The zeal of a converted critic

Pseudoscience, Coercion and Contemplation
(notes to my younger self)

Coming out of high school and entering university like many university students who take on anything related to the sciences from medicine to mathematics, metaphysics or meteorology - there is a sense of growing sense of scientific “superiority” which one may readily fall victim to or may resist (more or less well). One need not formally study the sciences, one could simply be "coming out" in a sense from forms of  "magical thinking" into a somewhat more rational understanding of the world they inhabit - but it can bring with it hazards as well as virtues.

For many it may first show up in terms of one’s atheism and how one reacts to others upon their new "discovery" that religion just might not be the truth and the whole truth. “With all the zeal of a convert” one rejects (if they ever had) their faith (monotheistic or otherwise) and they may begin to proselytise to friends, family and anyone who will listen about their new found arguments against faith. They’ll cite Dawkins, Dennett, Harris and Hitchens (I know I did). Not long after, or perhaps in lock step, (sometimes instead of if those arguments were already had in high school) the same scientific mind grows into a vociferous anti-pseudo-science warrior. Michael Shermer’s work is consulted and Joe Rogan episodes one after another loudly debunked. One has no time for nonsense claims. One has become "a rationalist" - wielding “reason” like a lightsaber to cut through the metaphysical BS.

“Those crystals have no energy - they do not “vibrate” at the same frequency of the human body - the human body doesn’t even have a single frequency!” one gleefully tells their sisters and cousins. Brothers are told UFOs and big foot are absolute nonsense given the paucity of evidence. One loses potential dates or other friends because “the paleo-diet is pure pseudoscience. Those studies are bunk. By the way: weight training is better than running.” And so it goes as the growing scientific mind becomes a skeptical and critical one seemingly so bursting at the seams with knowledge it just has to come rushing out and spilling into every conversation about whatever the topic is. Worse are the online critics, of course. Sometimes anonymous - but not always. Deliberately wading in to discussions about religion - and yes the religious do too, but they always have. They’ve been proselytizing so long and so passionately some found “proselytise” wasn’t strong enough and so began evangelising and in the limit when words failed - crusading. Online the spectrum is found everywhere from the anonymous bot account simply spewing out talking points to the next rung up - the anonymous troll account doing similar with the a kernel of human creativity. 

But the critic can be as cruel - sometimes more so. And remarkably the so-called rational and reasonable are eager not to merely correct and eager to persuade but seem to want to ensure everyone conforms. The truth must be obeyed - just as in traditional religion. Some of the anti-woke become as dogmatic as the woke. Those who want to insist on the scientific sex binary will hurl insults right back at the gender-is-a-spectrum "experts" and the scientific minded might be found on both sides of that debate. Both sides will tend to agree that "double blind placebo controlled trials published in quality assured referred journals" are treated as (literally) more true than Gospel. And once you are in possession of the final truth, well, as Popper wrote “The doctrine that the truth is manifest is the root of all tyranny”. And that truth is manifest no more clearly than in science on this view. So what should we do about, let’s say, pseudoscientific medicines?

“This paracetamol brand is selling the exact same product in three different boxes on the shelves. This one says “For tension headaches” and this one says “For period pain” and this one says “For symptoms of cold and flu.” But it’s exactly the same chemical! Someone should do something! One is, therefore, rather eagerly today at this point (but not always, there are important exceptions) on the "liberal left" in these conflicts. “Why doesn't the government regulate the pharmacy industry? Why are they permitted to sell this homeopathic nonsense?” (And from here slide seamlessly into state intrusion into almost any conceivable medical procedure, personal choice, child rearing, education and so it goes.)

The early (or even late stage) "convert to critic" might even approach political activism on this front. “We’re surrounded by people ignorant of science. We need regulations to protect people! Sign this petition! Help paint posters! Here's a pin!"

The bias for any politician is towards "doing something" and although "not regulating" is doing something, it is never seen that way by the more vocal parts of the electorate. So it's usually a one way slide into regulations on any issue where people might otherwise be free to choose. No leader wants to be the one who "did nothing" or "didn't support the bill" and so on. For everyone’s safety we need to eliminate fossil fuels. We need to eliminate combustion of almost any kind. We must reduce sugar in drinks or smokers in public places or drinking alcohol at certain hours. It's for everyone's health. And everyone's safety. Not just yours. Everyone must mask up, sanitise, get the vaccination. Your mask does not just protect you - and it does not protect you enough. Everyone must mask up for it to be effective. And in many places - workplaces and spaces of learning - it is not enough to merely agree: one must be an enthusiastic supporter ​lest one be treated like Kramer from Seinfeld who (despite every other effort) did not want to wear the ribbon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iV8X8ubGCc​

Listen To The Science! Anything less is “lunatic libertarianism”. One is either on the side of informed compassion and life or ignorant cruelty and death. Never mind how much shouting, how many arrests or how much more violence it takes to get from here to the safe tranquility of a finally, once and for all more scientifically informed society that’s better for everyone - action must be taken. It’s almost moral that you take on the fight. So you do. Or, perhaps not. Perhaps you just voice your opinion whenever the topic comes up. Every time it comes up. It’s reasonable to try to persuade at least those around you. After all you’re the scientifically literate one. Lucky them. To have you around.

Indeed wherever you are on that spectrum between scientist-as-political-activist through to “I Believe in Science” badge bearer, you feel yourself preen at the many ears willing to listen to one’s passion and erudite enunciations about the world ignorant of science. One dismisses those who are bored with it all as unfortunate - missing the beauty of science. “The ignorant are so lucky. They’re at peace. Not plagued by deep thoughts of what is going wrong and how much worse it can all get”.

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It takes time to realise one is tending towards being an authoritarian, dogmatic bore regurgitating the mainstream talking points of those who get the most airtime. Sure: almost always one is (narrowly) factually correct. [And don’t you know it as a science graduate? "Try me" you think “I’ve got receipts” (references to journal papers bookmarked).] But the thing is, as one comes out of any combative malaise, one can recognise it will always be the case there will exist people with whom you disagree. Right now it’s ubiquitous across societies no matter how “well educated” that some will use, and stand by in the face of all evidence to the contrary that, pseudoscientific nostrums “work” - in the sense they feel better when bought and used. And it’s also true some people disingenuously sell and hence profit from the ignorance of others. Pharmacists - who almost always know better - own stores that sell the homeopathic remedy (which they could also routinely mathematically prove in 60 seconds on a scrap of paper - has zero active ingredient and is therefore, mathematically, a placebo) right alongside the actual treatment with the active ingredient - and seemingly without compunction.

But there are some who never escape the “scientifically superior” mindset. Science informs what you should do and that’s that and end of story unless you do not care. It’s almost a Mandolorian stance on regulation: “This is the way”. If we’re not going to use science to do good then we are being as ignorant and careless as those who won’t continue to physically distance. “We need to protect “low information” citizens. I am a scientific leader - an authority. A superhero of a kind. I’ll look after them!” (grandiose Avenger’s theme plays in the background. Lab coat flutters in the wind as spectacles (or lab goggles) are removed and the Sun comes out from behind a cloud.)

But there is another way. And you see this too. Others who have moved beyond all that. And it has nothing to do with “the older you get the wiser you get”. After all, if being “at peace” in life is some measure of wisdom then some of the least wise people online are some of the elder statesmen and women of science. So it’s not age, it’s a certain lesson in humility. Or rather fallibility. One can be passionately pro-science and agree with all the facts but realise coercion creates more problems than it solves in the long run in any society. Hence: regulation here is not the key. No one convinced the nostrum works is convinced by the law that says you can no longer have the nostrum because government regulators say it does not. Instead what happens is they source it on the black market where now there’s not even any recourse should the product never arrive…or not be what was paid for. So: everyone loses. Yes: except those who always do exactly what their parents and teachers tell them to. Whoops, I mean what government tells them to.

What works better than regulating every single scientific truth as a moral imperative is allowing people to make their own mistakes and correct them. Or simply learn from the mistakes of others. Indeed we can admit: people have died because they did not treat their cancer with the chemotherapy recommended by the oncologist. They decided to go on a strange diet. Or take colloidal silver or something else equally useless or actively harmful. But there is not a pandemic of this. They are the exception to the rule and it would happen regardless. What is the alternative? Strapping down those afflicted with tumours and curing them for their own good? Sometimes the utopian vision of society looks rather a lot like its complete opposite - which is no accident. All of this was true before the pandemic and truth be told I wrote all of this without thinking once of COVID. Until I did and had to go back and edit it with comments like this one: there will still be people who say pandemics are the exception here. And what would you do IF questions and they will fall immediately into “I’m going to persuade you” mode of the worst kind. “I would force you if I could” mode when it comes to it and I will vote to ensure that if I can’t, someone damn sure will. Those tendencies have seemingly always been in the memeplex - the desire to control and coerce because the chief and the medicine man know best. And it might be tempting to argue vociferously back. When it’s lives and liberty on the line, who wouldn’t? And yet, in the “interglacial” pandemic time - the peaceful interludes between civilisational catastrophes (like, right now, once might say) - it can be useful to fall back into that other mode. One doesn’t need to exist in persuasion mode all the time. One can be persuasive, sure. But that’s a side effect. If one is explaining a worldview and the worldview is correct, then that in and of itself will be persuasive. No additional work needs to be done. The work of persuasion is all done for you, ahead of time. That’s the advantage truth and reality have.

We are all fallible or “equal in our infinite ignorance” to quote Karl Popper. And as David Deutsch gently suggested to me once, himself also channelling the spirit of Popper with words to the effect: you don’t need to aim to persuade - you’re explaining a worldview.

So to me it has always appeared to be that the step beyond mere scientific literacy and critically and skeptically minded is: live and let live. This is not to be uncaring. It’s the opposite. If someone wants your advice, give it. If someone seems to need your advice and hasn’t asked, offer it. But the caring thing to do is to allow others to do as they wish (with all those caveats about swinging arms and lengths of noses). We have to allow others to make their own mistakes too if they are to learn as we have. That may mean correcting what their sources of information are rather than actually going on the grains-and-berries-only diet. Not everyone has to make the mistake of getting infected first before being convinced vaccines are a fantastic innovation. But the lesson of accepting you too are fallible, even on all that is perhaps a lesson we all need to learn. Right or wrong, you should not coerce anyone else into your way of thinking.

And there’s the rub.

“With all the zeal of a convert” the scientific skeptic then runs head first into fallibilism and anti-coercion. For many it then becomes seductive and even important to proselytise not so much the science and rationality but fallibilism and anti-authority, anti-coercion liberty centred lives. One becomes a zealot for anti-coercion! And of course that is the same kind of error. It’s a better error. But an error nonetheless.

The Emergence of an Enlightened Epistemology

There is a step beyond even that - beyond being a philosophical activist; beyond the conscious attempt to try to persuade. It’s just to explain a worldview. It is to relax into the truth of fallibilism: you are not in possession of a final truth, or rather you cannot know that you are. It’s always the case you might be wrong: so don’t get pushy. Realise and sense how much better things quickly become when you’re not trying to persuade but to explain. The difference can be subtle from the outside: but inside, it’s a universe of difference. Every interaction one goes into is genuine. Trolls and terse Trotskyists alike might be convinced by what you say - persuaded if you will. But not because you were ever aiming for that. You were playing and having fun throwing ideas around in such a way as to clarify them to yourself as much as anyone else. There are no losers because there are no winners because it was never a competition. The abstract truth won out - as it necessarily does in time, under the right conditions where coercion just isn’t a part of the picture. And by coercion here we do not mean simply “the application of force or the threat of violence” we mean also the emotional impact of words said in such a way as to berate or scare off or silence under the intellectual glare of one apparently so deeply knowledgeable and qualified. That sort of coercion is a maelstrom of self-coercion and the coercion of the expert onto the layperson. No hands ever have to be placed on anyone. It’s the “Sit. Stay. Rollover” of the dialectic.

Have fun, be excited and passionate and curiously interested. Just don’t berate, be mean and badger. You’ll be surrounded by errors. Most of them your own. So don’t be so sure - even of not being so sure. Don’t be so sure of fallibilism. Don’t act like you are. Don’t fall into relativism. You know a lot and it’s right for you to state your view clearly, forthrightly and passionately. But - when you’re asked. And politely. You’re in a civil society. Most people most of the time, for the rest of your time, won’t agree with you. But they might if you seem like an attractively persuasive person. Because you were never trying to persuade them so they never felt that repulsion one feels when they’re being sold something. You’re not selling something. You’ve got what you want when it comes to all this and you’re looking for more wisdom and knowledge still.

So take it all seriously the science, philosophy, morality and life lessons — sure. Explain yourself clearly for as long as the other person wants to engage - or so long as you do. But relax and have fun.

There may be steps to epistemological enlightenment beyond even this. Again: never to the point that none of it matters - because it clearly does. But where it doesn’t matter if the other person is convinced or not - so long as the conversations can continue. As long as life goes on, then so can the explanations. You’re explaining a worldview when someone asks. You’re not trying to persuade them. And it's not as if I sit now cross legged atop the mountain. There is no mountain - but there is a journey. And one is always at the beginning - always learning with an infinite more to learn about everything. But there is progress to be made and errors to correct. Including better and worse ways of approaching knowledge like cooperating with others in order to bring brighter kinds of enlightenment to both yourself and to them.

And even all this, here and now - this very post - is not intended to persuade anyone. I’ve written it for me, in my way, repeating myself and editing to standards internal to me without thought of what the reader might prefer. This could contain a serious error because perhaps to be persuasive at all one must first hone that skill soit may be that one must try to persuade before one can cease to chase the dragon of persuasion. I leave these words here for the reader to contemplate; an aspect of a worldview that may or may not appeal, be useful, seem true and allow a path towards kindness. Or it may do none of those things. Eventually one just writes because they want to - not because they want to be read.