The Un-Enlightenment with writer and broadcaster Gavin Esler will take place on Friday 20th March at 18:00 at the Royal Society of Edinburgh where he will be exploring the topic of ‘What can we trust in an age of misinformation?’
Edinburgh in the 1700’s was home to some of the greatest minds of the Enlightenment, aiming to advance learning and knowledge, emphasizing the use of reason and critical thinking. Fast forward to almost 300 years later and we are facing an opposite movement driven by misinformation and “alternative facts”.
As Scotland’s National Academy, the RSE operates on the motto of “Knowledge made useful”, but how can we trust knowledge in the age of misinformation? How do we sift through information that is making us less informed, and how do we prevent becoming “un-enlightened”?
You can join in person or online as Gavin answers these pressing questions, at a time when misinformation is more widespread than ever before.