Is it a bad idea to broadly tell people to just "trust the science"? I think so.
The reason stems from my thinking that all of the following are important and true (and too often overlooked) regarding science:
1) A lot of science is real AND valuable to society.
2) A lot of "science" is actually fake - see, for instance, a decent percentage of papers in psychology 15 years ago.
3) "Science" (as an approach to knowledge discovery) is one of humanity's greatest inventions - but in pra...
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dichotomous thinking
Four extremely bad ideas that have been popular
Here are four incredibly bad ideas (that are still commonly believed):
1) That people should be judged for, blamed for, or feel shame about the behavior of their ancestors.
Of course, if your ancestors did bad things, you should condemn those acts. And if you directly benefit from something bad your family member did, you should consider if you can make amends.
But, logically, people cannot be morally responsible for events that they were unable to affect.
This bad idea (th...
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How Ideology Eats Itself
A quick primer on how to be a genuinely good person who harms the world:
1: Start to think that one ideology you like - which contains genuine benefits, truths, and positive moral elements - might be the only valid perspective.
2: Surround yourself with believers until you're convinced that your view is common and normal.
3: Ignore your own doubts so that you can fit in better. Join in on chastising (and eventually ostracizing) insiders who doubt too much. Punish slightly more hars...
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