Some people have been trying to put forward biological arguments for why we are so polarized. But the risk, though, is a kind of reductionist approach that then misses other important thingsd i think we see this very clearly if you say, look at some of the explanations that've been put forward in recent years for extreme political polarizationwe now experience in america. And when we try to find Biological explanations for cultural phenomeno, usually it goes very badly.
In this interview, based on her landmark book, Why Trust Science?, historian of science Naomi Oreskes offers a bold and compelling defense of science, revealing why the social character of scientific knowledge is its greatest strength — and the greatest reason we can trust it. Drawing vital lessons from cases where scientists got it wrong, Oreskes shows how consensus is a crucial indicator of when a scientific matter has been settled, and when the knowledge produced is likely to be trustworthy.