Inconvenient truth

From Burgman's book:

"Science creates for itself a mantle of objective certainty. This impression often is unjustified and misleading (P4).

Scientists are advocates of a scientific view and spend their time trying to convince others of their position, even if they are unaware of it (p68).

If we see scientists as advocates, valid questions from any source should be considered. That is, it should not only be experts who can put critical questions to an expert. Anyone with a stake in the outcome should be able to question an expert’s opinion… A hallmark of an assessment that attempts an honest evaluation is that it exposes experts to unfettered, critical evaluation (p69)."

Reference:

Burgman, M. (2005). Risks and decisions for conservation and environmental management, Cambridge University Press.