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Statements posted on this blog represent the views of individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Center for Law Science & Innovation (which does not take positions on policy issues) or of the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law or Arizona State University.

Worldwide Web Watch

WWWJune 15, 2016

In a law school class called Law, Science and Technology, LSI faculty Gary Marchant and Yvonne Stevens, devote an entire class to the question “what is science?”  It can be a tricky question and in some ways, it is easier identified by what it is not.  Unfortunately, science is not only prone to misidentification, it is also liable to mistrust.   During a recent commencement address, reprinted in The New Yorker, surgeon and public health researcher Atul Gawande unwrapped the flaws that lead people, often highly educated people, to get the science wrong and down the path of mistrust.  Science is always subject to testing and re-testing.  There are no absolutes — as Gawande pointed out, “all knowledge is probable knowledge.”  Regrettably, private agendas and other reasons often bring out individuals cloaked as “scientists” who make pseudo-scientific claims, confusing and creating unfounded fears in the public.  These fears ultimately have a negative impact on the progress and acceptance of real science.  Gawande relayed how to best defend actual science, highlighting some dos and don’ts.  He closed the speech by setting out the role of the newly-minted scientist: to explain science and help “it reclaim [the] territory of trust.”