Which ‘Science’ Do You Believe?
The pandemic is killing the myth of The Science. But are we ready to embrace an uncertain reality?
This the fifth post in a series on the pandemic and its impact on progress and problem solving. In the last post, we looked at the crisis of expertise.
The pandemic challenges even the strongest enclaves of expertise. Our most respected universities and professions are under siege. Most disruptively, we’re learning that our most vaunted institution, The Science, doesn’t exist at all.
The Science is a figment of our collective imagination. It’s called whenever one needs an all-purpose statement of authority: We need decisions based on the science, the data, the facts. Similarly, when broad objections to sciences are levelled, they are frequently rooted in these same authoritarian terms. Merrill Matthews asked liberals, “Will someone please tell me which ‘science’ I am supposed to believe?” Rush Limbaugh was more pointed, remarking, “We didn’t elect a president to defer to a bunch of health experts that we don’t know…
