Restore the role of science in the creation of public policy
Making good public policy is difficult. We have faced challenges in balancing our values and self-interests in building consensus for good public policy for as long as we have been banding into families and tribes.
Evolutionary psychologists believe that humans evolved to make decisions quickly and intuitively, with “reason” only being used to justify our emotional, intuitive decisions. After all, there was little time to “reason” when a hungry Paleolithic beast was charging you.
Compounding this is the fact that each of us is a bundle of cognitive biases used to filter information to justify our decisions. The most famous of these is confirmation bias; we only accept new inputs that match our current beliefs.
This intuitive approach worked well when most decisions were personal and local. Today we face problems that are more complex, rapidly evolving, and global. Climate, energy, and public health require consideration of not only our values and self-interests but also demand that we make choices based on increasingly complex science. Choices made intuitively rarely solve the technical issues we face.
The rise of social media reinforcing our beliefs (remember confirmation bias?) and the 24-hour news cycle has divided us into competing tribes based upon values and self-interests. Effective public policy must be based on science along with our values and self-interests. The recent decision to shrink the Bears Ears Monument in Utah appears to have been made around values and self-interest, with too little regard for science.
Science is provisional. Scientists are enthusiastic about discovering better ways to describe the natural world. That is the very foundation of scientific progress.
As citizens we are uncomfortable with information that is changing or uncertain. We want immutable facts. Often, we approach today’s policy choices using our natural intuition grounded in our values and self-interests. We cherrypick the science that aligns with our intuition and use this science to justify our position. We then use our preferred science as a political weapon.
How do we create effective public policy using our intuitive, biased brain, when the challenges we face require more scientific thinking? Future technologies like artificial intelligence and gene editing will create new moral, economic,and cultural choices. Ideas to consider:
•Engage others outside your tribe and learn why they believe the way they do. Choose a topic like climate changewhere there can be a lot of emotional energy. Listen for understanding. Try this with someone you trust. Critically consider what it would take for you to change your position. You will probably fail the first few times, but keep at it.
•Seek information from a variety of sources. Research multiple perspectives on contentious issues. You will begin to understand the controversy, and perhaps change your perspective.
•Vote for leaders who think critically about scientific issues and can change their minds if the science changes. Be wary of dogma, especially around science. The best scientists are actually pretty skeptical people.
•Encourage your children to experience science as it is practiced by scientists. There are few things more joyful than learning something for the first time, or more surprising than changing your understanding of fact as new science emerges. Science is not a set of facts. It is the endless pursuit of better understanding the world.
I’m optimistic that Homo sapiens’ decision-making skills will continue to evolve. I’m confident that our species will continue to thrive, and that my DNA will be somewhere on Earth, loving science, for a long, long time.
George Sparks is president and CEO of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.