[chousuke]

I'm not sure that calling science "social control" in any context is fair. It's certainly replaced religion as a tool for explaining things, but that's what it's for.

Your wording makes it sound like there's only one "scientific" belief system, but It's in my view really only a component of one. I think constructing your worldview around at least theoretically verifiable claims is a definite improvement over religious dogma, but most important is the scientific mindset of accepting uncertainty and "I don't know" answers (until you figure them out).

I also think it's valid to trust experts, but extraordinary claims will still require extraordinary evidence.

Now, the social structures around science aren't perfect and bad science can definitely be used to mislead people. That's just another problem to solve.