James Poskett Science Has Always Been Global

On this episode of Inside Science Conversations, James Poskett tells host Chris Gorski about his new book, Horizons: The Global Origins of Modern Science. The book takes readers on a whirlwind trip through history and science, from the precolonial scientific and mathematical insights developed in West Africa, the Middle East and Polynesia to the important discoveries made by people from the Americas and India. The conversation weaves through how Europeans adopted a lot of these ideas, and how those turned into simplified narratives and led to the origins of the idea of the lone scientific genius. James also delves into some of the dark themes of the history of science and why the future of science depends on fully reckoning with its global history.