Book 1 Episode 2: "Party and Science and Bullsh*t"

What is science? Is everything, in the end, explainable by science? What makes a practice scientific? What makes one nonscientific? Do rhetoric and debate have a place in science? Do values?

In our second episode, “Party and Science and Bullsh*t,” we try our hands at answering these questions, along with philosopher of science John Dupré, astrophysicist and author Marcelo Gleiser, New York Times science columnist Carl Zimmer, and Katherine Carpenter of the Cultural Cognition project at Yale.

This episode is dense with opinion from the guests, and from Aaron. So in the interest of transparency , we're publishing the fully unedited conversations between Aaron and the guests along with the produced show. Please forgive the fact that it takes Aaron almost as long to ask questions as it does for the guests to answer them.

Here are some links to people referenced, featured, or heard in this episode:

Thomas Dolby: “She Blinded Me With Science”

Bill Nye the Science Guy (Television Show)

Star Talk Radio with Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Seth Andrews Interviews Richard Dawkins

Carl Sagan's “Pale Blue Dot” speech

J. Robert Oppenheimer: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Deciderization 2007 – A Special Report (Introduction to the Best American Essays 2007) by David Foster Wallace

Ben Goldacre: Battling bad science | TED Talk

Don't Dumb Me Down (Science | The Guardian) by Ben Goldacre

Monopolizing Knowledge, by Ian Hutchinson

Richard Dawkins

Sam Harris

Steven Pinker

Daniel Dennett

The Disorder of Things: Metaphysical Foundations of the Disunity of Science by John Dupré

Carl Zimmer

New York Times “Matter” Column

Marcelo Gleiser

13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR