Yeah, very true about not all science being viewed equal. If a scientist claims observation of a new phase of matter in some material, people will likely trust it even if they can't understand it. It's harder to dispute _exact_ (what's in a name) science than _social_ science. 

south_korea_ln

science

Can public trust in science survive a second battering?

0xbitcoiner

Here's the issue. Not all science is equal.

As a "science", the field of "public health" is more of a sociological science than a biological or physical one. Since it's based a lot more on human behavior, its results are not always broadly applicable beyond the social setting in which the research was conducted.  Therefore, making policy based on social scientific results needs to be done with way more caution and humility than was shown during COVID.

I'm a social scientist myself, so it's not like I don't think it's useful or that I don't trust it at all. But people have to be realistic about what it is and what it isn't.  And using social science to coerce people into lockdowns and all sorts of violations of liberty and conscience is way overstepping.
