307. Nicholas Dirks on Science Denial, Distrust, and Skepticism
The Michael Shermer Show
Michael Shermer
4.3 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 22 November 2022
⏱️ 97 minutes
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Summary
Nicholas Dirks is a strong advocate for academic and scientific collaboration across disciplines and recently helped launch the International Science Reserve which compiles technical and human resources scientists to call upon in times of crisis. His work focuses on the critical issues at the intersection of the humanities, social sciences, and the natural sciences, including distrust of science and vaccine hesitancy.
Shermer and Dirks discuss: vaccine hesitancy • why antibiotics do not generate the same distrust • vaccines and autism • COVID-19 and its differential effects on people • the lab-leak hypothesis vs. the zoonomic hypothesis for the origin of SARS CoV-2 • Anthony Fauci and the CDC • climate denial • how trust in science has changed over the past century • the politicization of science • how to talk to someone who doesn't trust science or scientists.
Nicholas Dirks, President and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS), is an internationally renowned historian and anthropologist. He leads the Academy in promoting science-based solutions to world challenges, including pandemics and global warming. His work at the Academy facilitates the dissemination of scientific information, supports broad access to science education, studies counter bias in academia and the laboratory, and supports scientists across all stages of their careers. He was awarded his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and has taught at UC Berkeley, the California Institute of Technology, the University of Michigan, and Columbia University. His website is nicholasbdirks.com.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the Michael Sherman Show. |
| 0:11.6 | Greetings! The Michael Sherman Shower Show. |
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| 0:26.1 | and documentaries and travel logs and how-to lessons and tutorials. |
| 0:31.1 | For me, I listen mostly to the college courses brought to you by professional screened and produced college professors in a studio. |
| 0:41.0 | So the content is super high quality the recording sound and visuals are great and it's |
| 0:48.3 | just a great source of content consumption when you're out about doing other things. Here's one I have on my |
| 0:55.3 | list to listen to. Again I just scroll through the app to see what comes up every |
| 1:00.4 | day they they're constantly posting new stuff here's a 12 lecture series called |
| 1:05.3 | experiencing Shakespeare from page to stage to be good for somebody like me because I love |
| 1:11.1 | Shakespeare but I don't know that much about it. I never took |
| 1:13.7 | horses in Shakespeare or even in Litt Critchrit or anything like that in college so I really don't know much about it. |
| 1:19.6 | But so here's reading versus watching Shakespeare. Yeah, okay, I've seen some of the |
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| 1:32.2 | verse. That should be good. |
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