Scientific Literacy And Democracy | Johannes Vogel | Escaped Sapiens # 59

This conversation is about democracy and scientific literacy. In 2023 Germany shut down the last of its nuclear plants, and is now bringing back several mothballed coal plants to keep the lights on over winter. Was this a smart decision given the scientific consensus that we need to cut carbon emissions? Similar questions can be asked about the banning of GMO crops, or government handling of Covid. More and more, the decisions being made in western democracies have a scientific basis. Can our democracies thrive (or even survive) without a well informed, engaged, and scientifically literate population?
In this conversation I speak with Johannes Vogel, who is the Director General of the Natural Science Museum in Berlin, and a Professor of Biodiversity and Public Science at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. We discuss the role of museums in society, the unglamorous side of science, open and citizen science, scientific spending, ownership of museum items, the war in Ukraine, preserving museum specimens, the effectiveness of political protest and marches, scientists as politicians, AI and misinformation, and much more.
►For more information about Johannes work:
www.museumfuernaturkunde.berl...
These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun Foundation (www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests. This episode focuses on the sustainability of western democracies in the face of anti-scientific sentiment.
0:00 - Introduction
1:38 - Why is open science important for liberal democracies?
8:33 - Unglamorous science.
14:55 - Should the public determine which science is funded?
20:08 - Which science should be funded?
33:55 - How do you insure priceless objects.
42:00 - Stolen Museum artifacts.
50:10 - Ethnicity and nationality.
53:55 - 30,000,000 objects.
1:03:20 - Favorite items in collection.
1:09:25 - Assistance to Ukraine.
1:14:25 - The Museum is Apolitical.
1:24:10 - Destructive investigations.
1:26:30 - Treasure and expenses.
1:29:50 - Entrance fees to museums.
1:37:40 - Items that are impossible to display.
1:49:50 - The future.
1:47:30 - Are political protest and marches effective?
1:49:50 - What is the value of a museum.
1:56:50 - Do Scientists make good politicians.
1:59:00 - AI and misinformation.
2:04:05 - A new path to science funding.
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[@martinlawrence8427]

Great to hear that Johannes is still carrying the torch of engagement between scientists and the public, and also see that he still rocks the best moustache in the scientific world!

[@rthegle4432]

Wow, this podcast touches on very interesting points that are not being noticed by the majority of other scientific podcasts, keep up the amazing work 👏🏼❤️