Alan Alda talks to Curiosity Daily hosts Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer about to how to connect better with others, what’s stopping people from believing in science (and how to change their minds), exercises he uses to build empathy, and more. Additional resources from Alan Alda: Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University — https://www.aldacenter.org/ Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda — https://www.aldacommunicationtraining.com/podcasts/ Sign up for Alan’s newsletter on his official website — http://alanalda.com/ Follow @alanalda on Twitter — https://twitter.com/alanalda Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Alan Alda talks to Curiosity Daily hosts Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer about to how to connect better with others, what’s stopping people from believing in science (and how to change their minds), exercises he uses to build empathy, and more.
Additional resources from Alan Alda:
Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/alan-alda-on-communicating-better-believing-in-science-and-building-connections-and-empathy
CODY: Hi, I’m Cody Gough with a special bonus episode of Curiosity Daily from curiosity-dot-com.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll hear our very special guest Alan Alda talk about what he’s learned in his career as a science advocate helping scientists learn how to communicate better.
CODY: A couple days ago on our podcast, we learned how Alan got involved in the TV show Scientific American Frontiers. And today, we’ll continue that conversation by learning even more from Alan, who happens to be an award-winning actor, best-selling author, and science advocate who’s dedicated his life’s work to improving science communication.
ASHLEY: Alan is also the host of Clear+Vivid, which is one of our favorite podcasts. His Clear+Vivid podcast helps make us all more connected, better communicators, and it also helps to benefit the research done at the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University.
CODY: You can learn more about the Alda Center at: AldaCenter.org. Here’s Alan on what inspired him to get involved with science communication in the first place.
[CLIP 4:45]
ASHLEY: We talked a lot about empathy with Alan, so at this point in our conversation, I had to ask him: what does he do to build empathy? Is there like, an activity you can do? Turns out, there is.
[CLIP 3:42]
ASHLEY: Alan Alda’s podcast, Clear+Vivid, is produced by Graham Chedd with help from associate producer Sarah Chase. You can subscribe to Clear+Vivid for free on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you like to listen to your podcasts. And sign up for Alan’s newsletter at AlanAlda.com. So Cody, what did we learn today?
CODY: Today we learned that you’re more likely to believe something that comes from someone in your “tribe.” So if you’re trying to get a point across to someone, then a good first step is to try to establish something you have in common with that person.
ASHLEY: And that science is just about what we know SO FAR, and we have to get used to that. Because that’s how we all learn!
CODY: And that it’s vitally information to communicate your information in a clear and vivid way, but if you want that information to stick, then you have to really engage the other person you’re communicating with.
[ad libs]
CODY: Extra special thanks to Alan Alda and his team for coordinating our conversation. It was so much fun!
ASHLEY: [ad lib]
CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!