In Dr. Henry Bauer’s second appearance on this podcast he discusses philosophical problems with science with David Crowe and Terry Michael. This includes the process of science, resistance to change and other scientific failures.
Dr. Bauer discusses some of the misconceptions about science, such as the non-existence of the scientific method, and the realization that scientists are not a special super-race of humans, but just ordinary people often motivated by mundane concerns (often financial). One of the scientific errors discussed was the disease SMON that was initially blamed on a virus but turned out to be caused by a pharmaceutical prescribed for the very symptoms of the condition. David mentioned the book Longitude that describes the story of British clock maker John Harrison who solve the problem of accurately calculating longitude but was prevented from gaining the prize for this discovery by the scientific elite of the time.
Dr. Bauer mentions an Institute of Medicine report on surrogate markers that notes that most are unproven but, despite this, they continue to be used routinely to define people as ‘unhealthy’ despite a lack of symptoms.
Dr. Bauer was a university chemistry professor and researcher who published several books on chemistry. Later on his attention turned to more fundamental issues of science, an area in which he has published several books and many articles.
The episode started off with David mentioning a sardonic review of Seth Kalichman’s book on “Denialists” and Terry Michael describing a crazy new theory being promoted in a book by Washington Post writer Craig Timberg.