The Social Construction of Science

The bodies of scientific knowledge we humans have accumulated over centuries and our scientific practices do not exist independently, but are highly influenced by history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, economics, and politics. Two examples of this social construction are laid out here: the efforts to understand, diagnose, and treat cancer (frequently referred to as “The War on Cancer”), and our global challenge to stop the progression of the ‘Anthropocene’, a new geological age arising from cumulative human actions that have the unintended consequence of remaking the Earth’s geochemistry and causing the decline of its biosphere. We have solutions for these problems, but will we have the will to change and adopt these on a large scale?
Dr Michael Bachmman - BioRoom Presentation, December 8, 2020