Science has a been suffering a bit of a public relations setback in the US since the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the lost trust has come from fierce political fighting over worldviews, some perhaps from scientific organizations taking political stances, and some from disagreements over changing public health policies during COVID lockdowns.
Whatever the reason for shaken trust, we imperil ourselves if we confuse the culture and institutions of science (which are social things that one is free to like or not) and science as a way of knowing. (It’s like the difference between Kuhn and Russell.)
Science as a way of knowing (i.e. epistemology) has given us essentially all modern technology. It is accepting that we don’t know how this world works, but that if we can just poke at it one piece at a time, carefully and systematically, we can start figuring it out in painfully small parts a little by little. Once you know (really know through scientific inquiry) how something works, like a molecule or an organ, engineers can exploit it to give us satellites and pacemakers. Knowing in other ways, like intuitively, theologically, or emotionally, are all valid (and fun and meaningful) ways to know the world. But those ways can’t be used by engineers to turn germ poop into insulin.
Thus, science as way of knowing is a benefit to all humanity. Support for it and trust in it should be widespread and unequivocal. It’s the most effective way of knowing about the natural world around us that we have. When specific institutions or scientific culture needs changing it should be changed without interrupting science itself, which has given us the greatest material bounties our civilization has ever known.
The Podcast: Holy Shift!
To help explain to the science skeptics, the science curious, and the science enthusiasts all the amazing things that biomedical scientists are working on for our community right now, I am helping to launch a podcast where we talk to those very scientists. It’s available in all the usual podcast places.
Holy Shift! Biomedical Breakthroughs Shaping Tomorrow
Step inside the world of biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. Holy Shift! brings you fast, inspiring conversations with the researchers creating engineering breakthroughs that improve health health — from new imaging tools to personalized treatments — to show why their work matters for all of us.
It’s awesome for many reasons, but one is that we get the people who come on to explain what they’re up to and what drives them in a way where you don’t need a bachelor’s degree to understand. Hearing these scientists talk, you get a real sense of who they are and why their work is so important for our communities. I hope this will help people understand and appreciate how much today’s science is improving our lives. And I hope you’ll join us for these conversations.