What Can We Learn From Mistrust in Science

This video identifies public hesitancy regarding Mad Cow Disease and Nuclear Power. Specifically, the aspects regarding public concern include the lack of scientific consensus as well as the lack of public trust for scientific claims. This video discusses that in attempting to identify and fill in knowledge gaps of the general public, an unhealthy power-relationship for a dominant and all-knowing “science” and a subservient public is created. Additionally, some of the fundamental downfalls of scientific communication stems from how the public is assumed to be an aggregate of individuals with the same social structure, opportunities, and knowledge, whereas many boundaries to these exist in society. It is also assumed that the public’s values are identical to those of science’s, whereas these differences also exist in today’s society. Demystifying medicine is as much of a responsibility for scientists as it is for the public, and scientific institutions need to recognize the limitations of scientific forms of understanding and rather explore “contextual knowledge” that may be better understood by the public.

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