Science is Hard, but it is easy to see it is right

[cthulu2016]

I have the usual contempt for the flat-earthers and creationists but it is important to remember that their problem does not come from being stupid, but from being stupid about their choice of authorities.

We all rely on authorities to some degree. 90% of folks who believe in the right answers on scientific matters don't really understand the specifics very deeply. They (we) have a micro-belief in science-like thinking in their experience, and a macro-belief in the whole system of science and right answers and such.

And they are right to credit science, without really understanding all of it. No scientist understands all of science so everybody is buying into the super-structure of science.

Not very long ago the population of the world was counted in millions. Now it is counted in billions. And (for good or ill) that is the result of scientific world, and is proof that science works. Works hard. We could have numbered in the billions starting any century in human history, but we didn't.

Anyone looking at the world should conclude that, love it or hate it, science f'ing works in a way that religion and nationalism and such do not.

An aside: I love doing this to economic libertarians... they say that the world economy went to hell when we went off the gold standard. I will gesture at the world we see and note that all these skyscrapers, all these jets, all these roads and houses and trips to the moon and GPS and smart phones and artificial hips... all produced by a failed economic theory in a mere century. The "good" economic theory developed almost no wealth. The horrible "can't possibly work" economic theory is feeding about 5 Billion people the "good" theory demonstrated, over millenia, it could not. There is no argument to even be had. he great majority of wealth and material well-being ever created for human beings was created by "bad" economics with blinding speed. One can decry the modern world—that's a different question—but most of hose 5 billion people say they would rather exist than not exist, so there is great human utility there. And they exist because of science and "bad" economics. I call it the "look the fuck around" test. And it is even more pointed with science. Nothing funnier than people posting on the internet that science is lame. Maybe so... but it managed to get even people who reject science on the fucking internet! That's more impressive than pictures on toast.

So we throw our support behind science. But it isn't like most folks (most means most, not "any&quot who are not creationists have a solid scientific mental model of the history of the Earth. Most people who believe evolution don't have a very good sense of it. (Which creationists know, and thus are good at attacking most people think evolution is, which can be done because what most people think is not quite right.)

Now, I am not dissing anyone's scientific understanding. Many people have a deep understanding of all sorts of things. But even top scientists credit certain views because they are part of the whole science system. Few physicists are top flight medical thinkers, and visa-versa. And that reliance on science is not faith. It is a conclusion based on reason.

Say the new Boeing Macrojet 1750 (not real) has wings coming out of the top and looks like it couldn't possibly fly. I would expect it to fly, though. Not based on faith in Boeing, but based on tons and tons of evidence that Boeing has put out new models of plane for a long time and they all fly.

I have a good understanding of evolution, but a very basic view of physics and cosmology. Show me a creature and I can talk about intelligently about why developed a certain way. But I do not have any gut level view of whether the universe expanded at many, many times the speed of light for a few moments after the big bang.

A few people do, but I sure don't. There's nothing sensible about it! But I have a lot of evidence to credit in the methods and practices that lead to the belief that happened.


To recap: These folks are not all dumb. Many are, but one can be quite clever while buying into the wrong intellectual infrastructure. Their problem is that they fail to credit the demonstrated power of the whole enterprise of science.

[longship]

1. Nicely done, cthulhu2016.

And I agree, they are not dumb. But they may be dogmatic, which may very well be worse.

R&K