Michael Blastland: “Scientists, sometimes you also need a little humility”

“The greatest threat to progress is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge ”. This quote from American historian Daniel Boorstin, an exhortation to methodical doubt and intellectual humility, embodies the essence of a provocative book – “The hidden half”(Ed. Bollati Boringhieri, pp. 326, euro 24) – written by the essayist and radio journalist Michael Blastland. Blastland is the creator of the program “More or Less”Of the BBC where the correctness of the numbers and statistical data that are cited by science and politics is examined, and he transfers into the essay the healthy skepticism and critical spirit that he has matured by documenting for his program.