“It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.”
― Thomas Paine
April 8, 2019 - Trust in Tech Is Wavering and Companies Must Act
October 17, 2019 - How Technology Will Revolutionize Public Trust
February 25, 2020 - Research from Edelman shows that trust in technology has declined in 21 of 26 markets .
Cons, short for “confidence games”, are a type of swindle where the criminal first puts on fair guise to gain the “confidence”, or trust of someone, prior to using that position to take advantage of or rob that person.
The rapidly-dropping trust in technology seen in the third headline up above is the collapse of one such “confidence game.”
And here’s an example of another. In an article that I’ve appended below, from 2019, we learn that only 32 percent of those polled thought medical researchers gave fair and accurate information.
“CONFIDENCE BUILDING A new study by the Pew Research Center shows a positive trend in the public belief that scientists generally mean well, but wariness over questions of scientific integrity, transparency and bias .”
If only one in three people would trust a medical researcher, I wonder what their trust level would be of a medical researcher employed in a government bioweapons laboratory ? And I wonder if their trust in those, er, civil servants will increase, or decrease after this little gambit?
Let me level-set by noting that my wife earned her living as a medical researcher for a time, and that she was upright and honest about it. A vast majority of those in the trade are, as well. One bad apple will spoil the barrel, they say.
In another article below, also from 2019, we learn that 69% say the federal government withholds important information from the public.
Do you think that number of people who trust the federal government to provide important information to the public is going to be driven up, or down by these current escapades?
In a study below from 2012, we read that "Beck also maintains that the public holds the scientific community responsible for the negative consequences of industrialization. These “catastrophic risks” are prominent features of the early twenty first century and include toxic waste, pandemics , food contamination , and climate change.
In opposition to the cultural ascendency thesis, there is potential for a severe cultural backlash and growing public alienation from science . This alienation stems from anxiety over the negative consequences of industrialization, technocratic authority, and the diminished capacity of science to make credible truth claims in the public sphere."
Where " the diminished capacity of science to make credible truth claims " is mil-speak for “A public alienated by the increased capacity of science to lie pathologically.”
Did you catch that the public noticed the “pandemics”? And that the public already held the scientific community responsible for them, prior to the release of this, the latest of a long list of engineered bioweapons?
The author of the study used the mil-speak "food contamination" to cover up widespread resistance to GMO foods.
The number of people who believe that science has “made life more difficult” increased by 50 percent from 2009 to 2015. And still the folks in charge are going to the well one more time, with this titanic, scientifically-driven social engineering Op.
And this latest Op will only drive that number higher and higher, until society finally collectively admits it has a problem, and does what it needs to do to fix it.
Three years ago, in 2017, the international Edelman Trust Barometer study found that trust in business, media, government, and NGOs dropped for the first time since the effort began almost twenty years ago.
The rubes are getting wise to the fact that those institutions are simply not worth of trust.
“There is potential for a severe cultural backlash and growing public alienation from science. This alienation stems from anxiety over the negative consequences of industrialization, technocratic authority, and the diminished capacity of science to make credible truth claims in the public sphere.”
Put a fork in them, these guys are done.
Jeff Miller, Brooklyn, New York, March , 2020
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2012 - American Sociological Review
Politicization of Science in the Public Sphere : A Study of Public Trust in the United States, 1974 to 2010
Gordon Gauchat
American Sociological Review 2012 77: 167 DOI: 10.1177/0003122412438225
Beck (1992) offers the most wide-ranging sociological critique of science in modern societies. Beck’s main point is that the cultural authority of science is destabilized by the application of scientific rigor to itself, that is, the intensity and ubiquity of scientific skepticism undermines its own credibility and ability to influence public debate. Beck also maintains that the public holds the scientific community responsible for the negative consequences of industrialization. These “catastrophic risks” are prominent features of the early twenty first century and include toxic waste, pandemics , food contamination, and climate change (Beck 1992:156; see also Giddens 1991). In opposition to the cultural ascendency thesis, there is potential for a severe cultural backlash and growing public alienation from science. This alienation stems from anxiety over the negative consequences of industrialization, technocratic authority, and the diminished capacity of science to make credible truth claims in the public sphere.
Although public distrust in science may not portend systemic crisis, social scientists, policymakers, and scientific organ- izations should remain concerned about public perceptions.
January 16, 2017 - Survey : People’s Trust Has Declined in Business, Media, Government, and NGOs
For 17 years the Edelman Trust Barometer has surveyed tens of thousands of people across dozens of countries about their level of trust in business, media, government, and NGOs. This year was the first time the study found a decline in trust across all four of these institutions.
July 5, 2018 - Polling shows that the number of people who believe that science has “made life more difficult” increased by 50 percent from 2009 to 2015.
April 8, 2019 - Trust in Tech Is Wavering and Companies Must Act
July 23, 2019 - 69% say the federal government withholds important information from the public.
August 2, 2019 - But confidence falters on narrower questions of scientists’ trustworthiness. For instance:
The kind of scientist matters. Nearly half — 48 percent — thought doctors gave fair and accurate information, but only 32 percent thought the same of medical researchers.
October 17, 2019 - How Technology Will Revolutionize Public Trust
January 31, 2019 - Americans’ Trust in Government to Handle Problems at New Low
February 25, 2020 - Research from Edelman shows that trust in technology has declined in 21 of 26 markets.
