The danger of insisting on your own facts

Posted on January 21, 2016 | 8 Comments

This video is very relevant today – as it was 6 years ago when it was made.

The speaker is Michael Spector, author of the book Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives.

Learned a few new terms from this video – “Big Placebo” and “High Tech Colonialism”

Similar articles

 

This entry was posted in Environment and Ecology, Health and Medicine, Russia, SciBlogs, Science and Society and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

8 responses to “The danger of insisting on your own facts”

  1. Stuartg | January 21, 2016 at 8:32 pm |

    Thanks, Ken.

    I’ve no idea why I haven’t seen that before, but it could easily have been yesterday.

    Like

  2. Stuart Mathieson | January 21, 2016 at 8:36 pm |

    Ordered a copy (book). Looking forward to. Denialism has always fascinated me.
    Some seem to me to be well intentioned but lack the analytical skills but to be impressed by superficial considerations. Others cannot see the critical issues. They tend to stack up circumstantial “evidence”. But some are simply bluff artists who think they are conning everyone. They bolster their self esteem accordingly. But some (like our esteemed friend) actually think they operating in a par with real scientists. But like name droppers me thinks.

    Like

  3. soundhill1 | January 22, 2016 at 5:27 pm |

    In another article Specter quotes Bruce Chassy without acknowledging that:
    “Bruce M. Chassy, now a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois, is another academic who was recruited to help out with GMO Answers. Shortly before he retired from his full-time research position — while he had a grant from Monsanto — he worked closely with the company to lobby the Environmental Protection Agency.”

    Like

  4. Ken | January 22, 2016 at 6:07 pm |

    The linked article is not by Specter.

    Brian, this is a silly and dishonest attempt to raise doubt about Specter.

    A typical tactic of science deniers.

    pen Parachute [mailto:comment-reply@wordpress.com] Sent: Friday, 22 January 2016 6:28 PM To: perrottk@clear.net.nz Subject: [Open Parachute] Comment: “The danger of insisting on your own facts”

    Like

  5. soundhill1 | January 23, 2016 at 2:37 pm |

    This is from Specter’s article: “Before the show aired, Bruce Chassy, a noted molecular biologist, wrote to Oz; he is a founder of Academics Review, a group of researchers who often debunk popular scientific claims. Chassy is professor emeritus in the department of food science and human nutrition at the University of Illinois. “As a public-sector scientist, researcher, and academic administrator with more than forty years’ experience, I am appalled that any medical professional would give a platform to the likes of Mr. Jeffrey Smith to impart health information to the public,” Chassy wrote.”

    http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/02/04/the-operator

    It should have been acknowledged that Specter is paid by Monsanto, as my previous cite said.

    Like

  6. soundhill1 | January 23, 2016 at 2:38 pm |

    Sorry sorry, that Chassy is paid by Monsanto.

    Like

  7. soundhill1 | January 23, 2016 at 5:31 pm |

    He says about 11:11: “Acai, I don’t even know what that is but we are spending billions of dollars on it. It’s fraud.”

    So he is trying to create a perception, a presumption as something .”scientific”. “I don’t know even what this stuff is but it’s fraud.”

    Got to do a bit better if you don’t want to bring “science” into disrepute.

    Like

  8. Ken | January 23, 2016 at 5:34 pm |

    Spector seems to have really upset you, Brian.

    I wonder why? 🙂

    Like

Leave a Reply: please be polite to other commenters & no ad hominems.