[FRIAM] Science Commits Suicide (yes, another trolling headline)

[Prof David West]

idle thoughts from overlapping reading experience the past two days.

The cop kneeling on George's neck had 18 prior complaints for excessive force and/or violations of department policy and remained in good standing.  Lots of writing about similar situations in police departments around the country including Albuquerque and the shooting of the homeless man a few years back.

Police departments lose credibility because they will not police themselves. They will not police themselves because they have an institutional culture that centers on "Us versus Them" and We are the Good Guys, They are the bad guys. This quickly becomes We can do no wrong. Any apparent error by one of ours must be excused and rationalized. We cannot admit even the smallest or slightest error.  

Science suffers from a similar problem. Making assertions as if they were unalloyed accurate and True Facts when they know that the models, the assumptions, the data (lack of) generate more ambiguity and conclude little more than probabilities. And they constantly change. But Science remains unable to admit to error or ambiguity — generating a facade that is just as false as the "We are always in the right" facade of police departments.

Politicians amplify the problem when they assert, "We will do what "The Science" tells us" as if "The Science" is clear, absolute, and inerrant.

Do not be surprised when "the people" recognize the reality behind the facade and, making their own error, dismiss, devalue, or discard Science.

davew