While I agree abuse occurs I think this view is overly strict in the other direction. The phrase "the science is settled" is perfectly valid to use in many cont

While I agree abuse occurs I think this view is overly strict in the other direction. The phrase "the science is settled" is perfectly valid to use in many contexts and is useful shorthand for something like "if you want to deny this scientific consensus you would need to have amazing evidence, therefore it's more productive and expedient to move on and discuss something else". This can be different depending on context but the point is the same. As an example; the science is settled, human activities are responsible for the most of what we observe as climate change. This does not forbid anyone from coming along and proving the settled science wrong but it does prove useful for indicating our very high confidence.