Shawn Otto—producer of the U.S. presidential science debates and author of the award-winning book The war on science: Who's waging it, why it matters, and what we can do about it—was the invited guest speaker for IU Biology's Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior seminar on Friday, February 12, 2021, on Zoom. Otto talked about why millions of Americans have stopped believing in facts and what it means for democracy.
A recording of his informative presentation can be viewed on IU Kaltura.
The many Indiana University co-sponsors who—together with the Department of Biology Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior Graduate Program made this event possible—are Integrated Program in the Environment, O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Environmental Resilience Institute, Media School, Department of Geography, and Concerned Scientists at IU.
Seminar abstract: Millions of Americans believe, despite the evidence, that vaccines cause autism and that cell phones cause brain cancer—and that these things are being covered up. Millions of others believe, despite the evidence, that President Trump won re-election, that COVID-19 and climate change are hoaxes, and that Trump is engaged in an Elders-of-Zion-type battle against a secret cabal of top Democratic Party pedophiles. What is causing so many people on either side of the political spectrum to deny science and evidence in favor of tribalism and bizarre conspiracy theories, what threats does this pose, and what can be done to stop it?
Shawn Otto, producer of the U.S. presidential science debates and author of the award-winning book The War on Science, will discuss the four fronts in the War on Science: the ideological war, the identity politics war, the international war, and the industrial war on science, what they mean for democracy and the future of the United States, and what can be done to end the war.
The College of Arts