Tag: Consensus science

Circle of people. Teamwork. Business meeting. Negotiations, reaching consensus in disagreements. Joint problem solving. Conflict resolution through dialogue. Compromise. Cooperation and collaboration

^{Type
post

Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
May 10, 2021

Categorized
Machine Learning, Mathematics

Tagged
AMISTAD lab (Harvey Mudd), Bayes' Theorem, Consensus, Consensus (of experts), Consensus (valid consensus), Consensus science, Featured, Jay Richards}

Consensus Gives Us Information Only If We Are Free to Doubt

_{Jonathan Bartlett

May 10, 2021

3

Machine Learning, Mathematics}

There are so many credentialed people on the internet with sufficiently differing views that it sometimes seems as if we could find an expert somewhere to support almost any harebrained idea. So how does a non-expert figure out the truth? Most of us lack the time, training, and inclination to investigate most subjects sufficiently so we are often urged to adopt the consensus opinion. While an individual expert may have wild and crazy ideas, the consensus will most likely be an average informed view. But it’s not that simple. Most of the time it is impossible for the public to determine the consensus opinion. What is usually labeled as consensus opinion is what media believe it to be. And the Read More ›

Stethoscope on an old book of medicine, conceptual image

^{Type
post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
October 13, 2020

Categorized
Science

Tagged
Bronx Zoo, Consensus science, Correlation vs causation, Eugenics, Featured, George Washington, Junk DNA, Lysenkoism, Margaret Sanger, Michael Crichton, Politics, Racism, Settled science, Spurious Correlations (website), Trofim Lysenko, Vestigial organs}

Should We Really “Listen to Science”? What Should We Listen For?

_{Politicians who insist that their beliefs represent science might be surprised by the checkered history of that view} _{Robert J. Marks

October 13, 2020

7

Science}

This political season, politicians are telling us to “listen to science.” But buyer beware. The politicization of science is a long and sad history of so-called “scientific truths” that were not only mistaken but resulted in tragedy. Those who know a bit of this history should be wary of politicians’ table-pounding claims on topics ranging from climate change to COVID. In a 2003 lecture at Caltech, Michael Crichton, MD (pictured in 2002, courtesy Jon Chase CC BY-SA 3.0), author of great science fiction including Jurassic Park, noted, “science has in some instances been seduced by the more ancient lures of politics and publicity.” For example, racism was “settled science” in the early 20th century. So was eugenics, the so-called science Read More ›