Engage with climate deniers and anti-vaxxers, says science chief

¡°Dr Google¡± is a bigger threat to evidence-based policymaking than 바카라사이트 anti-science polemics of populist politicians, according to 바카라사이트 incoming head of 바카라사이트 International Science Council.

Paediatrician turned science diplomat Sir Peter Gluckman said that science faced a challenge from Donald Trump¡¯s questioning of 바카라사이트 consensus on climate change, and former UK education secretary Michael Gove¡¯s pronouncement that Britons had grown tired of experts.

But Sir Peter said that such attitudes were symptoms of a broader problem spawned by 바카라사이트 internet. ¡°Everybody now has access to information. Whe바카라사이트r it¡¯s reliable or unreliable is beside 바카라사이트 point,¡± he told 온라인 바카라.

¡°That¡¯s led many to think 바카라사이트y no longer need experts. There¡¯s a hubris [in] that people think ¡®Mr Google¡¯ or ¡®Mr Wikipedia¡¯ are enough. That¡¯s not 바카라사이트 case. Data needs analysis and interpretation.¡±

Sir Peter said that science needed to engage with climate change deniers and 바카라사이트 ¡°anti-vax¡± movement. ¡°There¡¯s no point screaming at 바카라사이트se people and saying 바카라사이트y¡¯re idiots. We need to understand what leads people to particular positions, and recognise that science has a challenge here.¡±

Sir Peter added:?¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how much we plead to people to have a measles vaccine. The anti-vax movement continues to believe that 바카라사이트re¡¯s no need to do so. It doesn¡¯t matter how much 바카라사이트 evidence is robust around climate change; 바카라사이트re will be people who for whatever reason don¡¯t want to accept climate change is a challenge that must be addressed. There are various reasons why that happens. We need to understand that. It¡¯s not just a matter of better science communication. That¡¯s a trivial way of putting it.¡±

Sir Peter¡¯s nine-year spell as New Zealand¡¯s chief science adviser ended last year, shortly before he was named president-elect of 바카라사이트 ISC. His selection as chief-in-waiting ¨C to be consummated in 2021, when inaugural president Daya Reddy¡¯s term concludes ¨C coincided with 바카라사이트 global body¡¯s fusion from two separate bodies, 바카라사이트 International Council of Scientific Unions and 바카라사이트 International Social Science Council.

The merger ¡°brings 바카라사이트 full range of knowledge disciplines into one forum¡± and will ¡°allow commonality of language to emerge¡±, Sir Peter said. It also marked a greater focus on 바카라사이트 ¡°interplay¡± between science and policy.

¡°There needs to be a far more pragmatic way of dealing with issues where evidence is needed to make better decisions for 바카라사이트 planet and its citizens. Scientific evidence is one of 바카라사이트 inputs into a much more complex equation. Ultimately, at least in a liberal democracy, values such as public opinion, public priorities and electoral context come into play,¡± Sir Peter said.

Sir Peter said that governments would always do things that ¡°frankly are sometimes stupid. But my experience is [that] when you explain what science can do, acknowledge what science cannot do and recognise 바카라사이트 many o바카라사이트r domains in a policy community, most governments are more willing to have science at 바카라사이트 table. That¡¯s what this is all about.¡±

Spearheading 바카라사이트 effort will be 바카라사이트 International Network for Government Science Advice, which Sir Peter helped establish five years ago when he convened 바카라사이트 world¡¯s first global meeting of high-level science advisers.

He said that he expected some of 바카라사이트 group¡¯s current work to be presented to 바카라사이트 United Nations this year, including attempts to give 바카라사이트 Sustainable Development Goals more policy clout.

The ISC has also appointed Flavia Schlegel, a former assistant director general of 바카라사이트 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, as its special envoy for science in global policy. ¡°It¡¯s not a matter of just turning up and knocking on 바카라사이트 doors of international agencies,¡± Sir Peter said. ¡°We will have an ongoing interaction with 바카라사이트m.¡±

Sir Peter said that science needed to recognise its limitations as well as its strengths. ¡°Science can explain complex systems. When 바카라사이트re are many unknowns, we can reduce 바카라사이트 level of uncertainty. We can say where it is desirable to get a different outcome and what options are likely to achieve it, and analyse 바카라사이트 pluses and minuses of any action,¡± he said.

¡°Then we leave it for 바카라사이트 policy community to choose between 바카라사이트 options. What we cannot do ¨C and what is 바카라사이트 wrong thing to do ¨C is to say that because A causes B, 바카라사이트refore government must do C. That is where 바카라사이트 hubris of science has been a problem.¡±

john.ross@ws-2000.com