Rekindling the Light of Science

I find the recent declarations that we're now living in a "post-fact society" to be both depressing and terrifying. I'm a science fiction reader / writer. I love science, respect its power to improve our lives and transform our world. I firmly believe that the precepts of the scientific method -- rational debate based on analysis of actual evidence, tempered with a healthy dose of skepticism towards unsubstantiated claims by authority figures -- are crucial not just to advancing science but to maintaining a functional democracy.

Let's face it. When sales of the novel 1984 spike by 10,000 percent on Amazon, that's not an encouraging sign.

I actually took solace from a different book my wife brought home from a recent local library sale, one written by renowned science popularizer Carl Sagan more than two decades ago. The Demon-Haunted World, subtitled "Science as a Candle in the Dark," bemoans the way American culture has abandoned scientific rationality in the face of a growing onslaught of disinformation from politicians, advertisers, special interests, and corporate spin-doctors. Science was fundamental to the mindset of our founding fathers and has always been a source of pride, innovation, and excellence for America. Not so much anymore. The statistics Sagan cites about scientific literacy in the U.S. vs. other Western nations are humbling. We used to lead in science and technology. Now, our average citizens have fallen so far behind that they can barely see the backs of the competition. More dangerously, they struggle to unravel the competing claims that bombard them constantly online, on social networks, and in the media. It's very hard to spot fake news without a basic understanding of how to sift compelling evidence from propaganda.

Sagan believed that re-embracing our respect for science, our heritage of promoting science in education and in public discourse, can get us back on track. He summed things up beautifully here:

Science thrives on, indeed requires, the free exchange of ideas; its values are antithetical to secrecy. Science holds to no special vantage points or privileged positions. Both science and democracy encourage unconventional opinions and vigorous debate. Both demand adequate reason, coherent argument, rigorous standards of evidence and honesty. Science is a way to call the bluff of those who only pretend to knowledge. It is a bulwark against mysticism, against superstition, against religion misapplied to where it has no business being. If we're true to its values, it can tell us when we're being lied to. It provides a mid-course correction to our mistakes. The more widespread its language, rules, and methods, the better chance we have of preserving what Thomas Jefferson and his colleagues had in mind...

If we don't practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us -- and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, a world of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who saunters along.

These words may have been written more than 20 years ago, but Sagan clearly saw the trajectory we were on, and they couldn't ring more true today. So here's hoping we all rise up and demand facts from our leaders, not fancy verbal gymnastics or loudly shouted opinions. Fiction is wonderful as a source of entertainment. It isn't a strategy for governing... and our leaders have relied on it for far too long.

So hold your candles high, fellow members of the SF community. May they burn away the black waves of BS!

#SFWApro