Bill Nye’s words about the current administration’s rejection of climate change are an important reminder of the crucial importance of science in developing policy. In some ways it’s the most important thing human beings have ever invented: a way of asking questions about the world that steadily converges on the truth. While individual scientists are prone to the various errors and fallacies human beings share, the scientific method offers a pathway to genuine understanding that has brought us hygiene, vaccines, airplanes, computers, and historically unprecedented power and influence over the world around us.
But scientific inquiry also yields facts which may make us uncomfortable, contradict our cherished beliefs, or undermine our self-importance. For example, the Trump administration’s claims about climate change and America’s energy economy crumble under scrutiny, which explains their eagerness to cut funding for science and research.
But hiding or suppressing the truth doesn’t make it less true; it just means that we’re more likely to be unprepared for it. When one of America’s most faithful advocates of intellectual freedom, sounds an urgent warning, we ignore his advice at our peril.
– Warren Senders