Episode Details

What does it really mean when we say follow the science?

Believe it or not, this week is a Doctales with Cocktails episode- albeit a more sobering discussion over a fine, local whiskey. What a perfect episode to ponder over a tumbler of.                Blue Line Unapologetic American Whiskey!

This week we discuss some historical things done in the name of science. Specifically we dive into Eugenics, the science of “the day” for over 50 years. It became accepted by the scientific community and world elites, intellectuals and political leaders including Alexander Graham Bell, Winston Churchill, John Maynard Keynes, and Woodrow Wilson, to more notably Margaret Sanger and Adolf Hitler.

The concept born in the late 1800’s believed that  selective breeding of humans would breed away undesirable traits that contributed to a weaker, unhealthy society:  feeblemindedness, criminality, birth defects and mental health issues for example.

If you were in the  ‘ELITE’ crowd, you were a Eugenicist. 

Fast forward to current societal and scientific struggles. What concepts or “group think” exist? Is following “the science” today’s pandemic the same thing? What about the labels associated with being anti/ pro vax, anti/pro climate change?

We contend that while there are often many scientific truths and facts in these principles, we can get caught up in the debate without removing our own bias. What happens next is “the science” becomes political, and for many their politics is a natural  extension into becoming their religion. 

Is Covid all about science or “scientism”? We believe there should be healthy debate which means allowing scientists to challenge one another to reach the truth. Shutting down opposing views and censorship only pushes the agenda of unilateral thinking. 

Ultimately those who only listen to one side are believers in dogma, not science. I definitely will drink to that!  Cheers!

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References: 

U.S. Scientists’ Role in the Eugenics Movement (1907–1939): A Contemporary Biologist’s Perspective https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2757926/    Human Testing, the Eugenics Movement, and IRBs

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