Thread by @SteB777

"Bernie Sanders demands that RFK Jr step down as health secretary"

I entirely agree with @BernieSanders. Although the problem is much bigger than just RFK Jr. It's a general problem of science denial promoted by Trump, and the right in general.

1/🧵theguardian.com/us-news/2025/a…

Of course, I was particularly thinking about Trump's promotion of climate change denial, and his other attacks conservation, and pollution control, appointing science denying cranks, to key positions.
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The scientific method may not be infallible or perfect, but it is by far the best means we have about understanding the world we live in. Much, much better, than all the cranks that try to undermine it.
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Yes, some of these cranks denying or seeking to undermine science, may have scientific qualifications, although most don't. However, these contrarians, do not adhere to the scientific method, and nor do they post their paid for lies, in scientific journals.
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You see, the scientific method may not be perfect, but it has built in self-correction mechanisms, which mean that over time, bad science or erroneous science, is corrected and supplanted. This is because of the way science works.
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Science is published in peer review papers, where through mechanisms like replicability and falsifiability, other scientists can challenge questionable science, and build their own careers, by overturning weak or flawed science.

6/understandinghealthresearch.org/useful-informa…

No other academic discipline, has these mechanisms. The forerunner of science, Natural Philosophy, used to heavily rely on the assertions of leading authorities, including long dead ones. So it got bogged down in mistaken assertions.
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The motto of one of, if not the oldest scientific society, the Royal Society, is Nullius in verba, take no one's word for it, and it is the evidence that counts, not who the person who made this assertion is, and their reputation.

8/royalsociety.org/about-us/who-w…

You will hear those like RFK Jr claiming that experts should be ignored, because sometimes they are mistaken. What Kennedy is relying on is the public's ignorance of the difference between scientific experts, and academic experts in other fields.
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Again, science works, despite being imperfect, because of these correction mechanisms. Whilst even in science, people can take too much notice of experts arguing from authority, there are reliable methods to contradict authorities over time.
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This is not the same in other academic disciplines, where there is no reliable methodology, for contradicting the assertion of respected authorities, often from the past. Science doesn't rely on Darwin, for validating evolutionary science.
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I did write a thread about this 4 1/2 years ago.

It has since got far worse, and as you can see I identified the usual suspects for science denial, and their motivations.

12/threadreaderapp.com/thread/1345294…

George Monbiot was inspired to write an article, inspired by my thread.

It appears that little has been learning, and the problem has gone from bad to worse.

13/theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

It is very dangerous to start ignoring the scientific method, which has created a much better understanding of the world we live in, just because some vested interests, and billionaires, find some findings of science, inconvenient, and a nuisance to their agenda.
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Those who deny science for ideological or vested interest reasons, are highly selective in what scientific evidence they deny, and what they accept. This selectivity, is not based on evidence, but vested interest.
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@threadreaderapp unroll