Embrace Science And Realize A Better Future

Be skeptical but when you get the proof...accept the proof.

Science denial seems to be on the rise in America. Vaccine rates are falling. Anthropogenic climate change -  fuggedaboudit! Fear of big scary scientists is used by talking heads and fringe politicians to drive the illiterati back into the dark ages. People hate big government. The fear of "bigness" is applied everywhere these days. Fear The Man!

Denying real science has consequences. Failure to accept facts, may result in sickness, misery and death. Scientific research is a process. If we become too afraid to accept scientific advancement we become victims of our own idiotic choices.

Facts colliding with values creates tensions, whereby stubbornly held values can prevent an acceptance of facts. Science on its face has no morality. The application of science however, may have moral ramifications. There are times when the moral acceptance of specific scientific advances appears arbitrary. An example might be: stem cell research bad, laser guided bombs good.

Once facts are established, opinions about the validity of those facts should be excluded. Knowledge counts. Every opinion does not count. Good people are often distracted by the wrong things, the wrong ideas and loudly shouted opinions.

The behavior of the typical science denier follows certain patterns. First there is the challenge, regarding the adequacy of the scientific evidence. Never mind the scientific consensus, or that the challenge is made by an outsider, observer or rank amateur. Then there's the insubstantial evidence provided to counter the real data. This "evidence" is often provided covertly through interests bent on stopping, or forwarding legislation that will enrich their industry or business. The shills that eat this up often have no notion of the hidden agenda, they just buy it because they trust the guy that said it.

It is clear that those opposed to, or loudly arguing against, established scientific facts are uninformed, misinformed, selectively cherry picking data to reinforce preconceived notions or simply wing-nuts that like to listen to themselves rant. Their arguments can be silly, naive, specious or pseudo-scientific.

The Obama administration is embracing science and technology and appointing scientific experts to senior cabinet positions. This will result in better outcomes than we have seen in the past through the appointment of industry and business leaders with conflicted interests and a dearth of expertise.