What is Agnotology?
'''Agnotology''' is a branch of social science which looks at the ways in which [[wikt:doubt|doubt]] or [[wikt:ignorance|ignorance]] about certain subjects is created. A very good example of how this happens is the publication of scientific studies that rely on data that is inaccurate or misleading. More generally, the term also highlights the increasingly common condition where more knowledge of a subject leaves one more uncertain than before. The [[neologism]] was coined by [[Robert N. Proctor]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/22/business/22mistakes.html?ex=1313899200&en=e687ef6c5786717f&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss|title=What Organizations Don't Want to Know Can Hurt|author=Arenson, Karen W.|work=New York Times|date=2006-08-22|quote='there is a lot more protectiveness than there used to be,' said Dr. Proctor, who is shaping a new field, the study of ignorance, which he calls agnotology. 'It is often safer not to know.'}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.edge.org/q2007/q07_6.html |title=We Will Overcome Agnotology (The Cultural Production Of Ignorance)|page=6|author=Kreye, Andrian|year=2007 |access-date=2007-08-12 |publisher=[[Edge Foundation, Inc.|Edge Foundation]] |work=The Edge World Question Center 2007|quote=This is about a society's choice between listening to science and falling prey to what Stanford science historian Robert N. Proctor calls agnotology (the cultural production of ignorance)| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070818184836/http://edge.org/q2007/q07_6.html| archive-date= 18 August 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref> a [[Stanford University]] professor specializing in the history of science and technology.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stanford.edu/dept/history/Faculty/proctor.html |title=Stanford History Department : Robert N. Proctor |access-date=2007-08-12 |publisher=Stanford University |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070319025655/http://www.stanford.edu/dept/history/Faculty/proctor.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-03-