a local artist like Nicholas J. Johnson? Or can you use your high-profile speaker to help build audiences for future events by making people feel that science is where the action is? Or will you sponsor some side-show acts?
That’s my challenge today.
Market of the Mind was held on Friday 19 August 2016 from 5-9pm down at Queensbridge, Southbank and was part of National Science Week.
The Graham Clarke Oration was free and at the Melbourne Convention Centre, South Wharf on Tuesday 30 August from 6:15pm @GCOration.
Deceptology has finished its run as part of the Melbourne Magic Festival but you can book Nicholas J. Johnson through his website and there you can also follow his podcast, buy his books and read his Scamopedia - @honestconman.
