Episode 46
Hiding From Ourselves: Muzzling Science In The Age Of Misinformation (Part 3)
In this second episode on exploring how to determine what is quality information we continue following the ongoing debate on the purpose of science in a post-nuclear era into the 1980s. Do scientists have a moral and ethical responsibility to protect the planet or should they remain amoral stewards of policy-makers, leaving moral judgment to them? Legacy scientists from the Manhattan project, as well as popular astronomers Carl Sagan and Robert Jastrow, finally come to a head over what would happen if a nuclear war were to occur by using climate modeling. As a large bloc of America's most important scientists take a stand against further nuclear escalation a small handful of powerful and well-connected scientists begin to attack not only climate models for the first time, but all of science itself. Just as in the last episode, we will be using the book Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway to help guide us through this cultural shift in the American psyche away from scientific guidance and towards an ideological one.
