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Well . . . . .
Science is just fine. But people's confidence in science is shaky.
There is a strong anti-intellectual flavor to American culture. In the science area some of this is the fault of how science has been used and some of it is not.
Also science has been dragged -- selectively into the culture war arena. We are told to believe the science in some areas -- the left likes the science data for global warming but not human sexuality and when life begins and the right has those reversed.
There is little employment of what is known in my circles as the Gerstner Rule -- You do not have the right to debate an opponent until you can state to his satisfaction the point he is trying to make.
We evangelicals have a very sad anti intellectual , anti science component to our history. My son in law is helping write a multi volume history of Religion and Science in American Life.
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when science is used to cram a policy down our throats. Science says this (it may indeed) and I say this policy (with a myriad of permutation and effects on people's lives) is foretold by this science. That's a bridge too far. But the opposite is true as well and we see some of it in the pandemic. This is why I am against lockdowns but I'm for contact tracing, mask, isolating the known sick, isolating the vulnerable, etc. While all those things do not have 100% in every case, lockdown tight "science" supporting them . . . they are supported enough to warrant their application to the current situation given that these things don't infringe on people's right without good reason.
And then don't get me started on all the bad "science" in the news . . . chemo and me have been round and round with this whole idea that we don't have "immunity" to covid because of some waning IgG reactivity.
