Episode 16: Expert Opinion - Michael Shermer

This Week In Free Speech with Jacob Mchangama

In this episode, we join up with historian of science Dr. Michael Shermer to investigate the cross-fertilization between science and free speech.

Michael Shermer is a prolific writer on science, philosophy and morality and has appeared in numerous documentaries, talk shows, and TED talks.

Among the topics discussed are:

• When did scientific freedom make its decisive breakthrough?
• What comes first: Science or free inquiry?
• How did both Islam and Christianity affect science?
• What is the relationship between science and free speech as such?
• Can science be used to suppress free speech?
• How did Benjamin Franklin infuse the Declaration of Independence with Newtonian science?

Dr. Michael Shermer is a Historian of science, Presidential Fellow at Chapman University, founder of Skeptic Society and the Skeptic Magazine and author of Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality & Utopia, Why People Believe Weird Things, Why Darwin Matters, The Science of Good and Evil, and The Moral Arc.

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