[sachdevap]

Actually science does have something to add to discussions like that. In the case of social security, a quick Google scholar search led me to this: https://www.nber.org/papers/w9183.pdf

Science can help us figure out how our decisions will affect society. What society optimizes for is up for political discourse.

[hackeraccount]

I only read the abstract but that paper seemed to be answering the questions about the age people retire at and what benefits the accrue.

That's informative about the trade offs - should we take money from X and give it to Y - but it says nothing about if we want to give it to Y. Maybe we all like X and if it's a penny for Y to have a holiday we'd still say "Screw Y." Maybe we despise X and will take the last penny of X to give to Y for no obvious benefit.

That paper can in some way help people make an informed decision but we live in a finite world and it doesn't, shouldn't and can't tell them how to make the trade offs.

[sachdevap]

> That paper can in some way help people make an informed decision but we live in a finite world and it doesn't, shouldn't and can't tell them how to make the trade offs.

^ Your comment sounds very much like my own (below), so I don't know what the disagreement is.

> Science can help us figure out how our decisions will affect society. What society optimizes for is up for political discourse.