Questioning Science

Once one understands that science is not a body of truths, but our best method of finding truth, one realizes that there is no reason to “question” it.

For a moment, think of the most rapidly evolving arenas within the totality of the domains of science.  Let’s take epidemiology and climate change.

My mother went to her grave believing that Dr. Anthony Fauci should be indicted for crimes associated with the medical advice he gave re: COVID-19.  Her sole source of news was Fox News, and, from listening to what they had to say on the subject, she’d tell me, “He’s constantly changing his mind!” as if this were evidence of incompetence, or, more dastardly, corruption.  Was he in cahoots with the communists hellbent on destroying American capitalism? If not, he must have been making himself a billionaire by selling his own remedies.

Here, we’re talking about an extremely senior medical professional who had served successfully under five presidents, working on a brand-new pandemic that very little was known about.  We’re also talking about a “news” source known for its support of conspiracy theories that support the ultra-right-wing.

In cases like these, science is constantly “changing its mind,” as new studies come in that blow apart older data, and better represent the current understanding of the problem at hand.

The situation is the same with climate science. Newer models associated with the warming of our atmosphere and oceans are constantly replacing those of previous decades.  Is that evidence that scientists are corrupt, or that we are always learning more about an extremely complex set of information?