1w ago

Lying increases trust in science, study finds

phys.org

7 comments

Hyde says that the problem is that, although scientific facts are taught at school, the facts "about" science are not taught well enough.
Bingo. They do a poor job teaching people:
That failures are not only expected, but welcome; they'll guide future successes.
That conflicts of interest do happen, and peer reviewing is a way to address them.
That the current leading theory on something is simply the current best explanation, not some immutable truth.
That science doesn't say "trust me"; it shows you the data, and asks you to find a better way to explain it.
We (people all around the world, I think?) also do a poor job at teaching ourselves basic rationality:
That you should get suspicious of any institution or group that only shows the good parts - they're likely hiding shit.
Why "trust me" is an insult towards the hearer's intelligence.
Why people shouldn't vomit certainty on things they cannot reliably know.
- Vomiting certainty... I like that turn of phrase!
The problem is that average people don't know what significance to attach to the "negative transparency". Which is why this is necessary:
Hyde is calling for a renewed effort to teach the public about scientific norms, which would be done through science education and communication to eliminate the "naïve" view of science as infallible.
Which is a different way of saying that the society suffers from the value of "obedience to authority" and the bad habit of cognitive offloading (having others think for you). This is the source of a lot of problems...
dont you mean entrust in pseudoscience. telling stem research for what it is, often dont reach laypersons expectation, so some of them fall for pseudoscience that seems to have an answer for everything.
an example would chronic lyme, which is a real disease, many people believe it solely because they have unexplained symptoms that may resemble some some symptoms of lyme disease. Also snakesoilman MDs, and industry around lyme reinforces these beliefs.
Oh yeah? We've got a lot of anti-vaxxers now, due in part to the lies told during the pandemic. I'm not seeing a lot of trust these days.
- They trust the lies
Nothing pushes the pursuit of Truth more than being lied to.

7 comments