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Not Easy

Entry 472, on 2007-02-08 at 23:02:05 (Rating 3, Politics)

Establishing the truth isn't easy. Many truths about our world are disguised under multiple layers of subtlety and complexity. Some systems are inherently complex, chaotic, and unpredictable, and environmental effects, including climate, must be one of the best examples of this. Absolute truth never exists in science, although some things are so close to being facts that they are just accepted as true. So its unreasonable to require absolute proof of a scientific theory before it is accepted as truth.

So why do people continue to deny certain scientific theories, such as the existence of human influence on the environment (most notably global climate), evolution, etc? And why do politicians distort science to produce results which aren't accurate?

The Union of Concerned Scientists recently released a report which described how the current American administration has suppressed findings which contradict their beliefs and distorted other results to suit what they want to believe. And they use this inaccurate information to set policies which affect the whole world.

No matter how well the processes of science work there is plenty of opportunity for the processes of politics - especially those employed by an extremely conservative party - to distort them. I don't know what the answer is, because as long as people like Bush can become president of the US there will always be problems, and scientific facts will be ignored so that leaders' political and religious biases can be supported. Maybe its just another example of how the democratic process really doesn't work that well.

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