Today was our first Communicating Science class discussion. We talked about audiences. (duh, right?) To prep, I had the students read the first few chapters of “Thinking, Fast and Slow” and several chapters from Aristotle’s “Meteorologica.”

“Why?” Glad you asked.

“Thinking, Fast and Slow” is fairly straight-forward, yet powerful! We do fast, effortless thinking all the time. Once learned, it takes no mental effort to drive, recognize your pet (Max!), add 3+6, or recognize anger (yikes!). Fast thinking associates “this with that.” Quickly.

A key word is “associates.” Fast thinking is based on experiences. Yours and mine are different. Which is good! Society only works if we are a team. An entire world of scientists might be friends, but we’d lack farmers, bankers, and plumbers. That’d be bad!

We need to remember that different experiences lead to different associations. I can see a dog as friendly, and you can associate it with fear. I can look at clouds and see gravity waves, and you can be like “what the wha?”

Fast thinking is powerful. It’s why we have stereotypes, prejudices, don’t listen, and talk past each other. It’s why we are stubborn. It’s why we have enemies. And conspiracy theories.

But there is slow thinking, which is how we process complex things. It’s how we learn. But it takes effort, which is easily exhausted. If we’re hangry, lack sleep, or are engaged in another task, slow thinking has no ability to stop fast thinking in its tracks.

Pro tip: You’re not gonna change their mind while they’re navigating the car through rush-hour traffic.

That means it takes a lot of slow thinking to change the hard-won associations of fast thinking. Your non-science audience isn’t stupid or “backward.” They haven’t been trained like you and have different associations. Reconfiguring that ain’t gonna happen without a fight!

Pro tip: You can fix stupid.

Where does Aristotle fit in this? Well, it’s funny reading his thoughts from our perspective. He conceived of his four elements: fire, air, earth, water. He wants them to exist in sorted layers, bottom to top. But he can’t seem to work out the details.

Aristotle had no concept of radiation or outer space and how much room there is between the birds and stars. He knows the Earth is heated by the sun, but is looking for a medium to move that heat around. He wants that space to be filled with fire or air. (It’s neither.)

Aristotle had no concept of molecules and how evaporated water can condense to form clouds. So he conflates air and water together in the condensation process. Sorry, but air does not create water.

Despite these difficulties, when it comes to the water cycle, he basically nails it. Evaporation from heat, precipitation, run-off - it’s all there!

Yet when it comes to earthquakes, he says it’s all wind flowing through caves. WHAT?!

Is Aristotle an idiot?

Aristotle is not an idiot. He’s working off his experience. He saw the weather all the time, and nailed the water cycle. I bet he spent little time in caves. His experiences drove his associations, which drove his conclusions. The same is true for your audience.

Your audience has all the tools to be the scientist you are. Part of our challenge is they don’t just need new knowledge, they need new experiences, experiments, and observations. Our conclusions are hard-won. Why do we expect our audience to just “get it” right away?

It is imperative we communicate our science. Society is a team effort. We need each other’s expertise to function at our best. Concluding your audience are idiots and leaving them behind merely leaves society behind. If we want to go far, we need to invite others along.

PS: Because today is Inauguration Day, I’ll note this also applies to politics. If we want to go far, we have to include our political rivals and invite them along. That’s why there’s such a call for unity today.

Yes, there should be consequences for bad actions. Calls for unity only come after there have been bad actions. But don’t let your zeal for enacting consequences overcome you. If you want our country to go far, that will involve not leaving your rivals behind. Invite them along.