Who's Afraid of the Experts? | Philosophy Tube ft. Adam Conover

That's uh... that's not what it means. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_theory - this is what Olly's referring to, and that's why he seems so dismissive.

I just wanted to say that trans people have had to do this too with being secondary experts on our own physical health. Our local hospital has fucked up my blood work three separate times now due to them not knowing how to run a blood panel on a trans person on hormones. News flash, you run it like the gender we say we are, so I'm a trans man, I'm over a year on testosterone, run my panel as a male panel, otherwise you'll have all sorts of red flags pop up. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to be trans and try to get medical help. It worries me that if anything happens to me and I'm unconscious, I'll just die because no one wants to or knows how to treat me medically. And it's not like this is esoteric knowledge that's hard to find. There are thousands of studies that have been done on us that any doctor could look up if they cared enough. But the truth is, most of them don't care enough. So my life and the life of others like me is constantly in danger due to the "experts" not caring enough.

As a technical note: The audio mix on this was off for me? Music was difficult to hear, your studio segments somewhere in the middle, and your interview segments ended up being louder. I had to keep my remote handy for this one!

Clayton Grey

As was said at the end of the video, "YouTube is a terrible business" - meaning it's truely people like you who make it great. Your videos have been enriching my life for years, and I'm now very pleased to be returning the favour. All the best Olly

Olly, You use the term 'conspiracy theory' in this video. You seem to know very well what it means. It seems to me that it means something like 'an idea that is not found in mainstream discourse'. Have you got a better definition? In this video you are very dismissive (amused by) 'conspiracies' - is belief in non-mainstream explanations really that amusing? Is the 'mainstream' the only place to inform oneself, to the extent that not to do so makes someone worthy of ridicule? That's not what they taught me in philosophy class.

Hey Olly, this video was fantastic. My graduate school thesis in philosophy was about how one becomes and expert and some of the interesting abilities that experts kind of develop in order to be vetted. I’ve always wanted to take the next step from that epistemological step and get into the field we are talking about in your video today. I think that Adam’s point that he is not an expert at the subjects at hand but instead is an expert at communication makes a lot of sense if you take into consideration the different skill sets that the two develop. Absolutely fascinating from my end. Keep up the amazing work!

Carl Wauer

*cough* sci-hub *cough*

Beeblebroxologist

You should be more disrespectful to your fellow countryman John Oliver though, Olly.

Karim El-Hayawan

Amazing video! How do you get access to all the scientific papers? Do you pay a subscription somewhere, use some website, or is it in association with some university/institution?

Big PORK! Seriously, though... Thank you for highlighting the common threads between the AIDS epidemic and the COVID pandemic and climate denialism and presenting the narrative thoughtfully and compassionately. Human beings are physiologically emotional and react defensively when a real or perceived threat is presented. This, combined with many of the foundational stories/myths within our dominant culture makes reaching universal consensus about facts pretty damned difficult! Fortunately, not everyone has to agree on everything in order to change our collective course. Debunking cultural mythology, like Adam said, requires replacing an existing narrative with another story that is supported by evidence but also engages our inherent curiosity and imagination. I also think that we are most open to accepting alternative narratives when they are presented within the context of connection and relationship. That has been my experience, anyway.

I can see you blinking through that blindfold, it's very distracting.

Sarah Alderdice

This video was equal parts enjoyable and frustrating; I love talking and hearing about these kinds of complex subjects, but at the same time it drives me nuts that there aren't really any clear answers as to how to deal with them.

Alexander Powers

You've got a real flare for unusual costumes and characters.

Euan Smith

Not the crossover we asked for, but the crossover that we needed. Brilliant video, Olly ✨🖤