It takes a village to trust science
Details
How do we really know that our vaccines don't have microchips? How do we know that GMOs won't change our DNA? Just because big brother said "trust me bro"?
Excessive scientific distrust is harmful, but we are also often powerless in front of it. One can only call flat-earthers "stupid" so many times. Is it possible that we had the wrong science communication approach this whole time?
In this session, we will be reading and discussing Prof Gabrile Contessa's paper on Philosophy of Science, "It Takes a Village to Trust Science: Towards a (Thoroughly) Social Approach to Public Trust in Science". Read the paper or the summary provided in advance if you have time, or we can read the summary together in the first 20min. The rest of the session will be reserved for structured and guided discussion. All we ask is that you bring an open and curious mind.
Full paper (estimated reading time = 50-90 min): https://classes.matthewjbrown.net/teaching-files/hps/contessa-trust.pdf
Summary (estimated reading time: 5 min): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fnznzzUvDw9ZZUGdjI74wknKT7B74IeUfVJrwyftUbU/edit?usp=sharing