I will be giving a talk about the ideas in my book to the Science Cafe in Cleveland on Monday, October 12 from 7:00 – 8:00 pm (US Eastern time).
The first part will dispel some common myths about science by asserting that there is no such thing as the scientific method; that scientific ‘facts’ are not unchanging objective statements about nature but are theory-dependent judgments; that scientific theories are not falsifiable; that there is no reason to think that scientific theories are true or even approaching truth; that no amount of data can prove the truth of a theory; and that theories cannot even be assigned probabilities of being true.
The second part will describe how science can be so successful despite these seeming weaknesses. I will argue that this more sophisticated understanding of science will provide scientists, policymakers, and members of the general public with the tools they need to make sound, rational decisions in all areas of their lives and to better counter those opposed to specific conclusions of the scientific community–nonbelievers in vaccinations, climate change, and evolution for example–who have been able to exploit the weaknesses in the current folklore about the nature of science to advance their anti-science agendas.
The format of these highly interactive talks is that the speaker presents for just 20-30 minutes and the rest of the time is taken up with Q/A with the audience. These sessions start promptly.
You can join the Zoom session from PC, Mac, Linus, iOS or Android:
https://cwru.zoom.us/j/95328382598?pwd=V01GaEhvRGFWTzE4dU02WEhZcU0yQT09
Meeting ID: 953 2838 2598
Password: 031709
You can sign in starting at 6:45 pm but will be asked to remain in a waiting area until the session actually begins.
I look forward to it!
I’d like to attend.
May I keep my video turned off if I ask a question? (I live alone, and you probably don’t want to see the kind of housekeeper that I am.)
billseymour,
Yes, you can. Many people have their video turned off. Everyone’s microphone is muted except for the speaker and the moderator and to ask a question, you have to do it via the chat feature and the moderator for the session will ask the question on your behalf.
That’s so awesome! It’ll be 9:00 in the morning here on Tuesday, so I can start my day with some Mano. I’ve saved the date as the kids say. 🙂
That was a really good talk Mano, thanks for letting us know.
Glad you enjoyed it, silentbob.
My favourite was when the question was asked, “Is there absolute truth?”, and your answer was, “No”.
And there followed a long pause until the moderator realised that was the end of the answer. 🙂
silentbob @#7,
I tried to keep my answers brief so as to accommodate as many questions as possible. I did not think that that answer required any elaboration since much of my talk dealt with discounting the idea of truth.