Σάββατο 15 Μαΐου 2010

Michael Specter: The danger of science denial

Michael Specter: The danger of science denial.

About this talk

Vaccine-autism claims, "Frankenfood" bans, the herbal cure craze: All point to the public's growing fear (and, often, outright denial) of science and reason, says Michael Specter. He warns the trend spells disaster for human progress.

Εικασίες για σύνδεση των εμβολίων με τον αυτισμό, απαγορεύσεις μεταλλαγμένων τροφών, η τρέλα για τις θεραπείες με βότανα: όλα αναφέρονται στον εντεινόμενο φόβο του κοινού (και συχνά την ολοκληρωτική άρνηση) της επιστήμης και της λογικής, λέει ο Michael Specter. Προειδοποιεί ότι αυτή η τάση προοιωνίζει την καταστροφή της ανθρώπινης προόδου.

About Michael Specter

Michael Specter is a staff writer for the New Yorker. His new book, Denialism, asks why we have increasingly begun to fear scientific advances instead of embracing them.

Why you should listen to him:

Michael Specter's new book, Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet and Threatens Our Lives, dives into a worrisome strain of modern life -- a vocal anti-science bias that may prevent us from making the right choices for our future. Specter studies how the active movements against vaccines, genetically engineered food, science-based medicine and biotechnological solutions to climate change may actually put the world at risk. (For instance, anti-vaccination activists could soon trigger the US return of polio, not to mention the continuing rise of measles.) More insidiously, the chilling effect caused by the new denialism may prevent useful science from being accomplished.

Specter has been a writer for the New Yorker for more than a decade; before that, he was a science writer and then the Moscow bureau chief for the New York Times. He writes about science and politics for the New Yorker, with a fascinating sideline in biographical profiles.