If you get drawn into a debate about whether the earth is flat, you're the sucker and are being made fun of by the person "debating" you. And retorting that "th

If you get drawn into a debate about whether the earth is flat, you're the sucker and are being made fun of by the person "debating" you. And retorting that "the science is settled" would be a ridiculous response. In serious debate, "the science is settled" is the intellectual equivalent of "because I said so". But I don't believe it comes up often in serious debate, it's more likely to happen when two parties that don't really understand science are having an ideological debate that they pretend had to do with science as a rhetorical device to gain legitimacy.