To which some people in Portland, echoing antifluoridation activists around the world, reply: We don’t believe you.
- This marks a fundamental break in trust between the public and the "powers that be", can this be repaired?
Empowered by their own sources of information and their own interpretations of research, doubters have declared war on the consensus of experts.
- Isn't the issue how to verify who the "experts" are?
Like the rest of us, they’re vulnerable to what they call confirmation bias—the tendency to look for and see only evidence that confirms what they already believe.
- In the age of "filter bubbles", are we purposely limiting our scope in favor of an echo chamber?
Scientific thinking has to be taught, and sometimes it’s not taught well, McNutt says. Students come away thinking of science as a collection of facts, not a method.
- Is this linked to how students are taught science in classrooms? Schools focus on rote memorization over the thinking involved.