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What Happens When?

A stark warning about threats to truth, science, and democracy

"What happens when the underpinnings of that democracy are eroded? What happens when instead of debating policies, we find ourselves debating the most basic facts? What happens when we can't even agree on what constitutes a fact? What happens when all those elements we rely upon for determining what is a fact -- expertise, education, experience, and evidence -- are routinely devalued, dismissed and denied? That's where we are today."

-- News MIT / April 2022

• https://news.mit.edu/2022/martin-baron-compton-lecture-journalism-0425

What happens when the underpinnings of that democracy are eroded?

• https://news.mit.edu/2022/martin-baron-compton-lecture-journalism-0425

"...The 18th-century Enlightenment... when a commitment to empiricism and rational inquiry helped form contemporary society...

"...(today) verifiable fact, objective reality, is now under determined, deliberate, cynical, and malevolent assault. I can think of no greater threat to our system of governance, or to the public good."

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