Beware the tricks of anti-science charlatans

Science is the best means of answering many questions, but scientists shouldn’t need to keep addressing questions that have already been answered. Take the shape of the Earth. Eratosthenes measured the diameter of the Earth in 240

BC. The shadow of the Earth on the Moon during a lunar eclipse is round. Last week my students showed the Earth is round and measured its diameter using only plumb bobs and a phone.

Astronauts see the globe directly. We don’t need to re- evaluate our cosmology any time some crackpot puts out a YouTube video claiming the Earth is flat. Scientists would need to re-evaluate if someone developed a repeatable scientific test showing the Earth was flat, but nobody has.

Repeating debunked falsehoods, mis- quoting scientists, claiming a vast conspiracy — those are not data, and do not deserve a scientific response.

It’s the same with other pseudo-scientific claims. FlatEarthers, anti-vaxxers, virus deniers, and climate- change deniers all use the same playbook. Ignore or deny the data, continue to argue false claims after those claims have been debunked, pretend unanswered questions require abandonment of the entire theory, move the goalposts rather than admit a point, and claim scientific agreement is nefarious conspiracy.

Watch for these tricks when dealing with anti-scientific charlatans. Yes the virus is real, yes thousands of people are dying from it every day, but yes scientists have developed effective vaccines that are on their way. We can get through this, the end is in sight!

— Eric Ayars, Chico