Can scientists be trusted?

My obvious answer to this question would be 'yes.' I get tired of suggestions as to the conspiratorial nature of scientists. Scientists include me, my colleagues, and friends. We are people who would be just as excited as the general public if there were certain types of massive discoveries -- ET life, ancient civilizations on Mars, alien visitations, etc. But, as much as some of us try not to be the deciders of life and death in the world, scientists bear a certain amount of responsibility for the public. I don't always think about it this way:

If ET Calls, Would We Be Told?

Even though SETI has a protocol that calls for public dissemination of the information if an alien signal is received, Nancy Atkinson questions Mac Tonnies on what would happen if the signal was news of impending doom.

But wouldn’t governments want the people of the world to know so that intellectual resources could be pooled to try to find a solution to the problem? And what about the concept of an alien message bringing the world together?

“I think uniting the people of the world is the last thing governments want,” said Tonnies. “A rush to counter some cosmic threat is likely to have a war-time character, at least among scientists. And this is assuming that the threat we're being warned about is something that can be acted upon with the technology available to us. If we happen across a generic warning, there's no promise we'll have the savvy to do anything about it given our level of development. If that's the case, why would we expect prompt disclosure?”

Is it the government's job to make sure that what we don't know won't hurt us? I think not. Government secrets tend to hide what is allowed to cause the public harm. I suppose it is to maintain the illusion that everything is under control. This is a lie not worth telling. Misuse of public trust allows us to become increasingly sheepish, benign, and panicky in the face of danger. The public becomes a child. Scientists have no more of a right to keep things secret, as if only they can solve the problem, than a government. However, while I think that candidness is important, I can understand the hesitancy.

People live in such a disparate world that a bad message can be expected to cause some chaos. We are all looking out for ourselves, individually. So what can happen when we start finding community and cooperating with every skill at our disposal? I think only in a world like that will humanity as a whole be ready for a bad message. What can scientists do to help foster this kind of atmosphere? For now, tell the truth.