There are a lot of people in the media who don't seem to understand what "science" actually is about. They seem to think it's whatever answers people called "scientists" give to a wide range of questions, including questions about decisions facing politicians and voters about economic and social issues.

That's not what science is. Science is a way of approaching questions about the universe, to build theories/models of how the world works by testing hypotheses through experiments. It is a process, not a set of answers. While it is true that the models produced by science can give very useful answers to certain kinds of practical questions (e.g., if we do this, what is likely to happen?), these answers have some very important limitations.

First, all scientific models are subject to reconsideration, as new information becomes available. Second, all scientific models have limited scope, they only apply to certain kinds of things or "when all else is equal". Actual scientists usually understand this but many people (including most professional "media" people) who are only looking at the output produced by a model (numbers, graphs) do not understand this.

Finally, and perhaps most important, "science" cannot answer questions involving subjective factors, where different people may want to apply different values in making tradeoffs. Yet both media people and politicians routinely ignore this limitation. They hold up charts that support some particular point that helps their argument, while ignoring – and hoping that you will also ignore – those broader questions. They also make a habit of failing to follow science themselves, when the models and data (including almost everything we have learned about economics) cast doubt on the logic of their own favored proposals.

I am personally a big fan of science – actual science. I have been interested in science since I was a small child, and graduated from one of the most famous scientifically-oriented universities in the world. But (and perhaps partly because of that) the sight of people who know almost nothing about science just blindly following the latest pronouncements of anybody on TV wearing a white coat makes me sick.

And knowing that this is how most people are getting most of their information about science, that is why when I hear anybody arguing for any political position using phrases like "follow the science", I know that while they may mean well they probably don't know what they are talking about, and generally take it as a clue to pay less attention to whatever they are saying!

Joe Dehn
County Chair