How to combat uncertainty in a post-truth world

These days we’re bombarded with information and claims that purport to explain almost every conceivable aspect of our lives, be it down to the bold assertions made by policymakers, the confidence of anonymity afforded by social media or just our natural human inclination to be fooled by a well-spoken know-it-all. But exactly who are the people making these claims, how do they reach their conclusions, and really, can anyone ever actually be certain about anything? In this episode, we catch up with the statistician, epidemiologist and author Adam Kucharski to take about his latest book Proof, The Uncertain Science of Uncertainty. He tells us how Abraham Lincoln’s background as lawyer led him to study the nature of proof beyond reasonable doubt and how it helped him to win his presidency, how picking holes in previous logical thinking enabled Albert Einstein to discover some of his greatest theories, and what the COVID pandemic taught us all about the value of scientific rigour and evidence-based conclusions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices