I think the 'better crude tools than no tools' claim is false. The history of the 20th century is littered with an embarrassing number of stupendous tragedies

I think the 'better crude tools than no tools' claim is false. The history of the 20th century is littered with an embarrassing number of stupendous tragedies that can all be laid at the feet of a lack of scientific rigor. Eugenics, leaded gasoline, thalidomide, DDT, lobotomies, and many, many others all stemmed from people who felt that it was expedient to draw conclusions based upon either insufficient data or reasoning they knew was not iron-clad. There will always be a conflict between what we can know with confidence and the decisions that we need to make to handle situations that arise. But it has been shown that having someone in the position of authority as a 'scientist' giving their approval to something based upon insufficient evidence or reason tends to often lead to the most severe and large scale suffering. So I'd have to recommend against giving any credence to any crude tool.