Originally shared by Charles Younger
“…Ironically, these campaigns of denial demonstrate that it is not easy to manipulate the scientific consensus.
“I have written about scientific consensus previously. The consensus is often dismissed as an argument from authority, but this is not a valid application of that fallacy. The power of science is that conclusions are crowd-sourced among experts, and are self-correcting with new evidence. Individual quirky opinions average out, and ideas have to go through the meat-grinder of peer-review and the scientific community.
“The scientific process, as imperfect as it is because it is executed by humans, is the closest thing we have to a pure meritocracy. Logic and evidence are what matter. That argument has been used to dismiss the consensus, but ironically that is why the consensus should not be blithely dismissed.
“Of course reality is complex, and not every scientific consensus is created equal. The questions you have to ask yourself are – how robust is the consensus, how mature is the science, are there any serious minority opinions or differences among various fields, and how legitimate is the scientific discipline and relevant areas of expertise…”
http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/scientific-consensus-and-corporate-influence/
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