Do you believe the scientific community in 2020?

This.

Machine-checked maths is the only thing I truly trust.
But science comes after that, it’s way better than roumors brought from fb or poor news sites. Even if the bringer is someone important to me, anybody, even wife.

We know very little for sure, nothing is settled.
Yesterdays certainty is tomorrows revelation.
Science has to be funded and documented.
I like to know where the money comes from and the methods used before entertaining thoughts of unbiased acceptance on what I am presented with.

One of the least appreciated aspects of science is that it allows, for, if not encourages challenge and dissent.

Conclusions have to be founded on proof, and objectivity, not conjecture, or dogma.

It can be dynamic, not static. It asks questions, and doesn’t simply accept things as they are. It also accepts that there are questions we simply don’t have answers for, and may never have.

In short, hell yes, trained scientists are a lot more trustworthy than some random YouTuber, or a Facebook post, which are where a lot of people get their information today.

That, and knowing were the money for the study came from.

Being the older bro of a PhD, I hear stories about heads of department who spend three days a week fundraising. That’s not a bad thing per se, but pure academic study is rare these days. You can recognize them by fascinating titles like: “a study into the influence of placing a red filter in front of a CW flashlight on the growth of wild grass on a steep hillside at an altitude of more than 2,000 feet”.
Followed by similar studies on the same grass concerning the infuence of green and blue filters.

Sponsored studies focus on quick desired results, unless several manufacturers were involved.

On the other hand, if you read this:

The golden rule has always been to follow the money and then decide if the science is worthy or not.

Not saying that everyone is the same, but…working within the academic/scientific “world” (of Social Sciences in this case) for some years, I tend to be at least…critical when reading some stuff…

I see people jumping steps on what is sometimes ethically and methodologically “adjusted” just to publish papers or to gain some more points in their CV!

So…not saying that everyone in every area is the same, but always look to both sides before blindingly believe what is taken for scientifically rigorous. Both in Natural or Social Sciences (or any of the others).

And as some as said above, what its true today, may not be true tomorrow, even if it was thoroughly and objectively tested. Science is also part of our social and reality construction, so it can always fail or have errors.

This said, I do know that at least in my country there are many good researchers and centers in many areas, but unfortunately “academic” or “scientists” and their contribution to society are not always regarded as valuable or pertinent!…

It is this kind of reports that make people reject science, pointing at the flaws without pointing at the merits that hugely predominate the flaws. The great majority of scientists that I know myself and the ones I read about, do their best on honest objective research that brings us closer to the truth. And it shows, if not for science the world would be a way way worse place to live, thinking about that differently is ignorant nostalgia.

I don’t believe in “scientific consensus”. Most laymen don’t understand that science is HARD – either it is right or it is wrong, all based on facts and evidence and wide-sample statistics, not conjecture.

Damn straight there. Follow the money and you get your answers, always.

The history of science is the history of being wrong, being proven wrong , the beauty of the scientific method is that the possibility of being proven wong is built into the process and encouraged.

It’s by far the best we have but it doesn’t mean it’s right, following blindly the current scientific consensus leads nowhere.

There is also the fact that science is made by humans, so there is a good dose of errors, bullshit, lazyness and greed involved.

Yeah.

Disclaimer: I am a technician at a research university.

I believe nothing until Paul Harvey says it’s so!

And now you know …

…the rest of the story.

:wink:

Science is all we have. Believe it or not. It has gotten us this far and yes it is sometimes wrong. My gripe is when laymen with 0 scientific training claim to know the answers.

BTW, what is the chance this thread lasts the day.

It’s hard to know whether to trust the science since science reporting is so bad. It tends to focus on the sensational, extrapolating far beyond the science’s conclusions, ignore contrarian opinions, and lack context.

I believe the scientific process is the best method we have for finding the truth. It would be foolish to believe that the process could not be subverted for myriad reasons - ideology, money, personal benefit. Look at the Replication Crisis in medicine and the social sciences:

Consider Evidence Based Medicine, an attempt to return medicine to a science-based, rather than “anecdote-based” system.

This ^ The scientific method is phenomenal but “Science” with a big “S” is basically the modern religion.

You have the editor of the Lancet, Dr Horton, openly admitting that 50% of scientific studies are false. Here’s an article in another journal discussing Dr. Horton’s comments.

I don’t have faith in other humans. I regularly read scientific studies (not fakebook posts) and I am constantly surprised by the nonsense that gets published.

If I want to learn about something, I do my own research. I avoid logical fallacies - appeal to authority, appeal to consensus, non sequitur, ad hominem, etc - and focus on the facts.

I’m not throwing the baby out with the bathwater but I just don’t blindly accept what I’m told because it comes from some “scientific authority”.

These “modern plagues” - Coronavirus, Zika, SARs, Bird Flu, Swine Flu, Ebola, etc. - are sold to us every year and I’ve never been affected. I’m not saying it can’t happen but my wife and I haven’t been sick in over 5 years so I doubt it will.

I say sold because the medical industrial complex is a business. Sick people are their customers and the more people that run to their doctor for a prescription at the first sign of a sniffle, the more money they bring in.

At 40, I’m in there best shape of my life and I got to this point by basically doing the opposite of what was taught to me in school as the ideal diet - the “food pyramid”

I’m not here to argue but the question was asked so I answered.

Peace

I agree 100%! Great post

I was gonna say 3 days but now have seen the word religion used so all bets are off.
New odds, end of tomorrow :slight_smile:
Get your popcorn and beer!

Keeping it flashlight related;

She Blinded me with Science,
Science!

Yup ^

Sorry, I didn’t mean to mention the magic word. It’s just the way I see it.

No hate here brother, you’re right.
Everything has become big business nowadays including the big R word.