“I tried to say when science does its thing in its own insular world, who gets it but you guys.”
What guys? Do you mean the 7 billion people on the planet? Science is the complete opposite of insular — it is everywhere and most people use science in their jobs everyday. We learned the method in Grade 6 and knew it well before starting college.
What is insular is a small group of people, primarily in the southern US, who think they have a counter argument challenging the validity of scientific method, but who in reality have no idea what science is. Most of the world has absolutely no desire to educate these skeptics. Why should they?
You claim for non scientists that with proof it is clear sailing, but that’s not true. Evolution is case in point. The body of evidence was massive before the discovery of DNA and the human gnome project that mapped our mutations, yet there are still holdouts even after the Pope conceded. Facts do not matter when they are not listening. I have yet to meet a single person who claims to not believe in evolution who can correctly explain what evolution is. Their rejection is not based on the facts at hand, but their long-held beliefs. That’s as insular as it gets.
What is clear to most of the world is that the science community represents everyone, from the most evil companies and leaders, to the universities and independent researchers to all those that toil in R&D in companies everywhere. Good guys and bad. With that breadth of input, the two most important things for all us in a world of misinformation is Consider the Source, and Fact Check for yourself.
Consider the source is even more important to those who don’t have the education. Those people should still recognize that when all the major universities write a joint letter to the world saying climate change is happening and human pollution is playing a role, it is clear that their only motive is preservation of life. They have no monetary stake. In fact there is a better chance they lose corporate funding for speaking up. What’s more, their delivery is calm, professional, clear and decisive, and it lacks the fever pitched hype you speak of. Conversely when a handful of other scientists that are tied to fossil fuel companies and have billions of dollars at stake attempt a counter argument saying the other scientists are wrong, it is a fever pitched pitch full of false data. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize they are not telling the truth even without understanding all the facts.
But again, the world had no desire to convince gullible skeptics of anything when they are impervious to facts. A decline in science in America is a window of opportunity elsewhere.
