London (AFP) – Britain’s Royal Society will hold a crunch meeting on Monday following calls to expel technology billionaire Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, from the prestigious institute of scientists. Founded in 1660, the Royal Society describes itself as a “fellowship of many of the world’s most eminent scientists” and is a key voice in the global scientific community. Past members have included Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Dorothy Hodgkin, Benjamin Franklin, and Stephen Hawking.
But after members raised concerns about Musk, the owner of SpaceX, Tesla, and the social network X who was elected a fellow in 2018, the organisation said it would discuss “the principles around public pronouncements and behaviours of fellows.” Nobel prize winners were among more than 3,000 people who signed an open letter last month saying Musk had broken the Society’s code of conduct by promoting “unfounded conspiracy theories.” Researchers say changes Musk made to X after his 2022 takeover of the site formerly known as Twitter have led to a spike in misinformation.
The 53-year-old has also repeatedly used his own account to spread falsehoods including inaccurate claims about Covid-19, vaccines, miscarriages, and heart problems. Ahead of the debate, Musk said “only craven, insecure fools care about awards and memberships.” He was responding to an X post by Nobel Prize laureate and Royal Society fellow Geoffrey Hinton, known as the “Godfather of AI,” who called for Musk to be expelled. “Not because he peddles conspiracy theories and makes Nazi salutes, but because of the huge damage he is doing to scientific institutions in the US,” Hinton said.
Musk now holds increasing sway in the White House as a close advisor to US President Donald Trump. He has rejected comparisons between the gesture he made at a Trump inauguration event earlier this year and a Nazi salute, and said Hinton’s comments were “carelessly ignorant, cruel and false.” “What specific actions require correction?” he said. “I will make mistakes, but endeavour to fix them fast.”
– ‘Respect for evidence’ – Stephen Curry, author of the open letter and professor of structural biology at Imperial College London, said it was “not about policing political views, this is not about enforcing some kind of political conformity.” “I think the main charges that are troubling to many people is that Elon Musk has not shown respect for evidence,” he said. “He’s widely reported to be one of the most active disseminators of misinformation on Twitter and that’s not something that is consistent with the code of conduct.”
The Society, which has 1,800 fellows and foreign members including 85 Nobel laureates, says it aims to encourage the use of science “for the benefit of humanity and the good of the planet.” The meeting, to which all members have been invited, was set to take place Monday evening behind closed doors, but it was not clear what action the Society might take. In a statement to AFP, the Society said that “any issues raised in respect of individual fellows are dealt with in strict confidence.”
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