Plato's Cave: Thinking about Climate Change - Melissa Lane

Watch the Q&A session here: • Q&A: Plato's Cave: Thi...
In The Republic, Plato explores the predicament of the Cave: a passive citizen body, a conniving and self-interested set of sophistic opinion-formers and demagogic political leaders, a systematically misleading and damaging order of political structures and common beliefs and appetites.
Does this have lessons for tackling climate change? In clinging to our current way of life and its fossil-fuel infrastructure, are we trapping ourselves in a modern version of Plato’s Cave-and if so, how might we escape?
This lecture was recorded by Melissa Lane on 13th June 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
Melissa is Gresham Professor of Rhetoric.
Melissa is an author, lecturer and broadcaster who has received major awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship and Lucy Shoe Meritt Residency in Classical Studies at the American Academy of Rome.
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website:
www.gresham.ac...
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[@Fefotwo-ps6hd]

The most important element of science communication rests in the 3rd of her 5 moral codes, Audience Relevance. If you talk down to an audience, you are likely to be perceived as lying and will lose the trust of the audience and by extension any real chance of the science being believed by the casual non scientific person. Science has a way for example of talking down to farmers. Farmers are on the land everyday and have been disrespected for their observations about the land since the farmer got on the land by government scientists. It's a bit "rich" to have those same scientists show up with news about climate change. One farmer I delivered a tractor for, vented to me about the ground stone artifacts his cattle were eroding out of his fields. The advice he got from his regions science extension was to either move the cattle off the ground or cover the area with native soil to raise the elevation and reseed the pasture. What the farmer wanted was a lidar image of his farm to see how extensive the artifacts extended and what long term viability/disturbance planning he needed to make. The process for him was top down, lacked the intellectual conversation he expected, and in his words was dismissive like his questions were an irritation to the scientists. I got the feeling that that fellow and probably his fellow farmers would be rolling their eyes at anything coming from scientists they don't personally know (someone from their community). It's sad the scientists have to be taught this element about human nature. The kind of people scientist need in their corner tend to be hard independent people. Those types in my experience don't take to being disrespected very well. Scientists would do better remembering that most of those who work the land realize you could not do what they do which keeps the rest in their comforts. When we honor them with straight honest plain conversations without withholding what you are uncertain about, they are more likely to accept you ideas based on being level with them. They are often better versed in more subjects and appreciate the finality of things better than 90% of scientists. This farmer I cite, slaughters 300 head of cattle a year, you don't think he understands death include killing our plant? He may not use your language, but he understands the process of killing a plant/land and water better than any scientists I ever met or listened to...

[@stephanietrapasso1447]

Excellent presentation. The Republic should be required reading for all.