Follow the Science?

All during the Covid-19 panic, people kept trying to tell us to "follow the science." But no matter how hard they try to make it such, the scientific method cannot be used as a guide for your actions

2. Follow the Science?

Ever since Covid-19 arrived on the scene, one of the constant messaging drum beats we hear is the need to “follow the science.” By evoking this phrase, it is supposed to both lend an air of authority and also point to the obviousness about what needs to be done. No need for discussion. The science tells us what to do. Just “follow the science.”

The problem: science cannot tell you what to do or how to act. In practice, the mantra “follow the science” masks your true reasons for the actions you take and tries to absolves you of having to face the real motivations behind what you are doing. In social media parlance, “follow the science” is a “cope.”

The first step to acknowledging what is happening is to understand what “science” is and is not. Science is first of all not so much a “thing” as it is a method. What we now call “science” is the largely the artifact, the cumulative product, the results of what is known by means of the “inductive method.” The inductive method is really quite s…