TL;DR: "The use of mathematics creates a rift between those unable to understand this special language and those who do, making it easy for the former to distr

TL;DR: "The use of mathematics creates a rift between those unable to understand this special language and those who do, making it easy for the former to distrust the latter. Galileo’s Gap, as I call it, has widened in size and consequence in the four centuries since then, feeding the frequency and severity of conspiracy theories." "To reduce the impact of conspiracies, there’s little point quoting mainstream experts, citing scientific papers, appealing to facts, or even teaching more science, for all these things will be said to belong to the conspiracy." "Far more effective is to provide people with better tools to make sense of their personal, political and social experience. Yet the disciplines that cultivate these interpretive tools, collectively called the humanities, are largely having their resources redirected to the sciences."