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SciPoll 648: Public trust in science & scientists
In your opinion, is there an erosion of public trust in science?
Results
(127 Answers)
Answer Explanations
- Yesuser-767602People think scientists are corrupted by industry.
- Yesuser-411596Yes, I believe there is an erosion of public trust in science, and this trend has been particularly noticeable in recent years. This erosion of trust is concerning because it undermines the ability of science to effectively inform public.
- Yesuser-556903
The erosion of public opinion towards science can be easily explained by observing the level at which research results and even simple observations based on scientific findings (e.g. weather forecasts) are presented in the media. A pseudo-journalist, for whom the click rate is the most important thing, will call a temperature drop of 3 degrees Celsius as "weather collapse", a typical summer storm as "Armageddon" and so on. He collects clicks and money, and the science of meteorology takes the bait. Another example is the so-called experts (with academic titles, of course) who belong to a particular lobby and represent their interests in the media. A classic example is climatology and climate change. For example, an authority of the "fossil fuel complex" claims that the energy obtained from the combustion of these fuels is ten thousand times less than the natural flow of heat into the atmosphere and therefore has no greater significance and can only influence the climate "in large cities and near power plants". On the other hand, so-called global warming experts sound the alarm and design scenarios based on three-variable models or illustrate climate change with a cloud of dust after an agricultural machine has driven over a field. And so, thanks to pseudo-scientists who have betrayed the ideal of the search for objective truth and only represent an interest group or a political party, public opinion is losing its understanding of the idea of scientific research and the authority of science itself. And these are just examples from disciplines that are close to me.
- Nouser-386180People still search for scientific information in all fields connected to their life.
- Yesuser-973967Covid, the hysteria and activism around climate change, the failures of so-called sustainable solutions such as alternative energy, and the political manipulation of these scientific examples for acquiring power and wealth have contributed to public mistrust. This mistrust is heightened by the general scientific and technical ignorance of the lay public that has been created by the complexities inherent in today's science that has been bolstered by poor education in the sciences in our educational system today. Adding to this mistrust is the internal struggle within various scientific specialties that are contending with the injection of "junk" science into the pursuit of science that should truly be unbiased and subject to the standards of science such as replicability, peer-review and the honest admissions regarding the large degrees of uncertainty that plague our new technologies.
- Yesuser-990535The methodology is not transparent
- Yesuser-216938The number of trust might be limited
- Yesuser-114537Science is used to brid money, and vice versa. There are too much misinfromation and corruption.
- Yesuser-929894Yes, science was extremely politicized during the COVID pandemics, some world top scientific journals published fake studies. The censorship imposed by main social networks prohibited the free circulation of ideas, giving the impression that only one side has the monopoly of the truth.
- Yesuser-93120Public knowledge about the inquiries and outcomes of science is poor. Divergent, conflictive, incomplete, or poorly communicated science news has caused confusion and mistrust among the public that is exposed to multiple audiovisual channels. Some media influencers with poor science knowledge divulge opinions with no substantiation in their quest for likes, follows, or to create controversy. Multiple examples: Covid-19 prevention guidelines, infant formula recall by FDA,
- Yesuser-842209The inherent complexity of scientific research can also be a barrier to public understanding and trust. Scientific findings are often presented with caveats, uncertainties, and evolving evidence, which can be misinterpreted as indecision or unreliability.
- Yesuser-861466Especially in the US there is much misinformation, even from prominent people
- Yesuser-887652I'm not sure this is the right question. I'd say there is decreasing public comprehension of science, but as an educator I'd say there is decreasing public comprehension of other knowledge as well. There is too much to know, and there are too many distractions from knowing. Trusting something without understanding it falls into the realm of faith. Is public faith in science eroding? It seems so.
- Nouser-61252It is only moment drop due to the debate as regarding COVID 19 and its vaccination
- Yesuser-572152There has been a proliferation of bogus health claims spread via social media which is creating confusion among the lay public. Many of the influencers on social media do not have proper credentials to make or spread these claims.
- Nouser-124276Today's population is believing the science, it's advancement and achievements prove it well.
- Yesuser-242574Since the pandemic, and this is all over the news, measures taken and the vaccination policies have eroded trust in science. Very unfortunate, better communication, more dialogue and stricter control on misinformation through e.g. the social media should have been implemented
- Nouser-683654People are trusting science more than religion. Thus, there is upsurge in trust in science particularly with issues such as artificial intelligence.
- Nouser-536777I think there is not an erosion, but after SARS-CoV2 epidemy, some people could be less trusful to some scientist data.
- Yesuser-639182because the bigpharma dominate the field with bad information and non scientific poitions
- Yesuser-630905
Academic career progression has become highly/almost completely dependent on the number of articles published. Therefore, the investigation aims to publish articles and little more...
- Nouser-610359Not at all, More the applications which enable better living for the public, more is the establishment of trust.
- Nouser-584234In my country of Portugal, we have one of the highest percentages of trust in science and scientists.
- Yesuser-595309There is a misconception with history and religion
- Yesuser-813332Due to the internet views are much easier to widely broadcast without any critique and so quickly that there usually no time for critique. This is true of scientific knowledge and criticism can be immediate without the opportunity to refute them. This makes lies easy to spread worldwide in a matter of hours and there is no easy facility to refute them.
- Yesuser-858214Step by step science is shifting from sincere expression of scientist mind, to the condition, where scientist need to apply for the financial support to maintain his studies of interest and even his life. Due to this pressure scientists lie so often, that even people who is not involved in scince see it. Example - Covid-19 pandemia
- Yesuser-618853Yes, there is an erosion of public trust in science. This decline can be attributed to several factors, including the spread of misinformation, polarized political landscapes, and a lack of effective science communication. The COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, highlighted these issues as conflicting information and changing guidelines led to confusion and skepticism. As a result, many people began questioning the reliability of scientific findings, which has had a negative impact on the public's perception of science and its role in society.
- Yesuser-589440This is a new era of post-truth. This takes the "scientific truth" off its traditional privileged place and gives it a relative and disputed worth. More than that, before the pandemic at least science had their gained "goal" of managing main devastating diseases. But the pandemic destroyed these common image already.
- Yesuser-970267Improper Journal activitiees and fees without professionalization of reviewers.
- Yesuser-247774I feel that there has been a politicization of science which has contributed to the erosion of public trust of science, impacted significantly by the pandemic and vaccines.
- Nouser-225825My patent named survismeter has been commercialized by Borosil Ltd manufacturing company, my another invention named friccohesity is widely being in use by scientistic community.
https://www.amazon.in/Survismeter-Fundamentals-Applications-Man-Singh/dp/9814774707
https://www.amazon.in/Chemistry-Friccohesity-Industrial-Nanoformulations/dp/1527593630
There is a need to simplify the scientific activities, phenomenon, concept to exemplify i.e. to connect with the science being executed in day today activities. Scientists only explore, explain or connect as such or through certain auxiliaries taking place in nature since inception of life, earth, water, energy, mass. For understanding a bottom-line as origin or quantum dot of scientific concept, the devotion, dedication and faith are foundations with the researchers rather inventors which become inspiring for revealing or unearthing the mutual coordination of energy, mass, alignment, friccohesity, tentropy of initiative stage. For example, Erwin Schrodinger equation, for mutual exchange potential energy and kinetic energy, now Man Singh equation and Man Singh constant for thermodynamically stable nanoformulation has simplified mutual exchange of potential and kinetic energies. - Yesuser-256934Due to social media and fake news being spread very fast, there is a lot of false information. This often leads to discrediting the scientific method or findings that do not benifit certain groups.
- Nouser-648091In general, it is 'No'. For this our scientific research should be revealing societal interest.
- Yesuser-305878After the pandemic, the major population did not see with trust the scientists in the midia
- Yesuser-990236Politicians are more interested in public opinion than in understanding and listening to real scientists and reality according to the data we obtain without prejudice.
- Yesuser-573627Overemphasis in problematic research publications in media coupled with an inadequate level of basic eduction in scientific method and exacerbated by selfish and pernicious political manipulation.
- Yesuser-891148The pandemic situation decrease the opinion of public towards science
- Yesuser-381665People are believing commentaries from influencers in social media above the scientists. In most cases, social media has an easier-to-understand argument even though it can be incorrect.
- Nouser-330074B/c in the society I am living with people are in need of searching for real solutions for their problems thus are trusting all sources of solutions which provide them with the right solutions including science. However, in my opinion as a member of a developing (economically, but not intellectually) society, 'scientists' often referred to as 'the educated' ones, particularly those 'privileged' (politically/not academically) ones are obviously seen rushing to provide the society with mechanistically driven information rather than well (scientifically) proven information. Sadly, this is promoted by the main stream media which are known to be accessed by the majority of the public. Thus, even if I still believed that the public is still trusting on science, this potentially can erode the public trust in science on the long run.
- Nouser-119895People still believe science can change their lives.
- Yesuser-852681
There has been a reduction in public trust in science since the volume of misinformation and fake news resulting from the pandemic.
- Nouser-668721Si se trata de público en general, pienso que no. Las campos de investigación científicos son suficientemente específicos como para que el público en general pueda cuestionarlos con una base sólida. Individualmente, evidentemente, habrá casos.
- Yesuser-72966People thinks that there is always a commercial interest behind every new medical approach
- Yesuser-430170Existence of fake online scienctific journals all in the name of publication has created a room for false alarm and erosion of public in science.
- Yesuser-775300There may be a temporary loss of confidence due to the Corona pandemic. But science has proven that it is constantly evolving and there are solutions to urgent problems.
- Yesuser-341363Especially in time of prolonged hardship (pandemic, natural disaster, war) when the government/scientist are slow in response or solving the problems.
- Yesuser-985123Trust erosion in science can be attributed to factors such as political polarization, misinformation, lack of transparency, and changing nature of science. To maintain trust, scientists should engage with the public, be transparent about uncertainties, and resist political interference. The public should recognize science's ongoing process and its benefits, and engage in dialogue to address this issue.
- Yesuser-643355We are not good at exposing pseudoscience
- Yesuser-208427Poor policy choices and communication around covid were demonstrably false in peoples experiences
- Yesuser-242774Just overall, it is my opinion that science and facts take a back-seat to what people say in the media and social media.
- Yesuser-809371Available analysis of the public trust in science shows a clear erosion, particularly in the US.
- Yesuser-577518With the expansion of social media and silly short videos, people make modified videos to earn views and money. These fake scientific videos have it's own population who accept it over the true science. I think people who trust show makers over the scientists are increasing. The high cost for good education is another reason for increased ignorance.
- Yesuser-561710covid really created this.
- Yesuser-45613I think, this is a general trend: it became possible to publicly deny events witnessed by thousands of people. Science typically involves sophisticated techniques of verifying hypotheses, which can be easily dismissed by a lay person.
- Yesuser-506195Yes, mostly due to social media, easy access to information which is not always from the most reliable sources
- Yesuser-589243It is obvious. And furthermore, it is logical. The way the so-called medicine is being done. What a horror!
- Yesuser-845227too many fake news on social networks by self-proclaimed scientists
- Nouser-808394I DON'T THINK THERE IS ANY EROSION, ESPECIALLY AFTER COVID-19. I THINK MOST PEOPLE HAVE UNDERSTOOD THE POWER OF SCIENCE AND HOW IN A VERY SHORT SPAN OF TIME IT CAN DEVELOP A CURE.
- Yesuser-820027Not all segment of community, some portion of the community may develop mistrust in science.
- Yesuser-911600COVID vaccine controversies
- Yesuser-774962Because of the politically charged comments, accusations, and personalities disparaging COVID- related science and infection mitigation, it can be posited that the distrust of vaccines and public health personnel will spread to the pre-covid, infectious disease vaccines and there will be a higher proportion of non-vaccinated children and others in schools.
- Yesuser-119193This trend has become particularly evident in recent years, largely due to the rise of social media, which makes it incredibly easy to spread fake news, misinformation, and disinformation. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted this issue, as false claims and conspiracy theories gained traction among large segments of the population.Another contributing factor is the emergence of pseudoscientists who prioritize the quantity of their publications over the quality. This has led to a perception that science is something anyone can do, diminishing its perceived rigor and credibility. Moreover, some celebrities and public figures have begun discussing scientific topics without any evidence-based foundation, often sensationalizing or misrepresenting the facts. This further undermines public understanding and confidence in science, as people are exposed to distorted versions of scientific truths.