[glitchc]

I have yet to observe an activist practice objective thinking. That was the root of the argument. Activists sometimes do back the correct argument, but not because they are practising scientific reasoning. Most activists are swayed by rhetoric, a good story. That's an emotional response, not a logical one.

To answer your second point, science has a process for disseminating new findings. It's not perfect, but it works. Organizations that scientists work for do pay attention to those sources, discoveries do get patented and productionized. I encourage you to conduct some research: See how many people were talking about mRNA vaccines and gain-of-function research on social media before COVID vs after. The lack of social media coverage didn't affect the science or the scientists, who had spent the past decade conducting research on the subject.

I will maintain that Twitter/X/Bluesky are not part of the scientific process, nor should they be. These platforms do not encourage objective thought or reasoned arguments.

[seadan83]

> I have yet to observe an activist practice objective thinking

It would be a sampling bias fallacy to draw conclusions based on your lack of observations.

Eg: "mountains, never seen them, they don't exist."

It is funny then for a geologist to be considered an activist when they say the mountains most certainly do exist.

Your first paragraph is unfounded. (Fwiw, The other two I found interesting. )

[techblueberry]

Maybe the problem is with our funding model. Necessarily the whole grant system is based on being able to argue a narrative as to why your scientific inquiry deserves money. Combine that with a system that includes incentives towards or away from social values, and scientists are necessarily activists.

And then that’s just to get money in your specific direction, getting money in your general direction requires more broad activism.