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- Scientific findings are hypotheses that encompass the state of knowledge at a given moment. In the long run, many of are challenged and even overturned. Doubt might be troubling, but it impels us towards a better understanding; certainties, as reassuring as they may seem, in fact undermine the scientific process.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-doubt-is-essential-to-science/
Oct 24, 2019 · Short answer: no. The main reason this is so is simply that such a thing as the scientific method does not exist. As historian of science Daniel P. Thurs has explained, the so-called scientific method (at least when understood to be some sort of universal, discipline neutral method) is a myth.
Oct 12, 2020 · But doubt in science is a feature, not a bug. Indeed, the paradox is that science, when properly functioning, questions accepted facts and yields both new knowledge and new questions—not certainty. Doubt does not create trust, nor does it help public understanding.
- A Communications Challenge
- Finding Common Ground
- Covid-19 and Climate Change Have Shifted The Landscape
- Leaving Room For Doubt
This constant uncertainty in the research process is one of the things that makes communicating science to the general public so challenging. Citizens need facts to be stable in order to trust them. But scientific knowledge evolves constantly. It’s perfectly normal for scientists to express reservations about their judgments and opinions, to wait u...
What can help bridge the communications gap? First, it is important to explain concepts and present data in a language citizens can understand. “It’s not an easy task,” says Ursula Oesterle, EPFL’s Vice President for Innovation. “Scientists need to check whether their statements are simple and easy to grasp, yet accurate and based on proven facts.”...
The relationship between science and society is far from static. It shifts in response to the emerging challenges that researchers must tackle. For instance, the COVID-19 pandemichas prompted people to think about the role that scientists and scientific research should have in discussions on societal issues.* The response to COVID-19 showed that wh...
At the end of the day, it’s all about acting prudently: taking the right precautions early on based on identified risks, regardless of whether there may be a margin of error or whether the danger could potentially be misperceived. With the pandemic, and – on a larger scale, from the perspective of human life – climate change, we are perhaps enterin...
Apr 23, 2022 · I examine whether people’s beliefs about the balance of beneficial and harmful results, levels of uncertainty in scientific knowledge, and the pursuit of self-interests by scientists are associated with confidence in the scientific community.
Rather than a weakness of science, uncertainty and awareness of that uncertainty is a driving force for scientific advancement. As physicist Lawrence M. Krauss put it: “science has taught us over the years that certainty is largely an illusion.
People also ask
Do certainties undermine the scientific process?
How does uncertainty affect science?
Does uncertainty denigrate science?
Does science attain certainty by the scientific method?
Do people who perceive greater uncertainty have less confidence in science?
Is science about certainty?
Communicating uncertainty outside the scientific arena is an important issue. Some view the notion of probabilistic prediction as too complex for the public to understand.
