Mark Histed and Jenna Norton on how science and democracy are linked скачать в хорошем качестве

Mark Histed and Jenna Norton on how science and democracy are linked

After language, the scientific method is probably humanity’s greatest achievement; it’s a veritable engine of invention that has allowed us to bend rivers to our will, split the atom and cure many diseases. But while scientific progress has given us the tools to reshape the world and even change our bodies, we haven’t yet figured out how to rewire our mental hardware. The same cognitive instincts that helped our ancestors survive in the wild are now making many of us vulnerable. Although we think of them as separate today, science and superstition were one and the same. For the vast majority of human history, astronomy and astrology were together. Alchemy and chemistry were coeval. Over the centuries, however, science separated itself from pseudoscience, but the old beliefs never went away; they just went underground. As science became increasingly specialized and isolated from the general public, however, these “undead sciences” began gathering political power, a development that far too many advocates of progress did not perceive. In the second Trump administration, superstition has seized control of America’s executive branch in the person of Russell Vought, a Christian nationalist extremist who has been manically destroying as much of America’s scientific achievements as he possibly can, assisted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a deranged lawyer who has been slashing and burning medical research and treatment. Let’s not sugarcoat it. There are a lot of terrible things happening in science today. But there are also a lot of courageous people standing up to tell the world what’s happening, and standing up for the reality that science and democracy depend upon each other. GUEST INFO Jenna Norton on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uo5s... Mark Histed on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p66b... Science and Freedom Alliance https://www.scienceandfreedomalliance... TIMECODES 00:00 — Introduction 14:22 — Overcoming religious fundamentalism and embracing science 19:29 — Science communication and institutional trust 25:44 — Politics as the master science 31:08 — Jay Bhattacharya and the weaponization of objectivity 36:18 — Scientific truth and the Great Barrington Declaration 41:35 — Merchants of doubt and disinformation campaigns 46:51 — Open versus closed epistemologies 52:48 — The destruction of American scientific leadership 58:25 — The value of curiosity-driven research 01:02:38 — AI limitations and biases in science 01:06:39 — Organizing scientists and the Bethesda Declaration 01:10:17 — Science and Freedom Alliance mission 01:13:47 — Building institutions for public engagement 01:19:31 — Resources and social media for staying informed MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS This is a free episode of Theory of Change, but in order to keep the show sustainable, the full audio, video, and transcript for some episodes are available to subscribers only. The deep conversations we bring you about politics, religion, technology, and media take great time and care to produce. Your subscriptions make Theory of Change possible and we’re very grateful for your help. Please join today to get full access! Substack: https://theoryofchange.show/ Patreon:   / discoverflux   If you would like to support the show but don’t want to subscribe, you can also send one-time donations via PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/theor... If you're not able to support financially, please help us by subscribing and/or leaving a nice review on Apple Podcasts. Doing this helps other people find Theory of Change and our great guests. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... ABOUT THE SHOW Theory of Change is hosted by Matthew Sheffield about larger trends and intersections of politics, religion, media, and technology. It's part of the Flux Community, a new content network of podcasters and writers. Please visit us at flux.community to learn more and to tell us about what you're doing. We're constantly growing and learning from the great people we meet. Get access to all the Flux podcasts visit: https://linktr.ee/discoverflux Theory of Change on Twitter:   / theorychange   Theory of Change on YouTube:    / @theoryofchangepodcast   Matthew Sheffield on Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@mattsheffield Matthew Sheffield on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/matthew.flux... Matthew Sheffield on Twitter:   / mattsheffield