The Rational View podcast with Dr. Al Scott

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Income Inequality: We’ve Botched It

Since 1970, capitalism has marched society forward providing great increases in productivity through computers, robots, and the internet.  Over this period the median household income has not kept pace with the increase of productivity.  These increases have mainly gone to the top 1% of earners, creating an unstable situation that encourages civil unrest. Offshoring of labour markets has eliminated a lot of quality manufacturing jobs in favour of low paying yet plentiful labour in Asia and China. Because of this degradation in income, many families are forced to have two incomes to make ends meet.  This results in a significant decrease in standard of living over what our parents' generation could afford. The plight of single parents in this scenario is devastating. Without a stay-at-home parent much of our spare time is taken up with household chores, and we incur additional expenses of daycare, and outsourcing of household maintenance that we would otherwise have time to do ourselves. How did we get here? Is there a solution?
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#TheRationalView #society #TOK #incomeinequality #socialjustice #newpodcast #inflation #dualincome #economy #standardofliving

Nuclear: the facts as I see them

To stop climate change, scientists indicate we need to get to net zero carbon dioxide emissions in less than ten years. Despite their amazing strides, renewable energy sources are not the panacea that their supporters are claiming. Due to their low density, significant mining and waste is generated to build up any significant generating capacity. Because of their intermittent nature, they usually require backup generating capacity to level the load, and this is often supplied by coal or gas.  Nuclear energy, on the other hand, is a high density zero carbon energy source with over 90% availability that is widely reviled in society. On what basis have you formed your opinions of the risks surrounding nuclear energy? Would you be open to changing your mind on Nuclear if presented with evidence of safety?
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#therationalview #science #climatechange #fossilfuels #nuclear #nuclearpower #newpodcast #cleanenergy #renewables

How to effectively debate creationists.

I once thought that creationism was the craziest unscientific idea that we would have to deal with.  Now the fertile sheltered echo chambers provided by social media have produced worse things like anti-vax, flat-earthism, Apollo revisionists, and other crack-pot conspiracy theories that rational folk commonly encounter. This episode explores some of my history in countering creationist apologists and their favourite strawman arguments. If you find yourself in an encounter, this episode provides you with some pointers on how best to successfully engage and win a debate, while taking the high road.
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#TheRationalView #evolution #creationism #evidencebased #science #tok #debating #newpodcast

Climate Change: the basics and the misconceptions

Climate change has moved from scientific fact to a political opinion, and the world stands on the brink of crisis. What are your opinions on the reality of climate change? How do you choose which experts to believe? Can scientists be trusted? This episode explores some of the strawman arguments that help climate change deniers to caricature their opponents, and sway their followers to delay implementing the huge changes we need to slow the current warming trend.
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#TheRationalView #climatechange #climatedenial #evidencebased #science #tok #newpodcast

Closing the wage gap and the family gap

You've probably heard of the wage gap separating average wages of men and women. The family gap is the obverse of this problem where men, dedicated to their careers, are disconnected from their children, and families. They die younger, and have less of a support network in old age.  It will be hard work to close these gaps, but the solution to both is within our grasp. In our modern enlightened society we should examine traditional viewpoints on gender roles and expectations and make some simple changes.
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#therationalview #newpodcast #wagegap #pinkcollar #gender #parentalleave 

The other guys are [not] idiots!

It seems that all of social media has become a polarized battlefield where there is no possibility of reasoned debate. People who were once friends have now become weaponized meme-posting attack bots. Are we doomed to forever talk past each other, competing to get more 'likes' than 'laughs'? This episode is a plea for civil debate amongst a sea of troubles. A healthy democracy requires that we talk to each other about important issues.
 Official Release 25/06/20
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#therationalview #science #tribalism #newpodcast #polarized #debate #civildiscourse

CoVid-19: What the Heck?

In this podcast I review the facts on CoVid-19 and provide some needed perspective for people who might be worried about what their leaders are telling them to do. This is a very active field of scientific research, so information may become dated over a short period of time as new studies emerge. Many people are confused by the process of science, and its self-correcting nature. They believe that science provides proofs, and they become confused if the guidance changes. Recent evidence suggests that countries that have mandated the wearing of masks have done a much better job at containing the outbreak. Tracking of contacts, using cellphone technology, has also proven very successful in places where that is acceptable.  Canada is rolling out a tracking app that you can download that will let you know if you've been in the vicinity of someone who was later diagnosed. Spending extended periods of time in close proximity to infected people who are coughing, singing, or yelling without a facemask seems to be a common route of infection.
Official Release 22/06/20
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#therationalview #CoVid #science #newpodcast

What is Science?

Welcome to my first episode! Let's start with the basics. Many folks think of science as a compendium of facts, but this is a misconception.  Science is a process of gaining knowledge about the universe we find ourselves experiencing. Scientists have been referred to as elites in ivory towers, and society has lost some of its trust in science as a path to knowledge. In future episodes I hope to explore this theme further, but for now, let's establish the basics and start at the very beginning. A very good place to start.
What is Science? 20/06/20
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