I have discovered a shocking anti-science narrative emerging; a fundamental ignorance of or distrust of science that expresses itself in opinions such as: *Scientists have been wrong in the past and thus should not be trusted now *Scientists are biased by personal prejudices, financial incentives, and the desire for personal or professional success, and therefore their conclusions are suspect *Scientific results are not certain, and therefore they can be discounted *Science is just another way of knowing that should not be given primacy over other ways, such as intuitive knowledge or personal experience. *Some scientists disagree with the consensus view so there is no way to assess who is right. *Science is the cause of the problems resulting from technology and therefore suspect. *Policymakers may ignore science on the grounds that they, themselves, are not scientists. While some of these opinions are simply misguided, others, at some level, could offer potentially useful critiques of the actual practice of science. However, none of them represent any kind of a rebuttal to the basic, essential fact that, for all its imperfection, hubris, sloppiness, or uncertainty, science works.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 17:26:43 +0000
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