39: The Dogma of Science   April 24th, 2020

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Lily: Science requires faith too. You have to believe other people when they describe what they've observed in a study. You can't verify all science by repeating it yourself, it would take forever. And a lot of science ends up being faulty because of biases.
Simon: Science has a pretty thorough system for that. But you're right, I am trusting the experts, and it's hard to weed out bias in certain areas.
Lily: Some people treat science like dogma, though, and if someone has a personal or political opinion they disagree with, they accuse that person of being anti-science.
Simon: Yeah, science can't tell us what norms we should be okay with, it can only tell us what's most likely to happen. Like, science can tell you that cigarettes make you more likely to get certain diseases, but it can't tell you that they should be banned.
Lily: But banning addictive substances solves all our problems.
Simon: I know. Life is so simple that way.