"The Royal Society should not expel anyone, full stop. Why? Because expulsion is theatre. The people you want to punish usually do not care, he said, adding that humans were messy and even brilliant scientists could be awful people. Geim added that the Musk obsession was a perfect example of misplaced effort. Is this really the best use of the society's oxygen? Musk will not notice. His fans will not care. His critics will simply demand the next scalp. Meanwhile, the Royal Society's actual job, defending the conditions for science in Britain, gets sidelined by a glossy, low-impact row, he said."
"We elect people for scientific achievement or delivery. And therefore my view is that we get rid of them if that turns out to be false or not correct."
"Our widespread dislike of Musk's positions and behaviour is not a basis for ejection. We need to tolerate speech (and lawful actions) we find distasteful."
Paul Nurse defended the Royal Society's decision not to remove Elon Musk from fellowship, saying the code of conduct may need review but that fellows should be expelled only when scientific achievement proves false or fraudulent. Musk was elected a fellow in 2008 and faces accusations including involvement in cuts to US research funding and concerns about his Grok AI tool enabling digital removal of clothing. Several fellows, including Nobel laureates Andre Geim and Frances Arnold, supported Nurse's stance. Geim described expulsion as theatrical and distracting, while Arnold said dislike alone does not justify ejection and lawful speech must be tolerated.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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