It’s sad but true that there’s a worldwide backlash against science, facts and evidence.

Misha Ketchell from The Conversation was on 3RRR today, explaining among other things the ‘false equivalence’ line of thinking, which is how we get into this mess of discrediting researchers across many fields. The voice of a clueless but confidently opinionated blogger can now be perceived as equivalent to a researcher with 30 years experience and all the data. Kind of disheartening.

This started from a question about “Fake News”, and Misha made the strong point that fake news is actually a specific thing that happened during the US elections when a group of people spread misinformation for the purposes of making money. (The Saturday Paper produced a great article outlining this phenomenon.)

The Conversation has become one of my preferred outlets of information, because they’re connecting the knowledge of academia with the world of journalism. Academics must find a way to make their research accessible, while the public gains awareness of knowledge that was previously hidden behind the academic moat.

Great interview: here’s the “listen-on-demand” link from RRR, interview with Misha starts round the 10 minute mark, until roughly 30min: http://ondemand.rrr.org.au/player/128/201710231200 

Image credit: Alfred Edward Chalon, wikimedia