How to Become a Passionate Advocate for Science
Science needs a PR team! Science denial isn’t people who hate science– it’s people who don’t understand it. If we want to benefit from having beliefs that best reflect the reality that we live in, then we need to become passionate advocates for science. Science advocacy needs passion because emotional arguments are more compelling than purely logical ones. But, when advocates become passionate without understanding science the results are just as negative.
At core, science is the idea that beliefs should be proportionate to evidence. Building a worldwide pro-science movement that is based on sound science will require stepping away from memes, social media, and outrage. It requires a return to the core philosophical principles that form that basis for all science. Presented with passion and insight, these ideas have the power to help us build a world where beliefs about the world reflect reality and pressing issues like climate change, agricultural biotechnology, and even city planning are addressed in the best possible way.
About Jonathan
Jonathan Berman is a postdoctoral fellow at UT Health San Antonio, where he studies the molecular origins of hypertension. He received a Ph.D. from SUNY Buffalo in 2015, and a BS from the Rochester Institute of technology in 2009. He was a national co-chair of the March for Science on April 22nd, 2017, host of the unveiling of the world’s largest periodic table of the elements, a standup comedian for nine years, a rickshaw driver, pizza cook, adjunct, and radio host, cable access director, film extra, volunteer block walker, carpet remover, and photographer. He has taught critical thinking, genetics of hypertension, kidney endocrinology, human development, and cognitive biases. He believes that building academic environments that foster passionate advocacy for science is key to fighting science denial.
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