The modern-day battle cry “Believe in science!”, tends to be used as a baseball bat. When two people disagree, one side will cite something that sounds scientific or in the name of a scientist, thereby silencing the other side.

I find the use of “Science”, to be the same as the use of “God”, by religious people. If ask for the specifics, or to see the study supporting a view, I’m accused of being “Anti-science”, or “Anti-religion”, denier.

The famous economist F.A. Hayek, when delivering his Nobel Prize speech, “The Pretense of Knowledge”, spoke about the fallacy of attempting to force complex subjects, such as economics or social science, into formulas.

He also spoke sbout the difference between science and scientism. As the economist Russ Roberts phrased it, “The problem is that sometimes there’s what he called scientism. Scientism, something that has the look of science, that looks scientific, and it fools people into thinking they understand something when in fact they don’t.”

The problem is that sometimes there’s what he called scientism. Scientism, something that has the look of science, that looks scientific, and it fools people into thinking they understand something when in fact they don’t.

Podcast transcript https://tim.blog/2022/08/07/russ-roberts-transcript/