ABOUT COSMIC LOG

Quantum fluctuations in space, science, exploration and other cosmic fields... served up regularly by MSNBC.com science editor Alan Boyle since 2002.

Alan Boyle covers the physical sciences, anthropology, technological innovation and space science and exploration for MSNBC.com. He is a winner of the AAAS Science Journalism Award, the NASW Science-in-Society Award and other honors; a contributor to "A Field Guide for Science Writers"; and a member of the board of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing.

Check out Boyle's biography or send a message to Cosmic Log via cosmiclog@msnbc.com.



Questions answered on the Web

Posted: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 6:55 PM by Alan Boyle

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RE scientific confusion...the article left me totally confused...we allow expert opinion to sway 85% of our decision making process...scientists are all experts...their opinon should become gospel...85% is way more than a majority...what's the problem?
Where do I sign up to be a fish teacher? I could easily teach the whole school especially since it's such a remedial program.
I'm reading that the earth will be suck into the sun eventually. Can we make some type of jet propellers to push the earth just a tad the other way?
"we allow expert opinion to sway 85% of our decision making process"

Not quite.  What the article said was this:
"US citizens are happy to defer to expertise, rating it as accounting for 85 percent of their assessment."

This is self-evaluation.  Most people believe that most of their opinion is based on science even if everything they believe is stupid.

If people misunderstand what the scientists have said, or forget, or extend beyond what the scientists have said; or, if they take as experts people who are NOT experts, then they might fully believe that their opinions are based 85% on science, when that's not really true.




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