Future Past with Simon Singh

In May the author of The Simsons and Their Mathematical Secrets, Simon Singh, graced the stage at our ten year anniversary event, #TDC17. He shared with us his thoughts on the last 10 years and some predictions about the next 10.

Q: What has been the biggest change in the past 10 years in your field of expertise?

SS: As a science writer, the big change has been from people reading books, magazines and newspapers to people reading content online. And the range and quality of content online is magnificent and usually free, so quite naturally people are probably buying fewer books. And with science videos we see the same success for online content. The maths channel NUMBERPHILE has had roughly 200 million views.

Q: How do you see the next 10 years developing?

SS: I assume fewer books will be written. It is less likely that someone (including me) will spend two years working on a book when it is less likely that people will have time to read it. This is not necessarily a bad thing, particularly if overall more people are reading more science.

Q: What are you recommending to friends and colleagues right now in terms of media? This could be a book, a blogpost, a podcast, a movie, etc.. And why?

SS: Numberphile, SMBC, XKCD and always worth following the Undercover Economist @TimHarford.

Q: Who are the people, speakers, companies or organisations you¹re finding interesting these days? And why?

SS: My friend Professor Richard Wiseman is constantly innovating. We first met 25 years ago when I was working on BBC TV’s Tomorrow’s World and we needed the public to send in ideas for mass participation channel. Year after year he was able to come up with clever ideas. His stage shows are always brilliant and funny and his QUIRKOLOGY YouTube channel has had several hundred million views. He also authored RIP IT UP, a book that encourages the reader to destroy it while reading.