meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Rationally Speaking Podcast

Rationally Speaking #79 - Chris Mooney on The Republican War on Science

Rationally Speaking Podcast

New York City Skeptics

Society & Culture, Skepticism, Science, Philosophy

4.6787 Ratings

🗓️ 27 January 2013

⏱️ 51 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Can science denialism be blamed on a "Republican brain"? In other words: is there something about the psychology of Republicans that makes them inclined to reject the scientific consensus on topics like evolution and climate change? Special guest Chris Mooney argues there is, elaborating on the thesis in his popular book, "The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science- and Reality." Massimo and Julia debate whether the evidence support Chris's thesis.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Rationally speaking is a presentation of New York City skeptics dedicated to promoting critical thinking, skeptical inquiry, and science education.

0:22.6

For more information, please visit us at NYCCEptics.org.

0:31.2

Welcome to Rationally Speaking, the podcast where we explore the borderlands between reason and nonsense.

0:41.1

I am your host, Massimo Pilucci, and with me as always is my co-host, Julia Galev.

0:45.3

Julia, what are we going to talk about today?

0:47.5

Massimo, today I'm pleased to announce that we have the special guest, Chris Mooney, joining us for this episode.

0:54.3

Chris is the senior correspondent for the American Prospect magazine and the author of two books, including the recent New York Times bestseller, The Republican War on Science.

1:04.9

Chris was also in 2005 named one of Wired Magazine's 10 Sexiest Geeks, which makes it a shame that he's joining us by Skype instead of in the studio, but there you have it.

1:14.6

Oh, well.

1:15.1

Chris, welcome.

1:16.4

I'll just picture how sexy you must be.

1:18.9

Yeah, so that was 2005.

1:21.8

Yeah, we'll age, my friend.

1:25.8

Okay, so Chris, I know that your book has predictably raised quite a bit of controversy.

1:35.4

You've got criticism right and left, literally, as in obviously predictably from the right,

1:40.7

since those are the people you criticize in the book.

1:43.7

But even some commentators on the left, we'll get to that people you criticize in the book. But even some commentators on

1:45.5

the left, we'll get to that later on maybe in the episode. The point is it definitely was

1:50.8

controversial. So before we get into the meat of it, what's the basic thesis? So the Republican

1:57.0

brain, the thesis is that in order to understand why left and right can't see eye to eye anymore,

2:07.0

and that's obvious to everyone in American politics, but also why the right tends to be actually

2:14.1

factually wrong, it's not enough to stick with purely surface-level, political, historical,

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from New York City Skeptics, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of New York City Skeptics and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.