Science, politics, and the crisis of authority

[Zeno]

http://www.salon.com/2015/02/07/anti_vaxxers_climate_deniers_and_the_crisis_of_authority/

 

[alex3619]

What is demanded here is not faith in people with white coats and prestigious degrees, who are just as likely to be evil and corrupt as anyone else, but critical thinking (which, by the way, is at the core of the scientific method.

Interesting article.

 

[alex3619]

I think we should trust in science, but not naively. Science has limits. Science is not perfect. Many scientific theories bite the dust over time .... probably most. Scientific evidence should never be regarded as final or without risks. Science is a process, not the theories ... we can have some trust in the process, but the hypotheses and theories can be wrong.

There is abundant reason to not trust what is done with science though. Science is about finding out how nature works. What is done with it is a human thing, directed by ideology, social forces (including politics) and economic forces (including big business).

At issue is that science is entangled with power and money. These distort the science to their vested interests in more ways than just propaganda. The financial distortions that govern which science gets funded and which gets ostracized distorts the process of discovery in science. It leads to distortions in the evidence base.

This century has several looming crises. If we cannot disentangle the science from the politics we are in deep trouble. So far its looking like science and politics are becoming more tangled together, not less. Its not a good omen. I hope I am wrong.

 

[PeterPositive]

I think we should trust in science, but not naively. Science has limits. Science is not perfect. Many scientific theories bite the dust over time .... probably most. Scientific evidence should never be regarded as final or without risks. Science is a process, not the theories ... we can have some trust in the process, but the hypotheses and theories can be wrong.

There is abundant reason to not trust what is done with science though. Science is about finding out how nature works. What is done with it is a human thing, directed by ideology, social forces (including politics) and economic forces (including big business).

At issue is that science is entangled with power and money. These distort the science to their vested interests in more ways than just propaganda. The financial distortions that govern which science gets funded and which gets ostracized distorts the process of discovery in science. It leads to distortions in the evidence base.

This century has several looming crises. If we cannot disentangle the science from the politics we are in deep trouble. So far its looking like science and politics are becoming more tangled together, not less. Its not a good omen. I hope I am wrong.

Amen to that

 

[A.B.]

I think the distrust has nothing to do with science. It's a distrust in corporations and politics that just happen to use science to spread messages convenient to them. I find myself not trusting, or at least being wary about, any science where an obvious profit or power motive exists. In good part this due to the experience of getting sick and realizing the health care system is failing to help in cases such as mine.