I had a long, exhausting conversation with my father-in-law last week where my son and I both had to explain to him the basic fundamentals of what science actually is, how the scientific method works, and why and how the NSF awards grants.
We also kept having to explain that just because there’s some junk science put out by bad actors to line up with an agenda, that doesn’t mean all science is junk. We also, also, kept having to explain that there isn’t some “the government” conspiracy manipulating all science behind the scenes to push out things that will kill us (that’s good old capitalism, baby!)
AND the fact that science rarely gives you a hard, definite answer one way or the other because it’s not meant to. And that continuously changing scientific consensus is not only a good thing, but that’s how it’s supposed to work.
AND! why the Joe Rogan thought process of “every conclusion is equally as valid regardless of evidence or actual knowledge” is not only invalid but incredibly dangerous, and further explaining the idea of the hierarchy of evidence, and that individual people are not sources, even if they’re a PhD at Harvard or Stanford.
All that to say he stills sees this as a great thing. Because Fox News and Newsmax.
I had a long, exhausting conversation with my father-in-law last week where my son and I both had to explain to him the basic fundamentals of what science actually is, how the scientific method works, and why and how the NSF awards grants.
We also kept having to explain that just because there’s some junk science put out by bad actors to line up with an agenda, that doesn’t mean all science is junk. We also, also, kept having to explain that there isn’t some “the government” conspiracy manipulating all science behind the scenes to push out things that will kill us (that’s good old capitalism, baby!)
AND the fact that science rarely gives you a hard, definite answer one way or the other because it’s not meant to. And that continuously changing scientific consensus is not only a good thing, but that’s how it’s supposed to work.
AND! why the Joe Rogan thought process of “every conclusion is equally as valid regardless of evidence or actual knowledge” is not only invalid but incredibly dangerous, and further explaining the idea of the hierarchy of evidence, and that individual people are not sources, even if they’re a PhD at Harvard or Stanford.
All that to say he stills sees this as a great thing. Because Fox News and Newsmax.
That sounds like a terrible experience but thank you for trying.