The Rational View podcast with Dr. Al Scott

A Roadmap to Nowhere with Mike Conley and Tim Maloney

The scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change is clear. The IPCC has given humanity an aggressive timeline to mitigate the worst damage. The question about what to do in response to the crisis is a contentious issue. To achieve net zero CO2 emissions requires that we aggressively pursue our most potent sources of clean energy. The IPCC pathways to net zero recognize the need for a significant nuclear contribution, however a plucky group of renewable energy NGOs led by Stanford professor Mark Jacobson have put forth a daring roadmap to not only eliminate fossil fuels, but to do it with one hand tied behind our backs. They propose a complex and daring venture to eliminate both fossil fuels and nuclear power.
My guests are co-authors of “Roadmap to Nowhere” a detailed dissection of infamous Stanford professor Mark Jacobson’s “50-state roadmap to 2050” wherein he argues that fossil fuels can be completely replaced by 'renewable' energy sources.
Mike Conley is a writer of fiction and non-fiction, living in Los Angeles. A life-long nerd, he’s been interested in nuclear issues since 2010.
Tim Maloney is a retired community college professor of electronics and machine control, an author and an inventor.
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#therationalview #podcast #science #evidencebased #renewableenergy #nuclearenergy #greenenergy #netzeroneedsnuclear #nuclearreactor #atomicenergy #cleanenergy #energy #electricity #gogreen #sustainability #environment #renewable 

Recycling Nuclear Waste with Tom Dolan and Steve Curtis

Research into recycling of nuclear fuel was shut down by Jimmy Carter’s administration in the anti-nuclear movement of the ‘70’s. The work has largely remained sidelined due to the fact that Uranium is abundant and cheap and the spent fuel is easy to store safely on-site.  Opponents of nuclear power, however, have latched on to the long lifetime of hazardous radioactive waste as a reason to oppose new nuclear developments.  In light of this situation, and the amount of Uranium we will need in coming years to displace fossil fuels, it makes sense to revisit recycling.
Mr. Thomas Dolan has an aviation degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and is a FAA Commercially instrument rated pilot. Mr. Dolan joined Nassau County Police Department (NCPD) in 1986 and accumulated over 25 years experience in law enforcement. Mr. Dolan formed and was the CEO of Homeland Security Aviation & Maritime Services, Inc. (HSA) in 2002 wtih a group of technical experts, addressing idenfitication and measurement of radiation sources in response to the needs of the emergency response community. Tom is a current member of American Nuclear Society.
Steven Curtis holds a masters degree in Health Physics and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE), both from UNLV. He worked on the Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST) and radiation consequence management missions for Department of Energy (DOE)/National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) for 13 years, and was project manager in charge of the Aerial Measuring System (AMSr). Mr. Curtis held Battalion staff and Company Commander Positions as an officer in the Army and Nevada National Guard. He has supported National Security Technologies, LLC, as a consultant in support of the Nevada Test Site. He has worked with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) on several DHS Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) architecture projects. Steve is a current member and past President of the  American Nuclear Society - Nevada Section.
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#therationalview #podcast #nuclearenergy #greenenergy #atomicenergy #nuclearreactors #netzeroneedsnuclear #recycling #nuclearwaste #SMRs 

Kirsty Gogan and Eric Ingersoll on Nuclear Hydrogen

In this episode I welcome the co-founders of TerraPraxis, Kirsty Gogan and Eric Ingersoll. TerraPraxis is a non-profit organisation focused on action for climate and prosperity. They have come up with a new idea that could revolutionize the battle against fossil fuels and carbon emissions. Using the heat and electricity from advanced nuclear reactors allows one to create hydrogen more efficiently than by non-thermal electrolysis. This carbon-free hydrogen can be used to create synthetic fuels and could contribute to reversing the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Kirsty Gogan has more than 15 years’ experience as a senior advisor to Government on climate and energy policy. Kirsty is managing partner of LucidCatalyst, an international consultancy focused on multiplying and accelerating zero carbon technology options available for large-scale, affordable, market-based decarbonization of the global economy. Kirsty chairs the UK Government’s Nuclear Innovation Research and Advisory Board (NIRAB) Cost Reduction Working Group. Kirsty also co-founded Energy for Humanity (EFH), an environmental NGO focused on large scale deep decarbonisation and energy access.
Eric Ingersoll is a strategic advisor and entrepreneur with deep experience in the commercialization of new energy technologies, renewables, energy storage, oil & gas, and nuclear, with a special emphasis on advanced nuclear technologies. Eric develops commercial strategies for advanced energy technologies. Eric co-founded NGO Energy Options Network (EON), a group of technical experts working to accelerate the commercialization and deployment of alternative climate mitigation options. Eric was a member of the renewable energy advisory group of the National Commission on Energy Policy (NCEP), and was honored at the Obama White House as a Champion of Change in Renewable Energy.
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#therationalview #podcast #netzeroneedsnuclear #greenenergy #nuclearenergy #syntheticfuels #hydrogen #greenhydrogen #atomicenergy #nuclearreactors #SMRs

A rational shade of green with Dr. Amita Kuttner

I’ve often found myself wanting to vote Green, knowing the environmental crisis we are facing, however, I've never been able to get past their anti-nuclear policies. In this episode I interview an influential green party member who is willing to consider the evidence for nuclear power. In fact, they were a candidate for the Canadian Green Party leadership.
Dr. Amita Kuttner is co-founder of the Moonlight Institute, a non-profit organization that seeks to create frameworks for an equitable and just future, taking into account the realities of the climate emergency, as well as technology, and decolonization. Amita holds a PhD in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of California, Santa Cruz; their research focused on black holes, wormholes, quantum effects, and the early universe. Amita ran for Canadian Parliament in 2019 and served as Critic for Science and Innovation for the Green Party of Canada from September 2018 to February 2020, bringing forward policy on artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. Amita ran for leadership of the Green Party of Canada in 2020 on a platform of justice, science, and resilience.
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#therationalview #podcast #evidencebased #energy #nuclearenergy #atomicenergy #cleanenergy #netzeroneedsnuclear #green #climatechange #justice 

Nuclear policy with Dr. James Conca

In this episode I interview Dr. James Conca who understands both the science and the politics of nuclear energy and deep geological repositories. Dr. Conca reveals the ultimate solution to storage of spent nuclear fuel, and we discuss the political machinations surrounding Yucca Mountain.  
Geochemist and Energy scientist, speaker and author Dr. James Conca is Senior Scientist for UFA Ventures, Inc. in the Tri-Cities, Washington, an Adjunct Professor at Washington State University in the School of the Environment, a Trustee of the Herbert M. Parker Foundation, an Affiliate Scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and a Science Contributor to Forbes on energy and nuclear issues.
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#therationalview #podcast #nuclearenergy #deepgeologicalrepository #cleanenergy #greenenergy #climatechange #netzeroneedsnuclear #nuclearreactor #atomicenergy #nuclearwaste 

Irrationality with Justin E.H. Smith

I’ve always been interested in the quest for rationality in public policy, and I’ve surprisingly encountered resistance here and there amongst people saying that humans are at their core irrational beings. What is the proper balance, then, between logic and emotion in Rational decision making? Wanting to explore this thought, I’ve sought out an expert on the topic.
Justin E. H. Smith is professor of the history and philosophy of science at the University of Paris. He is the author, among other books, of Irrationality: A History of the Dark Side of Reason (Princeton University Press, 2019), and of the forthcoming The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is (Princeton, 2021). He writes a regular Substack newsletter at https://justinehsmith.substack.com.
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#TheRationalView #podcast #evidencebased #science #reason #emotion #rationality #irrationality #judgement 

The Age of the Universe

Have you ever been put on the spot by a Young Earth Creationist claiming that the universe is only 6,000 years old? How would you respond? Could you muster a coherent line of evidence to support a 13.8 billion year age? If not, The Rational View is here to help.
In this episode I provide several independent lines of evidence supporting the age of the universe. Arguments range from radiometric dating of terrestrial and solar system minerals, to measuring the temperature of ancient white dwarf stars: the fading embers of spent suns. 
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#therationalview #podcast #evidencebased #science #cosmology #bigbang #ageoftheuniverse #creationism 

Statistics 101 with Prof. Jeremy Balka

Welcome to my 50th episode!
It seems that in general humans are not logical. We are poor reasoners and easily fooled. Misconceptions and misunderstandings of statistics are often at the root of society’s problems with communicating and understanding science.
In this episode I welcome a University curling buddy, Prof. Jeremy Balka to discuss how statistics effects us every day. 
Prof. Jeremy Balka is a teaching-focused Associate Professor in the Department of the Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Guelph. He has a YouTube channel on statistics with over 100k subscribers, https://www.jbstatistics.com/
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#therationalview #podcast #evidencebased #statistics #montehall #replicationcrisis #confidence #probability #poker #odds

Healthy Skepticism

In this episode I address skepticism, the basis of the scientific process.  Science is applied skepticism, and scientific knowledge accumulates through a process of testing hypotheses and following the weight of evidence.  
Recently the social sciences have encountered a crisis of reproducibility, one of the cornerstones of the scientific process. Some well known scientific results were found to be irreproducible.  A team of independent humanities scholars undertook to reproduce major results to determine the extent of the problem.  As a result of this work it was found that roughly half of the major results tested were falsified. 
Why should the public trust science if half of the published results in the field of social sciences are found to be false?  This podcast introduces a healthy level of skepticism by reviewing the statistics behind the publications, and provides some insights on how the field of science moves forward sometimes slowly, through the cumulative weight of multiple independent studies. 
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#therationalview #podcast #skepticism #science #evidencebased #reproducibility #faith #bias #statistics #bayesianstatistics 

Michael Shermer on Skepticism

In this episode I interview a giant in the field of scientific thinking and philosophy, in an attempt to answer the questions that led me to podcasting in the first place. What are the drivers behind society's slide to mystical thinking? Is science under attack, and what can we do about it?
Dr. Michael Shermer received his B.A. in psychology from Pepperdine University, M.A. in experimental psychology from California State University, Fullerton, and his Ph.D. in the history of science from Claremont Graduate University. He has been a college professor since 1979. Dr. Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic Magazine, the host of the podcast The Michael Shermer Show, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University where he teaches Skepticism 101. For 18 years he was a monthly columnist for Scientific American. He is the author of several New York Times bestsellers, and has appeared on Oprah, Dateline, 20/20, and the Colbert Report. His two TED talks were voted in the top 100. He has been interviewed in countless documentaries and was the co-host of the Family Channel television series, Exploring the Unknown. Neil deGrasse Tyson has called him “a beacon of reason in an ocean of irrationality”.
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