I honestly hadn’t ever heard the concept of scientific consensus before reading about it while exploring Melanie Trecek-King’s Thinking Is Power website. There’s so much that seems to have been left out of my education, and I wouldn’t be surprised a lot of folks haven’t heard about it either.
These days, I ask, “What’s the scientific consensus on XYZ?” where XYZ is whatever claim is being pushed, sold, or peddled. Scientific consensus is worth a closer look.
via Triple Pundit
Attention: Fight Falsehood
You’d think that, today, with so much access to information, it would be easier to tell truth from lie. You’d think that truth sparkles like a gem, while lies gather like stacks of coal. But these days, lies sparkle more than truth. Pseudoscience, false claims, are also designed to fool people. One tool to fight falsehood is the concept of scientific consensus.
Interest: What Is Scientific Consensus?
When I think of what consensus is, it seems like it’s about people agreeing and compromising. But that’s not scientific consensus. Scientific consensus makes sense as a preponderance of evidence resulting from research, experiments, and peer review…and, all the experts who study the science of a topic are convinced by that evidence that something is true. Scientific consensus doesn’t mean that facts are written in stone, never-changing. But it does mean that what is agreed on IS backed up by evidence, can change in the face of new evidence. So, while there is no 100% surety, it’s the best evidence of what we know agreed upon by experts.
Desire: The Strength of Agreement
When I accept the evidence in alignment with scientific consensus, I am joining real experts in the field. As such, false claims that aren’t backed up by real scientific evidence can be disregarded. The strength of that agreement is comforting in a way that fake beliefs can’t challenge or measure up to.
Action: Stand with Science
As you watch television, and that commercial for XYZ drug comes on, make sure you use scientific consensus to separate fact from fiction, truth from lie. Before you click or tap the share button on Facebook for an amazing story, take a moment to find out what the scientific consensus is. At first, you may feel disappointment that yet another claim is false. In time, though, you will come to a different perspective that aligns what you choose to agree with with the scientific consensus.