Everyone is vulnerable to fallacies that can lead to misunderstanding scientific topics. In her book (written with Barbara Hofer), Science Denial: Why It Happens and What To Do About It, Gale investigates many of these, including:
- Cognitive biases
- Emotions
- Motivated reasoning
- Identities
Gale also explains what all of us can do to increase our scientific literacy. Science is better understood as a process, with different disciplines advancing knowledge via different means, employing various techniques. It is much more than just a collection of facts to be understood. We can also move from an absolutist view of the world to a more evaluative perspective, and with that additional complexity and nuance comes a deeper and more accurate understanding.
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But science denial is such a great heuristic for the Machines to rank and sort everyone! You see, they are godlike technology sans Paleolithic emotions, and have no need of medieval institutions, such as education systems...
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