Challenging Scientific Norms

The last few weeks we've had some really explosive theories on the show, which have caused a stir in the comments and beyond. We sit down to talk about the philosophy behind why we believe exploring far out theories is so important, and use Paul Feyerabend's Against Method as the backbone for our discussion. We introduce the idea of scientific anarchy, which encourages us to lean into the uncomfortable reality that ideas cannot be prized simply because of their age, or their apparent agreement with existing data. The history of science is littered with theories that were wrong but useful, detectors that are engineered to give us the results we are expecting, and the weighty knowledge that the absence of evidence tells us nothing about what we'll find when we take a closer look at the inner workings of nature. Sign up for our Patreon and get episodes early + join our weekly Patron Chat https://bit.ly/3lcAasB AND rock some Demystify Gear to spread the word! https://demystifysci.myspreadshop.com/ Pick up some Feyerabend and support the pod when you do it here: https://amzn.to/3Y7bcQ8 (00:00) Go! (00:09:56) Podcast insider conspiracy theories (00:16:10) Surrendering to being a useful idiot (00:20:55) becoming a valuable mouthpiece (00:23:48) Patronage of the billionaire king (00:28:24) Two types of conspiracies (00:35:48) Can a free internet rise again? (00:44:35) Monoliths vs chaos, enter Paul Feyerabend (00:48:56) Heuristics and other cognitive offloads (00:55:08) Calcifying opinion into fact (00:58:02) Science is a historical process (01:01:37) Subservience of science to technology (01:04:31) Why Michael Hudson doesn't take libertarians seriously (01:06:49) Handling non-human entities (01:09:40) Triggering the psychological immune system (01:14:06) Counter-rule science (01:17:07) The approach of the Platonic Redditor (01:21:49) An argument for scientific anarchy (01:26:25) All theories have a little bit of gold (01:29:18) Does the buck stop anywhere? (01:35:45) All models suck, but I want to believe (01:41:39) Searching for the needle in the hay (01:47:26) Closing thoughts #sciencepodcast #longformpodcast #ScientificAnarchy, #PaulFeyerabend, #AgainstMethod, #PhilosophyOfScience, #ExploringTheories, #UncomfortableTruths, #ScientificRevolution, #ScientificDebate, #FarOutTheories, #ChallengingNorms, #SciencePhilosophy, #InnovativeIdeas, #BreakthroughScience, #ScientificMethod, #CriticalThinking, #AlternativeScience, #RevolutionaryThoughts, #NewPerspectives, #ScienceAndPhilosophy, #HistoryOfScience Check our short-films channel, @DemystifySci: https://www.youtube.com/c/DemystifyingScience AND our material science investigations of atomics, @MaterialAtomics https://www.youtube.com/@MaterialAtomics Join our mailing list https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities. - Blog: http://DemystifySci.com/blog - RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss - Donate: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD - Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySci MUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671