“Follow the Science” — Part I

Ever since the outbreak of the worldwide Covid epidemic, our solons have been advocating that we just “follow the science.” Calls for following the science did not, however, begin with Covid. They have been a feature of those who fancy themselves to be the best and the brightest for a long time. Thus President Barak Obama declared his intent to restore “science to its proper place,” in his 2009 inaugural address.

Unfortunately, those most prone to hectoring the public about “following the science” are themselves often scientifically naïve. They imagine, or would portray, for their purposes, science as a pristine realm, inhabited only by objective truth-seekers, completely removed from all normal human venality, such as the desire for wealth and/or fame.

In addition, the proponents of following the science frequently overstate the degree to which science speaks with a uniform voice, or anything approaching it. And they fail to recognize the extent to which even the best “science” cannot translate to easy policy choices, as policymaking involves balancing a multitude of competing, and often conflicting, goals.

The British Medical Journal blog of July 5 carried a post by Richard Smith entitled “Time to assume that health research is fraudulent until proven otherwise?” Smith is the former editor of BMJ and the longtime chair of the Cochrane Library Oversight Committee, whose reviews of research on health care interventions are considered to be the gold standard.