askyermom

That’s a trick question of course, in that I’m being tricky and also not asking a question. It just irritates me that people are discussing scientific opinions these days as if it is a real thing. It is not a real thing.

See, opinion is defined as a view, judgment or appraisal. Your opinion on any given thing is simply your view based on the information you have at that moment. It’s important to you because you went to the trouble of making up your mind and forming that opinion, at least for the time being.

Can you think of a time when your opinion changed? Did you love chocolate bunnies as a kid and then later form the opinion that they are not lovable, since you noticed they are made of garbage-style chocolate? It’s a common betrayal. I have side eye for even fancy chocolate bunnies now. The chances of disappointment are extremely high. They are almost always hollow too. What a travesty.

Opinion can change with a different view point or different information. “That’s just your opinion,” is a phrase all of us can remember hearing in an offensive blurt from some other kid. “It’s just your opinion” makes it sound like it’s nothing more than a little footnote underfoot. So rude.

Now, you might guess that I’m going to suggest that science is very different from opinion, but they also share some confusing similarities. Science, like opinion, can change over time with new information.

Back in my chocolate bunny fancier stage, I used to think of science as a static set of facts that held steady and just had new bits and bobs tacked on it. My idea was that science facts were like a hard, frozen planet. Over time, moons might be discovered and new details could be found, but the basic planet facts were knowable and could be carved in stone with confidence: they would just carry on flying around and being true.

Actually, no. I was very much mistaken in that opinion about science.

Scientific knowledge is expanding in every direction and becoming more complex and more interconnected all the time. The tools we have for looking at things, like each new space telescope, open up more and more for us to see and wonder about.

There’s so much happening in science that no one person can absorb all of our science in depth. That’s fine by me. I like to splash around in the shallow parts anyway. I think most of us share that contentment with the shallows. We love a little information snack. We don’t have to eat everybody’s information lunch.

Because we cannot be entirely confident of what the science shows, we have to rely on experts who talk to other experts to check their work. If an experiment can’t be duplicated and cannot also be studied for quality, it’s not going to get sustained attention from experts–and that’s a good thing. They are sifting away poor quality information and saving everyone some time.

It’s like if I show up and try to return my sofa for a refund. Where’s my receipt? Where’s the evidence that it’s even my own sofa? Nobody is going to be distracted for long with the large boxy item I am showing them if I don’t also have the evidence to support my claim.

That’s a lot like how science works. You can claim anything you like, but without evidence that shows up every time for everyone, you just have a wild idea or sometimes a wild lie, not a scientific item of interest.

People are curious about who is paying for scientific studies. This should be right on the receipt, of course. While it’s possible for results to be purchased, they are not going to stand up to scrutiny if they are not also valid. Scrutiny needs to come from other groups to be actual scrutiny. You can’t rely on one lab, one time. If you do, you’re just begging to be embarrassed about cold fusion.

Anyway, a scientific opinion is still just an opinion, but the opinion of a scientist in their field is something a lot more credible. In that case, their stand has been tested and unless it’s way out on the fringe, it should be understandable for most of us.

It’s uncomfortable to rely on experts, but we do it anyway. We can’t all be renaissance moms who do it all. I’m not going to learn all about mortar, I’m going to call the brick guy and listen to what he has to say.

It’s up to you who you listen to and who you believe. It’s work to figure this stuff out and it takes time to understand complex problems. It can take even more time to understand simple problems.

It’s okay to say, “I haven’t taken time to think that one through.” You don’t have to have an opinion about everything.

Science doesn’t care if you like it. Science will not say, “I told you so.” Usually.

Good science is always getting closer to the truth.

If someone is only confusing you more and more with their scientific opinions, they are almost certainly lying–or maybe just a very poor source.

Just remember: opinion is held by a person, science is held by a community.

Keep asking questions!!

Love,
yermom

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