{"id":388735,"date":"2021-04-05T11:28:25","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T15:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=388735"},"modified":"2021-04-05T11:28:29","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T15:28:29","slug":"watch-scientist-unpacks-the-problem-with-follow-the-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-scientist-unpacks-the-problem-with-follow-the-science\/","title":{"rendered":"WATCH: Scientist Unpacks The Problem With \u2018Follow The Science\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwatch-scientist-unpacks-the-problem-with-follow-the-science%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=388735&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image.png?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>In a new&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.prageru.com\/video\/follow-the-science\/\">video<\/a> from PragerU, Brian Keating, professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego, and author of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Losing-Nobel-Prize-Cosmology-Ambition\/dp\/1324000910\"><em>Losing the Nobel Prize<\/em><\/a>, unpacks the inherent problem with the argument by politicians and activists that we should \u201cfollow the science.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI\u2019m an astrophysicist at a major university,\u201d Keating begins. \u201cScience is my life. But when I hear someone somberly intone \u2018science says\u2019 or \u2018follow the science,\u2019 I get very nervous.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The reason for this, Keating argues, is that \u201cScience doesn\u2019t belong to any ideology.\u201d Rather, \u201cScience is the never-ending search for new knowledge.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThat\u2019s what science means in Latin, by the way \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ancient.eu\/science\/\">knowledge<\/a>,\u201d Keating explains. \u201cNot wisdom. Not morality. Not social policy. Knowledge.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWhat we do with that knowledge is where wisdom, morality,&nbsp; and social policy enter the picture,\u201d Keating continues. \u201cKnowledge, it turns out, isn\u2019t so easy to come by. And sometimes what we think we know for certain (the earth sure does look flat when we\u2019re standing on it) turns out not to be so certain.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cOf course, I trust in basic scientific truths,\u201d Keating adds, \u201cthose things for which there is overwhelming evidence \u2014 like, say, gravity, evolution, or even that humans play a role in the warming of the planet.&nbsp;<\/span><span>But scientists, even the best ones, can get things wrong.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As an example Keating discusses \u201cthe brilliant astrophysicist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/nova\/article\/brilliant-blunders\/\">Sir Fred Hoyle<\/a>,\u201d who \u201cbelieved the universe existed in a steady state forever and had no beginning.\u201d However,&nbsp;<\/span><span>\u201chis view, once held sacrosanct by all astrophysicists, no longer holds,\u201d Keating explains. \u201cIt\u2019s been superseded by the Big Bang theory that the universe had a beginning and is still expanding.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As another example, Keating reminds us that \u201cIn the 20th century some of the most respected scientists in the world, including Nobel prize winners, believed in <a href=\"https:\/\/ir.law.fsu.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1336&amp;context=lr\">eugenics<\/a>, the reprehensible idea that the human race could be improved by selective breeding.&nbsp;<\/span><span>The National Academy of Sciences, the American Medical Association, and the Rockefeller Foundation supported it. By the middle of the century it had been thoroughly rejected as quackery. No reputable scientist would have anything to with this idea.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cSo, we all need to get over this notion that just because someone \u2014 be it a politician, a bureaucrat, or even a scientist \u2014 employs the phrase \u2018science says\u2019 means whatever they\u2019re saying is right,\u201d Keating notes. \u201cIt might be right. But it might also be wrong. And if it\u2019s wrong, it won\u2019t necessarily be a bunch of scientists who say it\u2019s wrong. It might be one guy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Keating then references Einstein, who <a href=\"http:\/\/content.time.com\/time\/subscriber\/article\/0,33009,993018-6,00.html\">quipped<\/a> after 100 German scientists argued that his theory of relativity was flawed, \u201cIf I were wrong, then one would\u2019ve been enough.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt takes a lot to convince scientists to accept a new theory, especially if that new theory refutes what they have always believed; in some cases what they\u2019ve staked their entire careers on,\u201d Keating continues. \u201cAs Richard Feynman, one of the most eminent physicists of the 20th century famously <a href=\"http:\/\/www.feynman.com\/science\/what-is-science\/\">said<\/a>, \u2018Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts\u2026\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Keating explains that \u201cwhat Feynman is saying is that a good scientist should always maintain a healthy amount of skepticism. Science is by its nature provisional. Science would stagnate if we merely accepted proclamations of past authorities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Keating then asks, \u201cSo, how do we do good science?\u201d This is not a new question, he notes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cSince the 17th century, scientists have employed the so-called <a href=\"https:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/entries\/scientific-method\/\">scientific method<\/a> to guide their work. It\u2019s not a perfect guide by any means, but it\u2019s pretty darn good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The method involves formulating a theory, predicting the evidence that should be found if the theory is true, collecting data, analyzing the data, and then refining the theory and presenting evidence to other experts.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Karl Popper, the philosopher, added another item to this list, <a href=\"https:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/entries\/popper\/\">saying<\/a> that \u201ca subject is scientific if and only if it can be falsified.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIn other words, if your theory can\u2019t be tested, if it can\u2019t be proven wrong, it\u2019s probably not good science,\u201d Keating explains. \u201cThis is just one reason why we have to be very careful about putting too much faith in \u2018models,\u2019\u201d because often they can\u2019t be tested.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cModels are predictions of the future based on current data. They can easily get things wrong,\u201d Keating continues. \u201cFirst of all, the future \u2014 in case you hadn\u2019t noticed \u2014 is very hard to predict. And the further out you go into the future, the less secure the prediction. Second, the data may be incomplete or even erroneous. It\u2019s human nature to want definitive answers. But science can\u2019t always offer those. Furthermore, science is not concerned with fashion, authority, or majority opinion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Follow the Science | 5 Minute Video\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XCM-QFyzI8U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>\u201c\u2018Case closed\u2019 is not a scientific expression,\u201d Keating adds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cScience is never closed. If it was closed after Newton, you\u2019d never have Einstein. Science has to be, first and always, about pursuing knowledge \u2014 not about advancing a social agenda, no matter how noble it might be. Science has no political party.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cOf course, politicians should use the best available science to help them make informed decisions,\u201d Keating acknowledges. \u201cBut, remember, scientific knowledge is not the same as wisdom. As the saying goes, \u2018knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cSo, let\u2019s continue to look to science for knowledge, knowledge we can use to improve the world,\u201d Keating concludes. \u201cBut let\u2019s not fool ourselves that science has all the answers to all our problems. It doesn\u2019t. That\u2019s one bit of wisdom this scientist can give you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i>PragerU is the world\u2019s leading educational nonprofit focused on changing minds through the creative use of digital media. You can make a&nbsp;<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/donate.prageru.com\/give\/316306\/#!\/donation\/checkout\"><i>tax-deductible donation here<\/i><\/a><i>&nbsp;to help PragerU continue to reach millions of young people with their videos.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i>member<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a new\u00a0video from PragerU, Brian Keating, professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego, and author of Losing the Nobel Prize, unpacks the inherent problem with the &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1893573,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-388735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1893573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}