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Erhm, and the "letter to the editor" and response comments on published science papers... they should all be scrapped now? Debate is what moves science along.

• DiogenesKynikos 3y ago
  Not debate with people like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Debate moves science along, but it's debate between people with many years (or even decades) of scientific training. This debate mainly occurs in print, and is based on rigorous analysis of data. The "spectators" are also experts, and basically everyone involved agrees that the debate will be adjudicated by the data in the end. The kind of debate that would occur on Joe Rogan's podcast would be very different. First of all, one of the participants would have no scientific training at all. Second, it would basically come down to who could score the better rhetorical points in the moment, in the eyes of a lay audience. This sort of debate has nothing to do with how science advances. There's huge value in explaining scientific knowledge to the public, so that it's not some complete mystery to them, particularly when it directly affects their lives. However, that's very different from hosting a "debate" between a scientist and an anti-vaxxer. This reminds me of the "teach the controversy" mantra that creationists in the US were heavily pushing a decade or two ago. The argument there was that children should be presented with evolution and creationism on equal footing, and should then decide for themselves which they find more convincing.