No doubt Sagan would have said that, and one of science's great strengths is the ability to admit when it is wrong, but there is a great deal of importance in how we do that.
I have spent a great deal of time and effort in formal policy settings, traditional media and social media fighting creationists and other enemies of science. One of the things they love is turning science’s acknowledgement of mistakes from a strength to a weakness, via selective editing and misdirection; that means we need to be careful what we say. By using phrases such as ‘hopelessly wring’ and ‘most useless information’ we give them more fuel for the flames of ignorance.
I want to stress that I think Ethan’s blog is one of the most worthwhile things on the internet, and look forward to it eagerly. I simply would have preferred some more careful wording on this one.
