General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why Do Many Reasonable People Doubt Science? [View all]alarimer
(16,245 posts)People are too dumb to know how dumb they are.
I also see a lot of logical fallacies, especially confusing correlation with causation and confirmation bias.
But I also think we are not taught critical thinking skills and how to evaluate methodology. I only learned when I took stats.
Someone breathlessly reporting that some chemical is found in, say, 90% of people. But they don't evaluate the study on its merits; sample size for instance, statistical significance, or the actual numbers involved. We have a lot of chemicals in our bodies, but that doesn't mean they are all dangerous at the levels that occur. The dose makes the poison, as they say. Oxygen is poisonous at high enough concentrations.
Something like GMO labeling sounds good, on its face. After all, who doesn't want to know what's in our food? The problems becomes how do you define it, because there are a lot of different methods out there that all fall under the label, none of which have been shown to be harmful and some (golden rice, as I keep harping on) might actually be very beneficial.