To unravel mysteries of universe, ask a cabbie

While taxi drivers can usually offer opinions on most big issues, their wit and wisdom tend not to make the pages of academic books. But a UK scholar who has collected some of their metaphysical musings for a new title on the mysteries of the universe believes this omission is a mistake.

“Taxi drivers talk to people from every walk of life and have a very down-to-earth perspective – they tend to know what the interesting questions are,” explained Charles Cockell, professor of astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh, whose latest book Taxi from Another Planet: Conversations with Drivers about Life in the Universe chronicles discussions with cabbies in cities around the world, including London, Washington DC and San Francisco.

The idea for the book, published by Harvard University Press in August, arrived during a taxi ride to a 10 Downing Street reception in honour of the British astronaut Tim Peake back in 2016, said Professor Cockell.

“My driver asked me if I thought there were any alien taxi drivers on other planets,” he recalled. “That sounds like a simple question but it goes beyond the notion of intelligent life in space to consider how they might organise themselves, and would they arrive at a capitalist system that involved taxis,” said Professor Cockell.

A conversation during another cab ride – this time from Leicester train station to the UK’s National Space Centre – led Professor Cockell to consider how arrivals from outer space might join the world’s workforce (“Good luck to them…as long as they don’t come to Leicester”), while a taxi trip in California raised issues about whether Mars should be considered Earth’s “Planet B”.

A long taxi drive across the Yorkshire Moors to the underground laboratories of Boulby Mine to oversee a test of planetary exploration rovers also led to discussions on the economics of space travel to Mars. “Those space billionaires, they are welcome to it. It’s far too extreme and I like Yorkshire,” said one driver.

“Drivers are not too hung up on the details of space but that allows them to reach the core questions about life in the universe,” said Professor Cockell, a biochemist who has previously worked at Nasa in California and Stanford University.

“Taxi drivers are more connected to the hive mind of humanity – we all live in our bubbles to a certain extent but that’s less true for taxi drivers,” he continued. “It’s good for everyone to get some clarity on their work by asking what people from outside academia think about things.”

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com