On Sat, 7 Jun 2003, Automatic digest processor wrote:

> Robert Winston is well known in the UK.He is infact Lord Winston being
> elevated by the Blair Labour Government.He is also a Professor of Obstetrics
> with a special interest  in Infertility.Just a little background.It is a
> good series but I have also found it dumbing down but remember it is aimed
> at a generalist audience.The special effects are excellent but gimmicky at
> times.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about public perception of Robert
Winston here in the UK is that he's popularly regarded as a `doctor who
talks about biological science' and thus generally quite highly `trusted',
as opposed to as a `scientist talking about biological science' who tend
to be viewed much more sceptically. (I can't find reference to whether he
still sees patients independent of his research, but in the British system
that's the common case.)

I always find it a bit puzzling that doctors are generally regarded as
more likely to be `talking about true stuff' than scientists, even though
it's the scientists who work in the more rigorous way of testing
hypotheses with well thought out experiments. In particular, this suggests
that people like Boyd Eaton won't be enough to generate popular interest
in evolutionary fitness ideas (and as a result what I really want which is
large-scale epidemiological studies of the whole approach), but rather it
needs discussion by someone who's publicly viewed as a `doctor'.

Just a rambling thought

___cheers,_dave_________________________________________________________
www.cs.bris.ac.uk/~tweed/  |  `It's no good going home to practise
email:[log in to unmask]  |   a Special Outdoor Song which Has To Be
work tel:(0117) 954-5250   |   Sung In The Snow' -- Winnie the Pooh

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