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One problem is the people telling us to just “follow the science” rarely seem to understand the interaction between things science can and has resolved and the unknowns and trade-offs that cannot be resolved by appeals to “The Science.” They’re often using science as a talisman. https://twitter.com/jflier/status/1345417443909500931
Germ theory of disease? Yep that’s over. Science resolved that. (Little things we can’t see can make us sick but even that is super complex!). Spacing vaccine boosters? There are people with impeccable credentials on both sides of the question, plus issues of trust & governance.
The best ones are good at exactly that. Everyone would easily acknowledge it’s true, and there will always be disagreement on where the line is. But “follow the science” really has become a talisman that’s being evoked to hide that line. https://twitter.com/fordprefect747/status/1345425599851061251
After months of being accused of being anti-science because I recommended wearing masks back in March, and many futile months trying to emphasize focusing on indoor activities and stop the beach/outdoor shaming. I love this example of "follow the science"! https://twitter.com/musicpsych/status/1345446872790552576?s=20
I never thought I'd personally live through such an intense period of groupthink + consensus shifts (which are not alien concepts at all for sociology!) but I hadn't realized how they'd be accompanied by this deep and immediate "always been at war with Eastasia" amnesia. Amazing.
We spent months trying to get masks accepted as a scientifically reasonable precaution! (Now seems we can't get it across that not all masks are equal). A whole year trying to get authorities (mostly in Western nations) to emphasize ventilation and indoors as risks! lol folks.
To emphasize: I am *completely* on the side of science—the enterprise, the method, the miracle of it all. I am in awe of what scientists have done last year. It was an annus mirabilis for science and annus horribilis for humanity. But "follow the science" has become a talisman.
It's been an incredible year. Scientific achievements of past year are mind-blowing. I don't think it has completely sunk in, because just like anything we get used to, we're immediately taking the successes for granted. Appreciating that without worshiping its platonic shadow...
