Skeptic Check: Know-It-Alls

Big Picture Science

Think you’re some kind of expert? Join the club. It’s one thing to question authority; another to offer up your untrained self as its replacement. Rebellion may be a cherished expression of American individualism, but, from sidelining Dr. Fauci to hiding public health data, find out what we lose when we silence health experts and “go with our gut” during a pandemic. Plus, from ancestors to algorithms: how we’ve replaced credentialed experts with sketchy web sites and social media posts.

Guests:

• Charles Piller – Investigative reporter for Science magazine
• Alison Galvani – Epidemiologist and Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis, at Yale University
• Tom Nichols – Professor, international affairs, U.S. Naval War College, and author of “The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters”
• Alex Bentley – Anthropologist, University of Tennessee and author of “The Acceleration of Cultural Change: From Ancestors to Algorithms”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices