Science vs Opinion

I read an interesting column today in The Globe and Mail by Andre Picard, entitled The Internet Has Changed The Nature Of Scientific Debate.

His main point is how responses to his columns about healthcare have changed over the years, particularly that "there no longer seems to be much place for civilized disagreement, honest scientific-based dissension, on differing analyses of agreed-upon facts."

Offering an argument based on facts has been replaced with personal attacks and a head-count of how many people agree on a given point. As Andre quotes Anatole France, "If a million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."

There is a similar phenomenon happening with the global warming debate. It's not whether there are scientific facts that show greenhouse gases created by humans are the problem; it's about how many experts think that conclusion is likely correct. Scientific truth is now determined by a democratic vote among certain approved experts. If you disagree with the populist view, then you likely aren't qualified to vote.

Conspiracy theories and their adherents are growing substantially in our day. Lately I've been curious why that is. Andre suggests a lack of science literacy among the population, and I think he is right. If you have no capacity to evaluate statements based on objective evidence, you simply get to choose which expert you want to agree with. And it's always easiest to be on the side of the expert who already has the largest following.

But I think there is something more fundamental at work here than simply declining science education. I believe we are losing the desire to seek out truth itself. After all, that objective is at the very heart of the scientific method. There is truth and there is error, and the scientific method says both can be determined by an objective investigation of the facts.

Defining your own truth in your own world is much simpler than facing absolute truth. It allows you to form reality in your own image. And why wouldn't folks choose to have that kind of power?