Brown Bag Lunch to explore science and alternative facts

Three faculty members in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the State University of New York at Fredonia will share the podium to explore “Science in the Age of Alternative Facts” in the Brown Bag lunch series on Wednesday, Dec. 5, at noon in Williams Center Room S204.

Representing their respective disciplines will be Dr. Scott Medler of the Department of Biology; Dr. Michael Dunham of the Department of Physics and Dr. Joseph McFall of the Department of Psychology.

In his remarks, Dr. Dunham will explore how scientific results can be distinguished from pseudoscience. Even if they can be distinguished, how can scientific results be trusted given the rapid pace many fields of modern science evolve and overturn previous results? He asked, “Is there such a thing as a ‘scientific truth’?”

Dunham will address how to answer these questions, and how to determine when and if results that sound scientific can in fact be trusted.

Sources of knowing and the pitfalls of bounded rationality will be the focus of Dr. McFall’s comments.

“How we come to believe what we believe may seem straightforward at times, but the process is complicated by a myriad of interconnected factors. Incoming information and previous knowledge and beliefs must be reconciled as a person monitors their goals, desires, emotions, contexts and influence of others,” McFall explained. Cognitive conflicts can arise among new beliefs, which can lead to biases, reasoning errors and irrationality.

McFall will present a couple models for understanding the interconnectedness of these factors and ways to overcome common pitfalls of reasoning.

Dr. Medler will introduce the topic from the standpoint of society’s understanding of what science is or what scientists do. His presentation will also focus on a few widely recognized examples of scientific misunderstanding, such as climate change, evolution, vaccinations and genetically modified foods.

Brown Bag programs are free and open to the public.