Science Historian to Discuss Free Market in UM President’s Lecture

MISSOULA – Renowned thought leader and Harvard Professor Naomi Oreskes will tackle the widely accepted notion that “the free market is efficient but government is not” during the next installment of the President’s Lecture Series at the University of Montana.

Her lecture and forthcoming book are titled “The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loath Government and Love the Free Market.” The free online lecture is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 17. Attendees are invited to register in advance at the UM Office of the President website (https://www.umt.edu/president/). Oreskes’ talk is the UM Brennan Guth Memorial Lecture in Environmental Philosophy.

Oreskes is Harvard’s Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science. She is the author of nearly 200 scholarly papers and articles, and her opinion pieces have appeared in The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Times (London) and many other media outlets. Her TED talk, “Why We Should Trust Scientists,” has been viewed 1.5 million times.

Oreskes also is a leading voice arguing the reality of human-caused climate change and explaining the history of efforts to undermine climate action. Her 2004 essay in the journal Science, “The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change,” is cited frequently.

During her lecture, Oreskes will discuss how Americans have come to have an irrational and unfounded faith in the free market. She and her “The Big Myth” co-author, Erik Conway, argue that a misplaced faith in the free market is linked to many of the ills society faces today – from the opioid epidemic and widespread obesity to homelessness and climate change.

They take on the widespread American belief that the market is efficient but the government is not, and they address how government intervention wasn’t always considered “bad” – that it wasn’t until the past century that thinkers and heads of industry promoted the idea that “markets are magic” and free enterprise capitalism is “the American way.”

Bloomsbury Press will publish “The Big Myth” in 2022. Oreskes and Conway also wrote 2010’s “Merchants of Doubt,” about how a small subset of scientists helped obscure the truth on issues such as tobacco smoke and global warming. That book was made into a documentary film translated into nine languages. 

Oreskes is the author or co-author of seven books, including 2019’s “Why Trust Science?” Among her numerous awards and prizes are the 2019 Geological Society of American Mary C. Rabbitt Award, the 2019 British Academy Medal, the 2016 Stephen Schneider Award for outstanding Climate Science Communication and the 2015 Public Service Award of the Geological Society of America.

Learn more about Oreskes during a recent episode of the “A New Angle” podcast, presented by Associate Professor of Marketing Justin Angle and the UM College of Business. Her 30-minute episode is titled “Dr. Naomi Oreskes on Why We Should Trust Science.” The episode is online at https://www.anewanglepodcast.com/.

The UM President’s Lecture Series is presented as an opportunity to learn about and discuss ideas and issues that animate public discourse. Learn more about the President’s Lecture Series online.

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Contact: Office of the President, UM, 406-243-2734, thepresident@umontana.edu.