Dangers Of Popular Science

Popular science can be biased, corrupted, and – on occasion – wrong.

We don’t necessarily live with facts but hypotheses and theories. Some are celebrated; some are ridiculed. The celebrated ones are approved of by today’s science and promoted in the media. The ridiculed ones aren’t. There are a few problems with this approach.

#1 Science is evolving.

Over time some theories advance while others get discarded. Our science is neither definitive nor complete and, in many areas, operates on educated guesses.

 

#2 Promotion is expensive.

The popular theories are profitable to someone, some industry or special interests. The fortune spent on marketing and advertising isn’t spent to benefit you and me; it is invested to generate profit.

 

#3 Science (and often, the media) did and does serve power.

Many well-promoted scientific discoveries serve the interests of society at large, not the individual.

 

#4 History repeats itself.

It happened many times in the past that brilliant scientists who were ahead of their time were ridiculed and even persecuted, only to be vindicated years after their deaths. (The same is true of some excellent scientific concepts.)

 

The theories we all know were – for one reason or another – well-promoted. Other great theories are little known because their inventors either didn’t have funds for promotion, refused to compromise their integrity, or plainly, didn’t intend to make money on them.

 

Be skeptical every time you’re given a DEFINITIVE solution (there are extremely few “definitive” solutions; there are only “working” solutions) by a PROFESSIONAL (a person motivated by money).

Don’t be a sheep! It is the herd mentality – not scientific evidence! – that makes popular science socially acceptable.

Be careful passing judgment on alternative theories and solutions. They may not be inferior to the recognized ones; they may come without ulterior motives; and who knows, perhaps someday – some of them – will be recognized as superior to our “popular science”.

 

Photo by Steffen Junginger on Unsplash