Decoding the Gurus
The Rise of the Science Populists with Sam Gregson and Tim Henke
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Show notes
In this interview episode, we are joined by physicists Sam Gregson (Bad Boy of Science YouTube channel) and Tim Henke to examine the rise of science populism: a style of science communication that borrows the tactics of political populism, including grievance narratives, institutional distrust, and conspiratorial framing, while presenting its advocates as lone truth-tellers battling a corrupt academic elite.
We discuss how DTG favourites like Sabine Hossenfelder and Eric Weinstein, as well as fresh new faces Brian Keating and Avi Loeb, deploy selective truths about physics to fuel self-aggrandising, anti-expert narratives.
Along the way, we also cover stuff like why “physics hasn’t progressed in 50 years”, cranks are useful props for populist arguments, and the strange obsession with Nobel Prizes.
If you are interested in guru dynamics, science communication, and physics crankery, this might be an episode for you.
Links
Bad Boy of Science (Sam Gregson)
Tim's Profile Website
Bad Boy of Science – The Rise of Physics Populisers
Theories of Everything (Kurt Jaimungal)
Losing the Nobel Prize – Brian Keating
Into the Impossible (Brian Keating)
Sabine Hossenfelder’s YouTube Channel
The Portal (Eric Weinstein)
The Galileo Project (Avi Loeb)
Sean Carroll – Mindscape / Preposterous Universe
Not Even Wrong (Peter Woit)
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