61. The Folly of Following the Science w/ Jacob Hale Russell

Science can tell us something about the risks of Covid-19 but it can’t tell us how much risk to accept, or how much to sacrifice in the name of mitigation. Too often politicians used the phrase “Follow the Science” to silence much-needed public debate and create the illusion that science allowed no other alternatives to the policies they wanted to impose.

Rutgers University law professor Jacob Hale Russell has studied populism and the public’s attitude toward expertise. He questions the stereotype of populists as those who dislike knowledge and hate science. Instead, their grievances are against use of science to deflect legitimate concerns and questions. We talk about how our policies – especially universal making - came about and why follow the science may be a problematic policy slogan but it’s still a pretty good name for a podcast.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!