The Body of Evidence Interview - Alan Levinovitz on Expertise
Chris and Jonathan discuss expertise and intellectual humility with Alan Levinovitz, a professor of religion, frequent guest on A User’s Guide to Cheating Death, and the author of the book Natural. As facts, arguments, and content flood our attention, how can we know whom to trust when our health is at stake? This month’s drinking game revolves around the word “adjudicate.” Drink responsibly!
1:11 The Anthony Fauci lie
2:14 A theologian on expertise
9:12 Tribalism
16:04 John Ioannidis and COVID-19
21:34 ScientificConsensus.com
26:09 The onslaught of contrarian content
32:30 People should be suspicious of sexiness in their epidemiology
35:25 When your job is to uncover hidden truths….
39:30 A looming epistemic crisis and how to avoid it
49:16 On intellectual humility
57:33 Twitter hiatus
* Theme music: “Fall of the Ocean Queen“ by Joseph Hackl.
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Links:
1) Alan Levinovitz on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlanLevinovitz
2) Alan Levinovitz’s book, Natural: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/50128614
3) Thorpe’s Science editorial on the value of debating science in the public arena: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6526/213/tab-pdf