Ep 2: William Briggs - Climate and Covid, How Models Work (or Don’t)

In this week’s episode, statistician William Briggs shares his perspectives on the state of science and its recent challenges, particularly in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change. This talk was originally recorded in front of a live audience on June 3, 2023, at The Castro Ranch in Aromas California.

Briggs emphasizes that while not all science is broken, there has been an alarming trend of broken science that demands our attention. He clarifies that the intention is not to criticize science as a whole, but rather to address the increase in flawed methodologies and the undue prominence given to such flawed and broken science.

Drawing from his expertise, Briggs highlights the implications of following a broken philosophy of science. Briggs asks: Why did Covid-19 trigger such an overwhelming global panic? What led to the sudden necessity of following "the science" without question?  Drawing on historical examples like the Asian flu pandemic of 1957-58 and the Hong Kong Flu pandemic a decade later, he questions the disparity in reactions between those crises and the panic that ensued with Covid-19.

Throughout the episode, Briggs delves into the consequences of flawed scientific tools and explores the role of models as  tools of predictability that do not necessarily predict anything accurately.

We’ve worked hard to create show notes, which include a transcript of the episode with links out to all mentioned references allowing listeners to continue learning about Broken Science. A link to this week’s show notes can be found on BrokenScience.org/podcasts