Andrew Peacock
asked
Neil deGrasse Tyson:
Hey Neil, I’ve noticed that certain individuals respond to the realms of climate change or COVID-19 vaccinations by pointing fingers at cases in which scientific expertise has failed them — such as the abuse of DDT/insecticides, or our anthropocentric understanding of Earth’s location in the universe. How do you respond to people who attribute their distrust in scientific authorities to these precedents?
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Excellent question. Often they are cherrypicking failures and ignoring the successes. 35,000 people die each year in the US in auto accidents. Yet people continue to drive cars every day. So what people cherrypick seems to be a matter of their religion, politics, or culture, and not something based on rational statistical analysis.
More broadly, science on the frontier will be wrong most of the time. That's the whole point of repeated observations and experiments. Only when there's scientific agreement from multiple research paths can we declare that science has established an objective truth. And when that happens, it's not later shown to be false.
In Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization, there's a whole chapter that explores the meaning of scientific truths.
FYI: The press likes to report on new scientific results, without the benefit of confirmatory studies. So when a conflicting study comes along, which is perfectly normal an natural on the frontier, the public is left thinking that scientists don't know what they're taking about.
More broadly, science on the frontier will be wrong most of the time. That's the whole point of repeated observations and experiments. Only when there's scientific agreement from multiple research paths can we declare that science has established an objective truth. And when that happens, it's not later shown to be false.
In Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization, there's a whole chapter that explores the meaning of scientific truths.
FYI: The press likes to report on new scientific results, without the benefit of confirmatory studies. So when a conflicting study comes along, which is perfectly normal an natural on the frontier, the public is left thinking that scientists don't know what they're taking about.
More Answered Questions
Poncio Pulido
asked
Neil deGrasse Tyson:
Hello Dr. Tyson, Is the multiverse the interpretation of time?
Lisa Munroe
asked
Neil deGrasse Tyson:
I'm curious what you'd think of microscopic aliens visiting earth? Other than bacteria or viruses catching a ride on a meteoroid to us, this idea may only be realized in the realm of science fiction. Still I think it's an interesting thought that a microscopic earth life form might have the scientific advances of another civilization shared with it while humans are too busy on their phones to realize it.
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