Why Do Many Reasonable People Doubt Science Analysis

We live in a time of great confusion and debate. While some loudly proclaim climate change a hoax, others just as strongly say it’s real. In the twentieth century scientists hypothesized that fats were bad for the body, while now they say the body requires some fats to stay healthy. How can we know if what is considered safe today won’t be dangerous in the future? In the article “Why Do Many Reasonable People Doubt Science,” Joel Achenbach states that the American public doubts and has an extent of fear towards scientists. According to Achenbach, people are resistant towards the science community because of internal and external factors. A few of the internal factors he remarks are: the tendency to follow the major, lack of trust, and using personal experience or experiences of people close …show more content…
Achenbach mentions in the article that “the science tribe has a long track record of getting things right in the end,” but he doesn’t point out that until they actually get it right, the public must endure the consequences of their mistakes. Similar to the example I mentioned earlier about fats, Achenbach mentions that “it’s safe to eat food containing GMOs,” because there is “no evidence that it isn’t.” He doesn’t know if in the future evidence will be found proving that GMOs have negative effects and thus these scientist’s hypothesized statements cause the public uncertainty. It was the same way with nuclear weapons testing, the dropping of the first ever bomb on the city of Hiroshima had exponential effects that lasted for years long after the bomb was dropped. Thousands of people died that day, while those injured had to live with this experience for the rest of their lives. This example clearly shows the side of science that Achenbach doesn’t mention at all in his article, the side of science that doesn’t bring improvement to but instead