Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Are You Sure You’re Sure?
ENCORE: Nuclear fission powers the Sun. Or is it fusion?
At any rate, helium is burned in the process, of that you are certain. After
all, you read that article on astronomy last week*.
You know what you know. But you probably don’t
know what you don’t know. Few of us do. Scientists say we’re spectacularly
incompetent at recognizing our own incompetency, and that sometimes leads to
trouble.
Find out why wrongness is the by-product of big
brains and why even scientists – gasp! – are not immune. Plus, a peek into the
trash bin of history: the biggest scientific blunders and the
brighter-than-bright brains that made them. Including Einstein.
*Oh, and the Sun burns hydrogen to produce
helium. But then, you knew that.
Guests:
•
David Dunning –
Psychologist, Cornell University. His cover story, “We
Are All Confidence Idiots,” appeared in the November/December issue of The
Pacific Standard.
•
Robert Burton –
Neurologist, author,
On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When
You’re Not and
A Skeptic’s Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and
Cannot Tell Us About Ourselves
•
Brendan Nyhan – Political
scientist, Dartmouth College
•
Mario Livio –
Astrophysicist, Space Telescope Science Institute, author,
Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein – Colossal
Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the
Universe
This encore podcast was first released on November 10, 2015.
Download episode at:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/arewealone/BiPiSci15-07-27.mp3
You
can listen to this and other episodes at
http://bigpicturescience.org/, and
be sure to check out
Blog Picture Science,
the companion blog to the radio show.