Why the sociable character of scientific knowledge helps it be trustworthy

Perform doctors really know what they are discussing when they reveal vaccines are safe and sound? Should we consider climate experts at their term if they warn us about the perils of global warming? Why should we trust technology when our very own politicians don’t? In this landmark book, Naomi Oreskes gives a striking and compelling defense of technology, revealing why the public character of medical knowledge is its ideal strength-and the about Why Trust Technology? greatest reason we can trust it.

Tracing the annals and philosophy of science in the late nineteenth century to today, Oreskes clarifies that, contrary to public opinion, there is absolutely no single scientific method. Rather, the trustworthiness of technological claims derives through the social process by which they are rigorously vetted. This process is not perfect-nothing ever is usually when humans are involved-but she draws vital lessons from cases where scientists got it wrong. Oreskes displays how consensus is definitely a crucial sign of whenever a technological matter continues to be settled, so when the knowledge produced may very well be trustworthy.

Based on the Tanner Lectures on Human Prices at Princeton University, this timely and provocative book features critical responses by climate experts Ottmar Edenhofer and Martin Kowarsch, political scientist Jon Krosnick, philosopher of science Marc Lange, and science historian Susan Lindee, as well as a foreword by politics theorist Stephen Macedo.