[therpe1]

It's so striking how people who view the "soft sciences" this way really have no understanding of science at all. It's a very American thing and it really reveals the extent to which science has been socially constructed in America to be some kind of infallible truth machine. The hard-on for infallibility is so striking -- there's something about sociality, uncertainty, nuance, luck, and fallibility that really terrifies these people on a foundational level.

[coldtea]

>there's something about sociality, uncertainty, nuance, luck, and fallibility that really terrifies these people on a foundational level.

It's the old protestant/puritan spirit, just moved from the certainty of God to another certainty (for all the lip service to the "scientific process", it's the certainty that's valued most in science).

[pottersbasilisk]

Science has replaced religion for many people and so they expect something infallible or "word of god".