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. To contribute to The Body of Evidence, go to our Patreon page at: http://www.patreon.com/thebodyofevidence/. Patrons get a bonus show on Patreon called “Digressions”! Check it out! 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