Follow the science

Here are three stupid statements : "Follow the Science". "Evidence-based decision making". "I believe in Science".

There are a myriad of statements in similar vein all equally stupid.

Credentialed scientists, media designated experts, world leaders and once august organisations use these stupid statements to buttress their very bad arguments.

They are charlatans of the worst kind. They are not just cheating in the argument but invariably are doing so in an attempt to rob you of your money and your freedom. They want bigger government, higher taxes, and less freedom. They invoke Science to their nefarious end.

They dismiss dissenters as deniers, greedies, evil, or some equally abusive personal epithet.

They are bullies.

“I believe the Science” is very stupid. Science is the antithesis of belief. You can believe in witchcraft if you want. To say you believe in science is to place science beside witchcraft.

Science is not concerned with what you believe but what is real. Ideas are tested against reality not canonical belief.

But more than that, science is vigorous in testing and tossing out bad ideas. That's how scientific knowledge grows so dramatically.

Scientists didn't "believe in" Newtonian mechanics but harshly tested it through Eddington's extraordinary journey to Principe to observe the deflection of light by the sun during a solar eclipse. Belief had nothing to do with it.

Someone saying their belief in science somehow makes them and their ideas superior should be dismissed instantly. They are charlatans attempting to claim a fake superiority.

Its the same for evidence-based decision making. There's a mountain of evidence that the sun goes round the earth. Or that Socialism works. But both propositions are false.

Evidence-based decision making is the sifting of evidence to defend an idea. That's the opposite of science. Science is the critical testing of competing ideas against reality. It's the searching out of the evidence that knocks your theory over.

"Follow the Science" is the most fatuous of all. It invariably means follow a scientist. No. Never. The 1660 motto of the Royal Society is "Nullius in verba" - "take nobody's word for it." Its not scientific authority that we should listen to but the facts.

When someone invokes science instead of reason and data, beware. They are attempting to cheat you and rob you.

They should be given less respect than the writer of horoscopes. At least the writer of horoscopes knows its bunk and they're not trying to upend the world.