Shermer: Why trust science? I love a book with a a. My rule is the title or sub title should tell the reader what the book is about. We've always been sceptical of si, or psychic power, e s p, that sort of thing. The believers are always saying, ok, come on, what's it going to take to convince you nd i said, well, you know, a professional study by a real scientist,. published in a per review journal. And so maybe that's an introduction to just a simple thing like it. Here's our method. If you pass it, you're in the club and you get to count what you believe in
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.