How Everyone Became an "Expert"
Post-Truth follows the history of denying scientific evidence from the refusal to tell the truth that smoking causes cancer, through false information on vaccines, evolution, and climate change. The role of the media in casting doubt and creating confusion under the guise of balanced news becomes clear. By allowing equal time and arguments for the 2% of doubt and the 98% of facts, the public becomes unsure of what to believe. This undermines the authorities, the scientists, and allows anyone to be an expert. Cognitive bias and the amplifying role of social media make us all more vulnerable to modern day propaganda. This book goes a long way to understanding the origin of the social, scientific, and political ramifications of "alternate facts". Anyone truly interested in how we have come to our current place in history needs to read this book.
The author, Lee McIntyre is is a true expert, a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and an Instructor in Ethics at Harvard Extension School. With a PhD in philosophy, and has taught at Boston University, Colgate, Tufts and Simmons. He also served as the Executive Director of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University. This book is one example of his ability to relate the complex to understandable terms, a skill that contributed to Lee receiving honors for distinguished teaching.
Lee was interviewed by PBS and Access Framingham TV, where he clarifies the tenets of this book.
PBS https://www.pbs.org/wnet/amanpour-and-company/video/lee-mcintyre-on-post-truth-in-todays-society and
Access Framingham TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O13_v4KTBA4&feature=youtu.be
This book can be purchased from MIT Press, https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/post-truth ,
Bookshop https://bookshop.org/books/post-truth/9780262535045?aid=17357&listref=society-and-science ,
Barnes and Noble, and other favorite bookstores.
It is also available on Amazon.
