How Scientists Respond to Science Deniers | Edge Of Knowledge | Ars Technica

"We never landed on the moon." "Climate change is a hoax." "Vaccines are ineffective." Our culture feels riddled with anti-science sentiment and there's no one factor to blame or easy solution to address it. How did we get here and what effect is it having on scientists and their research? Dr. Paul Sutter breaks down the societal elements in play and interviews some of his contemporaries to get a sense of where we go from here.

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[jefffinger]

I was once called a science denier by a person that tried to convince me that men can get pregnant

[or]

Being skeptical and criticizing other scientific works is not being anti science. But demanding people to accept authority arguments is anti science.

[newcenobium]

We do ourselves no favours by proping up frauds and liars. People who are corrupt and make their livings at the expense of others.

[murkyseb]

You can’t really ‘believe’ in science, it’s information that’s there whether you want it to be or not

[dougn]

I mentioned to a coworker about the near fly by of asteroid Apophis in 2029. He immediately jumped to end of the world conspiracies and said he just didn't want to talk about it. I think he was actually terrified about the subject.
He also never bathes and has a terrible body odor.

[esmolol]

I have a thesis:
People tend to surround themselves with similar minded people, and don't like to participate with someone, who is different (education level, intelligence, personal interest, political opinions etc.)
Friction between humans is natural.
No one wants to give up his idea of how everything is supposed to be.

[pingamalinga]

We are collectively becoming more ignorant. It is amazing how many people cling to the "One hypothesis was wrong, therefore science is never to be trusted."

🤦‍♂️

[bentationfunkiloglio]

"Unwillingness to accept scientific reality. " This quote from one of the interviewed scientists beautifully illustrates the type of condescending mindset that motivates many to distrust perfectly good and important science.

The problem here is that scientific reality generally isn't black and white. Rather, it's almost always complicated, nuanced, and evolves over time. Complicated, nuanced, and evolving makes messaging hard. Humans (even scientists) don't like hard. They prefer easy. As it so happens demagoguery is quite easy!

Take climate change science, an an example, and your average Joe Lunchbox non-science guy. Statement of fact: human activity is causing Earth's climate to change. That's good science. Unfortunately, Joe doesn't believe that scientific reality.

So, what does Joe know? Well, for one, Joe knows that 10 years ago "the scientific reality" was that life as he knew it on Earth would end in 10 years if every country didn't (immediately) implement new, draconian, economy destroying energy policies.

Joe also knows that new draconian, economy destroying policies were not implemented 10 years ago and, looking around, he's pretty sure the world hasn't ended ...yet.

Does Joe know anything else? As it so happens, he does. Joe knows that currently, "the scientific reality" is that that life as he knows it on Earth WILL end in 10 years if every country doesn't (immediately) implement new, draconian, economy destroying energy policies.

[StopWhining]

Some people are absolutists; once they establish a belief, they can stop thinking.

[ambulocetusnatans]

Didn't have my glasses on, and I thought the marine biologist had Princess Leia hair for a second, until I realized it was the back-rest on her chair.

[thenothing]

I’ll stop questioning what scientists say when people can no longer get rich and powerful off of pandemics, climate change, and over all public health (or a lack there of).

[GusOfTheDorks]

You know, to me the greatest argument for the flat earthers being correct wasnt anything a flat earther ever said about geography. It came from how scientists treat someone who has doubts about modern science.

[jpa]

It's impossible to make a serious criticism of this video because of the platform's rules on hiding comments. It's insane.

[chungusbooper]

You can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into. Some people respond better to empirical evidencet, others to anecdotal evidence or authority figures. Anyway, people who try in vain when they're already underpaid have my respect for their dedication to making the world a slightly better informed place.

[tesins]

Some of the biggest problems and motivators is not being addressed in this video, which is funding around research and it’s Impact, and the darker sides of science, and how any of it has changed or at least minimized/neutralized, and why people should believe it has. Even many people who do believe and fundamentally understand science have issues trusting or deciphering the core science and whether it is being misconstrued or used for nefarious purposes. Many conversations/debates I’ve had with people, this is the hardest hurdle to solidly get over. Even with explaining “the scientific community” and how it challenges and replicates findings (something which needs waaay more attention), it would still take a leap of faith because to the average person, they don’t know anything about it. Who are these people? What’s the scope of it? It’s all like shadow realm to most where you just have to believe it’s true and that’s part of the problem. And the lack of known and easy to find non-biased centralized access to the information behind research for those interested, outside of media is also lacking. So all this things combined make it very easy for people with personal interest and a big platform to attack the information and create doubt.

[Matlockization]

If a scientist pushes back on the climate change hysteria then he loses his job. Why does someone lose their job when they challenge the woke science ?

[juno]

There's no such thing as "the science"...

[axeman]

lol, The big cope and seethe of collapsing lies.

[sonninnos]

"Trust the scientists! Nooo not those scientists!"

[jabjab]

Scientists try to impose their believes not the data on society and should not snubbing in social issue’s.