Just the facts
I was attracted to science in the belief that scientists use facts and evidence, uncolored by beliefs or prejudice, as guides to action and how the world works. With the benefit of 40 years as a PhD scientist, I can attest to the fact that scientists are people, too, and are prey to all the weaknesses of human flesh. Yes, genuine debate occurs at scientific meetings and the peer review process does impose some guardrails on what can and can’t be said in print. But the fact is that I and my peers all operate with certain assumptions when confronting new and unexpected data. And scientists are devilishly clever people; they can think up any number of missing controls and additional experiments that would have to be done before they’d change their minds.
Kevin Drum frames this a bit differently, but the ability to change minds using facts and evidence alone depends not only on the skill of those offering the information, but the intellectual versatility of their audience.
“Formal debate is all about introducing facts—as many as possible—and then refuting them. In real life, this is not called debate, it's called the most boring thing in the entire world. It persuades no one. I've been doing it for 20 years and, as far as I can tell, have persuaded virtually no one of anything.
“Donald Trump, on the other hand, almost literally doesn't know any facts. Nor can he refute them in any rational way. But he is practically a cult leader.
“Sadly, people are not persuaded by facts. They are persuaded by emotions. They are persuaded only when they're listening to someone who shares their worldview. They are persuaded by "arguments" that are beneficial to them—perhaps monetarily, perhaps in conferring status, perhaps in vilifying people they already didn't like. This is how you win in real life.”
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