Science and Truth Under Attack.
SCIENCE AND TRUTH UNDER ATTACK:
Can factual science communication compete with the lure of doom scrolling?.
Allan Maynard, MSc. –October 2025
Carl Sagan – the highly respected astronomer and science communicator (1934-1996), wrote of a foreboding in his children’s or grandchildren’s time --- “when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues. Unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...” – moreover he lamented about “ the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”
I now ask the question – are we currently at this point of dumbing down? My conclusion – YES WE ARE. What is occurring globally and notably, in the USA, is beyond anything I could have fathomed. Populism around the world, supported by social media has created a world of chaos and division, so much so that many people don’t believe even the most basic truths. Facts are skewed and politicized to the point that false science is becoming official policy. The retreat backwards is astounding!
Science and Truth Under Attack.
WHY SCIENCE?
Simply put, science is the systematic and objective investigation of the natural world to acquire reliable knowledge through observation, experimentation, and reasoning, ultimately aiming to understand how things work. This knowledge is constantly refined and expanded. Consensus eventually becomes widespread.
Science then, tells us what is. In a perfect world, our choices for societal policy would be based on the best scientific knowledge. However, what we do with that knowledge becomes another matter especially when inconvenient truths are revealed. The choices or decisions we make depend on our worldviews, ethics, values and goals some of which may be contradictory to the truth revealed. The science of climate change provides the clearest example of this conflict – the truth highly inconvenient for those with vested interests in the status quo.
The decisions we make are also dependent upon how well (or indeed how little), the scientific knowledge is understood by most of society. I feel, therein lies our biggest challenge especially when communicating highly complex issues – such as climate change and vaccine assessments. The author - V. Smil refers to a “comprehension deficit” bemoaning the notion that most of society have only a superficial knowledge of how the world works. The matter is likely becoming worse as billions of people gather their information from little black boxes with little regard for how and where the information is coming from.
THE CURSE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is not designed to inform but rather around algorithms tailored to provide explanations that match users existing beliefs and, more important for the platform’s bottom line, to continually drive user engagement. Nothing drives user engagement more than outrage generally amplified by lies and fiction. In fact, as the author Yuval Harari points out in his most recent book “Nexus”, the tech giants are complicit in this world of misinformation with the development of unprecedented “error enhancing mechanisms that reward lies and fictions.” These tech giants hide behind a fiction that their supposed role is to be moderators of human-produced content. They dismiss or ignore the role their algorithms play in cultivating human emotions through falsehoods. As such -it is the most extreme moments that grab our attention and then get super charged (going viral).
Today, 86% of U.S. adults report that they at least partially get their news from digital devices – which are by far the most commonly used news platform, beating out TV, radio or print. Among 18-29 year olds, social media is the most common news source - https://pirg.org/edfund/articles/misinformation-on-social-media/
The Curse of Social Media
CAN TRUTH AND FACTS COMPETE?
I am not so sure that AI (Artificial Intelligence) will help to rescue this post truth world. Afterall, most AI platforms are owned by the same companies (and individuals) that own the social media empires. There have been some early warning signs. In July - 2025, Elon Musk sought to explain how his AI chatbot, Grok, praised Hitler as the best leader for our times – https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g8r34nxeno
It is clear to me that the current state of information disorder is a significant threat to science, progress and to democracy itself. Some strong, bipartisan measures are needed to start rectifying this, but I am not hopeful on that front considering the political divides around the world.
Social Media companies should certainly be regulated. Afterall, we regulate other sectors such as airlines and food production. It is known that social media companies have the technology to moderate content. However, these companies and their extremely wealthy shareholders, spend massively to elect politicians (usually conservative) that will act in their interest – that being limited or no regulations. Fortunately, several influential leaders are speaking out against the lies and conspiracy theories being peddled at the highest levels of office and we can only hope their warnings will be heeded.
It is also vital that young people, who are the biggest users of social media, receive more education on the dangers of false information, how to assess fact from fiction and how to recognize proper journalism. We need to support the teaching of civics, critical thinking and media literacy.
It is also my hope that people will become more responsible in deciding what to read and share via email, U-Tube and social media platforms. We need to refuse to let social media platforms take charge of our newsfeed. Even better – calling out false or suspect posts that people share by respectfully asking – Are you sure this is true? // What is the source? // When did this come out? // etc.
There will no doubt be a rise in resistance to wrong-headed retrogressive policies, as well as exposure from the media when dangers from bad policy become evident. Will this be enough? Time will tell.
Carl Sagan – The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark – Random House – 1995
Vaclav Smil – How the World Really Works – Viking – Random House – 2022
Yuval Noah Harari – Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks – Random House - 2024