Dr. Robert Proctor, a Stanford professor of the History of Science, dives deep into agnotology, the study of ignorance. He explores how industries like tobacco and sugar manipulate public perception through misinformation. The conversation spans climate change denial, racial injustice, and the psychology of the Flat Earther movement. Proctor emphasizes the importance of empathy and understanding in navigating difficult conversations and dismantling systems of willful ignorance, urging listeners to challenge misconceptions and promote informed dialogue.
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insights INSIGHT
Agnotology Defined
Agnotology is the study of ignorance, exploring why we don't know things.
Dr. Robert Proctor coined the term, highlighting the deliberate creation of ignorance.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Origin of Agnotology
Dr. Proctor's childhood curiosity about illusions and misinformation sparked his interest in ignorance.
His Harvard professors dismissed his interest in those who don't believe in evolution, further fueling his research.
insights INSIGHT
Agnotology vs. Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of education, good or bad, while agnotology is more subtle.
Agnotology involves creating doubt and uncertainty, as seen with the tobacco industry's tactics.
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In 'Merchants of Doubt', historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway expose how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists, with deep connections in politics and industry, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades. The book highlights how the same individuals repeatedly denied the truth of studies linking smoking to lung cancer, coal smoke to acid rain, and CFCs to the ozone hole, all while promoting an ideology of free market fundamentalism aided by a compliant media.
The Uninhabitable Earth
Life After Warming
David Wallace-Wells
The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming is a comprehensive and alarming account of the potential impacts of climate change. The book, inspired by Wallace-Wells' 2017 New York Magazine article of the same name, explores various scenarios of Earth's future under different temperature increases. It discusses a wide range of climate-related disasters, including rising sea levels, extreme weather events, extinctions, disease outbreaks, fires, droughts, famines, and increased geopolitical conflict. While the book focuses on the dire consequences rather than solutions, it acknowledges that measures such as a carbon tax, changes in agricultural practices, and investments in green energy and carbon capture could mitigate some of the worst effects. The book is praised for its urgent and detailed portrayal of climate change but has also been criticized for its alarmist tone and lack of concrete solutions[1][2][4].
Golden Holocaust
Origins of the Cigarette Catastrophe and the Case for Abolition
Robert Proctor
In 'Golden Holocaust', Robert N. Proctor draws on formerly-secret industry documents to explore how the cigarette became the most widely-used drug on the planet. He details the tobacco industry's conspiracy to block the recognition of tobacco-cancer hazards and their manipulation of scientists, politicians, and the public. The book makes a strong case for the abolition of cigarette manufacture and sale, highlighting the tragic global epidemic caused by the industry's actions.
Agnotology
The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance
Robert Proctor
Londa Schiebinger
This book delves into the study of ignorance, examining how and why various forms of knowledge do not come to be, disappear, or become invisible. It covers a range of topics including global climate change, military secrecy, environmental denialism, and racial ignorance. The essays highlight that ignorance is often more than just an absence of knowledge; it can be the outcome of cultural and political struggles. The volume emerged from workshops held at Pennsylvania State University and Stanford University, aiming to theorize and understand the multiple dimensions of power involved in practices of knowing and ignorance[3][4][5].
Science and the Production of Ignorance: When the Quest for Knowledge Is Thwarted
Science and the Production of Ignorance: When the Quest for Knowledge Is Thwarted
Martin Carrier
Janet Kourany
This book explores the concept of agnotology, the study of ignorance, and how science can be a source of ignorance. It delves into various forms of scientific ignorance, including active construction of ignorance through biased design and interpretation of experiments, virtuous ignorance where certain research is avoided, and passive construction of ignorance as an unintended by-product of scientific research. The book features contributions from leading historians and philosophers of science and includes discussions on topics such as climate change denial, the tobacco industry's manipulation of health risks, and the impact of commercial and political interests on scientific knowledge.
Science and the Production of Ignorance
When the Quest for Knowledge Is Thwarted
Martin Carrier
Janet A. Kourany
This book delves into the complex relationship between the quest for scientific knowledge and the production of ignorance. It examines various forms of ignorance, including harmful active constructions such as obscurantism and anti-epistemic strategies, as well as virtuous active constructions. The authors discuss case studies on topics like the MMR vaccine debate, climate change, GMOs, and gender biases in science and technology. The book proposes specific responses and methods to improve knowledge production and mitigate the effects of ignorance[3][4].
The Shock of the Anthropocene
The Earth, History and Us
Jean-Baptiste Fressoz
Christophe Bonneuil
This book proposes a detailed, data-driven critique of the Anthropocene, refuting the view of a human species unaware of its environmental impact. It combines elements of environmental history, history of science and technology, and economic and intellectual history to explore how the planet has entered a new epoch characterized by a geological revolution of human origin. The authors dissect the concept of the Anthropocene, challenging accepted ideas about environmental awareness, industrialism, consumerism, energy transitions, and the role of the military in environmental destruction. The book is divided into three parts, introducing scientific data, breaking down hegemonic narratives, and presenting histories that expose the complexities of the Anthropocene concept.
Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science
Martin Gardner
This book, originally published in 1952 as 'In the Name of Science: An Entertaining Survey of the High Priests and Cultists of Science, Past and Present,' is a survey of what Martin Gardner describes as pseudosciences and cult beliefs. It became a founding document in the scientific skepticism movement. Gardner debunks various fads and fallacies, discussing topics such as hollow-earth theories, Velikovsky's wandering planets, Wilhelm Reich's orgone energy, and L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics. He identifies common characteristics of pseudoscientists, including isolation from the scientific community and paranoid tendencies. The book provides a fair and reasoned appraisal of eccentric theories, highlighting their scientific, philosophic, and sociological-psychological implications.
Yes, there is an -ology for that. And yes, we’re airing this episode -– with a ton of 2025 updates -– because it’s never felt more relevant. 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 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.
Ologies with Alie Ward 
