Of which we will all be hearing a lot in years to come. Marks points out that politicians who insist that their beliefs represent science might be surprised by the checkered history of that view:
· George Washington died because too much “bad blood” was drained from his body by attending physicians.
· I was one of the victims of the “dangerous fad” of removing kid’s tonsils. (I couldn’t swallow for days.) The “settled science” said tonsillectomies were a panacea for preventing throat infections. The widespread practice of surgeons collecting tonsils ended in the 1970’s.
· The human appendix used to be thought of as vestigial but is now known to be involved in immune and other functions.
· Junk DNA , once thought to be useless remnants of an evolutionary past, has proved to be vital in the reproduction process.
If many theories that were “settled science” of the past have been debunked, why should we believe science has everything right today?
Robert J. Marks, “Should we really “listen to science”? What should we listen for?” at Mind Matters News
Political correctness is not science.
See also: Study shows eating raisins causes plantar warts. Sure. Because, if you torture a Big Data enough, it will confess to anything. (Robert J. Marks)
and
New book outlines the perils of big, meaningless data. Gary Smith, co-author with Jay Cordes of Phantom Patterns, shows why human wisdom and common sense are more important than ever now.