First Time Question Askers - Fear Fueling Ignorance

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i get cosmic vertigo, which is a kind of horror at the scale of things. A few people had a question about whether or not fear plays into ignorance. The distancingof of peoples from one another allows stereotypes to develop. And stereotyping and blanket ignorance leads to an alien misunderstanding. You want to walk in the shoes of the past so you don't fear them.

Yes, there is an -ology for that. Dr. Robert Proctor is a Stanford professor of the History of Science and co-edited the book “Agnotology: The Making & Unmaking of Ignorance,” having coined the word 30 years ago. We chat about everything from the true evils of tobacco marketing, to the sugar lobby, to racial injustice, horse vision, the psychology of the Flat Earther movement, which countries have the highest rates of climate denial, empathy, how to navigate difficult conversations and why it's critical to dismantle the systems of willful ignorance, starting locally.

Dr. Robert Proctor’s book, Agnotology

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