Facts, Fictions and Critical Thinking
I'm not worried about almost any of the other big problems in the world because we are now very capable of solving those. But we are incapable of getting people to talk to each other in a productive, respectful but really comprehensive way and it is pretty clear that this is maybe 'the' problem of our generation.
Facts matter. The scientific process matters. The ability to think critically is essential to navigate our world, to make good decisions and to solve some of the world’s most intractable problems. Nobel Prize laureate Saul Perlmutter believes everyone can learn the skills scientists use to think critically so that they don’t fool themselves. Saul is joined by Tim Minchin, a writer, composer and fierce defender of facts and UNSW's Verity Firth to discuss the importance of collaboration, humility and critical thinking in decision-making.
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Saul Perlmutter
Saul Perlmutter is a 2011 Nobel Prize laureate, sharing the prize in physics for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe. He is a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley and a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is the leader of the international Supernova Cosmology Project, founding director of the Berkeley Institute for Data Science, and currently serves as a member of the U.S. President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. His interest in scientific-style critical thinking led to the development of the interdisciplinary courses “Physics & Music” and “Sense and Sensibility and Science,” which he has been teaching to undergraduates for more than a decade—and which is the origin of the new co-authored book, Third Millennium Thinking: Creating Sense in a World of Nonsense. An author of hundreds of articles on cosmology, Perlmutter has also written popular articles and appeared in numerous PBS, Discovery Channel, and BBC documentaries. In addition to other awards and honorary doctorates, he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
More about Saul Perlmutter and the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics
Photo: Christopher Michel.
Verity Firth
Verity Firth is the inaugural Vice-President Societal Impact, Equity and Engagement at UNSW Sydney. She has over 20 years’ experience at the very highest levels of government and education sectors in Australia. Prior to her role at UNSW, Verity was Pro Vice-Chancellor Social Justice and Inclusion at UTS (2015–2023), CEO of the Public Education Foundation (2011–2014) and NSW Minister for Education and Training (2008–2011). Verity is a member of the Commonwealth Government’s Implementation Advisory Committee for the Universities Accord.
Tim Minchin
In addition to two decades of award-winning live performance and multiple recorded specials, Tim Minchin is the composer and lyricist of smash-hit stage musicals, Matilda and Groundhog Day. He is also a screenwriter (of the award-winning Upright, in which he stars alongside House of The Dragon’s Milly Alcock), and a screen actor, (Atticus Fetch in Californication, Friar Tuck in Robin Hood 2014, Darius Cracksworth in Disney's The Artful Dodger). He is a public speaker, and a book of his commencement speeches, You Don’t Have to Have a Dream, was recently published.
Stage roles include his acclaimed Judas in the 2014 UK / Australian Arena Tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, and Rosencrantz in the Sydney Theatre Company’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. His 2020 studio album, Apart Together, peaked at #2 on the ARIA charts.
Among many accolades, he has won two Olivier Awards for Best Musical, a British Composers Award for Best Score, a Logie for Best Supporting Actor, an ACTAA for best TV comedy performance, an Edinburgh Comedy Award for best newcomer, a What’s On Stage Award for Best Actor in a Musical, the Richard Dawkins Award for Science Communication, and an Order of Australia for Services to the Arts and the Community. He has been nominated for some Tonys and a Grammy.
Photo: Damian Bennett.