Skeptic Check: Do Your Own Research*

Big Picture Science

Science, Technology

4.6 • 986 Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2023

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Scientists are increasingly finding their expertise questioned by non-experts who claim they’ve done their own “research.” Whether advocating Ivermectin to treat Covid, insisting that climate change is a hoax, or asserting that the Earth is flat, doubters are now dismissed by being told to “do your own research!” But is a Wiki page evidence? What about a YouTube video? What happens to our quest for truth along the way? Plus, a science historian goes to a Flat Earth convention to talk reason. Guests: Yvette Johnson-Walker – epidemiologist at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, and affiliate faculty with the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health. Nathan Ballantyne – Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University, in New York. David Dunning – Social psychologist and Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan. Lee McIntyre – Research fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History at Boston University, author of “Post-Truth,” and “How to Talk to a Science Denier: Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason.” *Originally aired February 7, 2022 Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact [email protected] to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support! Please take our listener survey! Help us get to know you and enter to win a $500 Amazon gift card! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an Airwave Media Podcast.
0:05.0	The world is constantly changing and transforming.
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0:18.8	help you make sense of what's happening in the world. Listen to What's New with Wired wherever you get your podcasts.
0:25.7	That's What's New with Wired,
0:27.3	wherever you get your podcasts.
0:31.3	Get ready to geek out. The Wired Science Podcast explores all the latest and greatest in science,
0:37.4	everything from strange diseases and biological breakthroughs to interesting tech and mysteries in outer space.
0:44.0	Listen to Wired Science today wherever you get your podcasts.
0:48.0	That's Wired Science wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine if a friend who was not a surgeon announced he was going to treat his
1:05.7	infected appendix himself after all he doesn't need some expert he's seen
1:11.2	YouTube videos of self-administered appendectomies and he knows what to do.
1:16.0	I mean, it's not like it's hard or anything.
1:18.0	Well, what would you say to him?
1:20.0	There's a new form of science denial in town. It combines a distrust of science and medical expertise
1:25.8	with a can-do-it-yourself enthusiasm. Drawing from the idea that expertise is overrated. The slogan of this new variety of
1:33.9	sticking your thumb in the eye of science is called Do Your Own Research.
1:38.3	The only reason that your children should ever get this or any inoculation is if you decide to do it.
1:45.2	And that's only after you have done plenty of your own research, talk to smart people,
1:51.2	and make a decision that makes the most sense for you.
	...

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