There's No Such Thing as a "One-Handed Scientist"

The rub, of course, is that everybody else thinks that science should provide the answers. Remember the Concorde? Back in the early 1970s, Congress was debating supersonic transport, trying to decide whether such aircraft would represent a danger when flown over the United States. Would their big engines flying high in the sky cut a hole in the ozone and let in solar radiation? Would the plane make sonic booms as it flew over people’s neighborhoods? And so on.

Senator Edmund Muskie (D-ME) was the chairman of the committee assigned to find the answers to these questions. He, in turn, appointed an august committee from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to study the issue. Six months later they were to report to the congressional committee. All the newspapers were there and the cameras were rolling.

The committee’s chief scientist said, “Senator, we’re ready to testify,” and Muskie responded, “Okay, tell me what the answer is. Is this going to be a danger?” The scientist then slapped down his giant sheet of papers on the desk and said, “I’ve got these papers here that definitely tell us this is going to be a danger.” Muskie was ready to conclude right there, but then the NAS scientist interjected, “On the other hand, I have another set of papers over here that says these papers aren’t good enough to know the answer.” In exhaustion, the senator looked up and yelled, “Will somebody find me a one-handed scientist?!”

Everybody wants the one-handed scientist, right? But that’s not how science works, and that’s not always how we gain knowledge.

Notes:

Scientists must consider all the evidence and factor nuance into their positions. This is illustrated with an interesting historical anecdote about a Congressional review concerning the safety of the Concord jet.

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 Truth, Deception, and the Myth of the One-Handed Scientist
Periodicals>Journal Article:  Flatow, Ira (11/2012), Truth, Deception, and the Myth of the One-Handed Scientist, Humanist, November / December 2012 , Retrieved on 2013-01-06
  • Source Material [thehumanist.org]
  • Folksonomies: science art science appreciation