About Rationally Speaking


Rationally Speaking is a blog maintained by Prof. Massimo Pigliucci, a philosopher at the City University of New York. The blog reflects the Enlightenment figure Marquis de Condorcet's idea of what a public intellectual (yes, we know, that's such a bad word) ought to be: someone who devotes himself to "the tracking down of prejudices in the hiding places where priests, the schools, the government, and all long-established institutions had gathered and protected them." You're welcome. Please notice that the contents of this blog can be reprinted under the standard Creative Commons license.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Rationally Speaking Podcast: Donald Prothero on science deniers' playbook


Guest Donald Prothero joins us to discuss the common tactics and thinking of science deniers and the implications of this assault on science for our future. The denial of scientific realities in issues like global warming, creationism, vaccine safety, and AIDS, is growing in our society. Not only is our acceptance of scientific "inconvenient truths" under attack, but even scientists themselves have been threatened.

Donald R. Prothero is Professor of Geology at Occidental College and Lecturer in Geobiology at the California Institute of Technology. He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of 25 books, over 200 scientific papers and a number of popular books including, most recenly, "Catastrophes!: Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Tornadoes, and Other Earth-Shattering Disasters" and "Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters". He is on the editorial board of Skeptic magazine and has been featured on several television documentaries, including episodes of Paleoworld (BBC), Prehistoric Monsters Revealed (History Channel), Entelodon and Hyaenodon (National Geographic Channel), and Walking with Prehistoric Beasts (BBC).
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2 comments:

  1. Sr CincuentónJanuary 17, 2012 9:21 AM

    I think this is only a USA problem ...
    Have you find this "denial treath" somewere else?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tom D.January 17, 2012 9:40 AM

      A member of the Institute of Dendrology in the Polish Academy of Sciences cited the long discredited Paluxy
      footprints as evidence of humans co-existing with dinosaurs! (Giertych 2006).

      I got that gem from the forthcoming book "The Three Failures of Creationism: Logic, Rhetoric, and Science" by the late Walter Fitch.

      Fitch was a pioneer in phylogegetic analysis and a member of the National Academy of Science. Please read this book when it comes out.

      Delete

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