The Dissenter

#1232 Michael Mann - Science Under Siege: The Five Most Powerful Forces that Threaten Our World

Mar 26, 2026
Michael Mann, Presidential Distinguished Professor and climate scientist, discusses his book Science Under Siege. He examines five major forces undermining science: plutocrats, petrostates, credentialed pros, propagandists, and a complicit press. Short segments cover climate denial’s evolution, media false balance, and strategies for scientists to push back and communicate more effectively.
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INSIGHT

Anti-Science Is A Cross-Field Coordinated Assault

  • Anti-science unites across fields when powerful actors weaponize disinformation against inconvenient findings.
  • Michael Mann and Peter Hotez wrote the book after seeing climate and COVID attacks converge into a coordinated assault on expertise.
INSIGHT

Denying Consensus Is Not Skepticism

  • Distinguish good-faith scientific debate from bad-faith denial that rejects overwhelming consensus.
  • Mann labels motivated rejection of mainstream findings as denial, not skepticism, driven by ideological goals.
ANECDOTE

Lockdowns Threatened Fossil Fuel Profits

  • Fossil fuel interests funded attacks on public health during COVID because lockdowns cut transportation and hurt profits.
  • Mann traces anti-COVID attacks to the same playbook used by tobacco and fossil fuel industries to protect revenue.
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