Dear Apoorva Mandavilli, You vastly overestimate the scientific intelligence of the American public. Best, Retiring Guy

 

Top headline:  New York Times (print edition, 8/23/2021)

Bottom headline:  The Guardian, 2/16/2020

New York Times excerpt (with suggested edit):  

Living with a capricious enemy has been unsettling even for researchers, public health officials and journalists who are used to the mutable nature of science. They, too, have frequently agonized over the best way to keep themselves and their loved ones safe. 

But to frustrated Americans unfamiliar with the circuitous and often contentious path to scientific discovery lacking even a basic knowledge of science, public health officials have seemed at times to be moving the goal posts and flip-flopping, or misleading, even lying to, the country.

The Guardian excerpt:

This is how science works – by reshaping theories as knowledge accumulates. For some, such as those who would deny the theory of evolution, this reveals science to be a false guide. Certainly, scientific knowledge is provisional and changes as we know more. It is also cumulative: the more we know, the more certain we can be. Both aspects are to be valued. They reveal not the weakness of science but its greatest strength.