Dr. Henry Bauer explains how market forces have led to the corruption of science. 

photo by: Skeptiko

Kyrie Irving, is an amazing basketball player, who made quite a stir earlier this year regarding the flat earth theory.

Ben Nichols, this is a shout out to you. He came to us with this super conspiracy theory, he said, “The earth is flat.”

No, the earth is flat.

Oh here we go.

No the earth is flat.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s no way a bright, Duke University educated guy like Kyrie Irving should fall for something anyone can debunk with the United Airlines timetable and some common sense. But take a minute to understand how he formed his opinion.

Hopefully they’ll either back my belief or they’ll throw it in the water. I think it’s interesting for people to find out on their own.

You’ve seen pictures of the planet thought right? Like it’s a circle?

I’ve seen a lot of things that have been… and my educational system has said that was real and it turned out to be completely fake. I don’t mind, I don’t mind going against the grain in terms of my thoughts and what I believe.

And with that, you might begin to understand why today’s guest, Dr. Henry Bauer, might cut Kyrie some slack.

The popular view of science has not caught up with the present situation where people should be as skeptical about what official science says as they are about what the experts say about any other aspect of society.

Now, like I said, the Kyrie Irving flat earth thing caused quite a stir.

Did you know that the earth is flat?

Kyrie Irving is unfortunately helping to spread it, the conspiracy…

Here’s a meme that was played over and over again by the mainstream science media.

Middle school teacher, Nick Gurol, said that his students, thanks to Irving, staunchly believe that the world is flat. Gurol remarked, “And immediately I started to panic. How have I failed these kids so badly…?”

Yes, panic indeed. How else should a science teacher respond to students that don’t just, well, believe everything they’re told.

“It’s definitely hard for me because it feels like science isn’t real to them.” The educator said that he has tried to get the students to understand that the world is indeed round, to no avail. “The influence of Irving was just too strong.”

I did ask Henry about this:

Alex Tsakiris: Because that’s what I think happens, see, I think people have this growing sense that they’re being lied to, manipulated and bullshitted by science, right? And they don’t know quite how to articulate it. So something like ‘flat earth’ comes along and some guy sounds halfway like he knows what he’s talking about and people are like, “You know what, I’m open to hearing it.”

Henry Bauer: We have to be skeptical about what scientists say, because what scientists tell you is not necessarily the same as what science can tell you.

Stick around, my interview with Dr. Henry Bauer (author of Science Is Not What You Think: How It Has Changed, Why We Can’t Trust It, How It Can Be Fixed ) is up next on Skeptiko.

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