Recently I had a "discussion" with a friend about the "controversial" topic of the "Theory" of Evolution. It started from an innocuous topic of scientific nature, of which I cannot remember, then led to vaccination, and as the arguments heat up, it became quite clear that she didn't understand Science in general. She is educated, well read and trained as a teacher, but does not believe in certain areas of science. This worries me that even highly educated people can have skewed believes to the point of ignoring proven scientific theories, and cherry-picking facts to suit their argument. That's confirmational bias, look it up.
I'm sure most people have noticed the incredible prevalence and saturation of mis-information and pseudo-science in the blogosphere and social media. Prevalence being a scientific word, look it up. The freedom of information brought us the notion that everyone is entitled to an opinion. Opinions are unfortunately, not fact, despite what you believe. It is hard to navigate around all the information around the Internet or even news, when you have high profile people like the US President who can blatantly state false claims in public forums as truths.
Earth is not flat.
The Theory of Gravity is real.
Vaccination does not cause austism.
The Theory of Evolution is not a light-hearted contemplation on a whim.
Yes, everyone is entitled to an opinion. To me, that opinion mainly aimed towards your preference of colour, or ice cream flavour, or why your neighbour's dog pooped on your lawn; but one cannot make a scientific claim based on their opinion. As a scientist (broadly speaking, with Wikipedia definition: a person who engages in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge that describes and predicts the natural world), I find it incredibly insulting especially when decades of studying (most scientists I know go through literally decades of Tertiary training) get reduced to an "opinion" that has about the same weight as a "claim" by someone with no science training. Just because you believe in something you found on the Internet, does not make it true, and you'd be delusional to think that it is.
Don't believe in everything you read
Scientists are trained not to make assumptions, be inquisitive about all facts, and to deduce conclusions carefully. That's why we never make claims with 100% guarantee, or absolute answers. However, the biggest advantage that sets us Homo Sapiens apart from the rest of the primates is abstract thinking. By observing what the others have done before, I can understand the reasoning, and deduce the same results without having to do it myself. So when we read a well designed study, we learn to criticise and appraise it and decide if its outcomes are relevant or valid. That, takes years of training. Everyone can read a "fact", but not everyone can decipher if a claim is factual.
The argument I had with my friend led me to a horrid realisation that people, seemingly highly education people, can and will believe in anything. Belief is a funny thing. We like to think that we are logical animals, with reasoning capacity. Not always true. Opinions led us to believe that Paleo diet will solve all your health problems, you will slim down to a single-digit body fat % and wear a tanned grin always like the celebrity chef. Reality is that not only is there no basis to the claim, but people are physically and irreversibly harmed by these food fads.
Have an opinion, but don't treat it as a fact.
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