At Palo Duro Canyon on May 14th I glimpsed an intriguing formation and walked over to it. Once I got close I saw a bunch of spiderwebs. Nestling myself into the hollow beneath the strands of spider silk let me look up and out for a better view. I positioned myself so that a part of the rock overhang blocked the sun while still allowing its light to illuminate the spiderweb.
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Check out Martin Gurri's thoughtful June 17th article "Truth Follows Function," with subtitle "On the use and abuse of information—and how to know one from the other." Here's one passage:
The scientific method rejects authority and invites criticism. During the pandemic, this was turned on its head, as science was worn as a mantle of authority and invoked to crush dissent. The practice of science is supposed to be neutral and impersonal. The experts and their political patrons claimed science as personal property: They aspired to a monopoly of truth. “I represent science,” said Fauci. “We own the science, and the world should know it,” said a United Nations dignitary. “We will continue to be your single source of truth,” said the prime minister of New Zealand. “Unless you hear it from us, it is not the truth.”
Statements by government experts mapped less to virology than to political necessity. They were hymns of self-adoration, meant to enhance the power and glory of the ruling class. That was their function and the source of their untruth.
The effect was the opposite of what was intended. The public’s contempt for experts and institutions has been magnified—and justified. Many political actors who traded in untruth have gone down in defeat or disgrace. Nevertheless, no lessons were learned from the episode. No mistakes have been admitted; instead there has been quite a bit of doubling down. No one has been held accountable. We continue to depend on an establishment science that bears scant resemblance to the real thing—and only dumb luck will preserve us from an existential horror when the next health crisis strikes.
© 2024 Steven Schwartzman
