Blue Dot: What is this thing called Science, anyway? (4/4/2020)

Dave visits with James Zimring, author of the new book What Science is and How it Really Works. In a wide ranging conversation that covers everything from the methodology of science, news flash, there really isn’t a “Scientific Method” like the version you saw in your high school biology textbook, to some of the most important social issues of our day like the anti vaccination movement and climate change science denial.

Understanding the logical and philosophical underpinnings of science is the key to making rational decisions in an increasingly complex and endangered world. As Carl Sagan so eloquently put it:

Science works. It is not perfect. It can be misused. It is only a tool. But it is by far the best tool we have, self-correcting, ongoing, applicable to everything. It has two rules. First: there are no sacred truths; all assumptions must be critically examined; arguments from authority are worthless. Second: whatever is inconsistent with the facts must be discarded or revised.

In the spirit of Sagan, Dave and Jim Zimring take us all on a mindful journey through the way of thinking we call science.