If you haven't come across them previously, the distinguished German sociologists, Max Weber, wrote companion papers on 'Science as a Vocation' and 'Politics as a Vocation', first published in 1919 but widely reprinted in translation. They are a classic, and subtle, exploration of the issues that you deal nicely with in this blog..
Your points are well-taken. The waters are muddied by all those Actual Scientists in regulatory agencies like the FDA, CDC, NHI etc. charged explicitly with policy decisions.
Policy decisions may (in my view SHOULD) be informed by actual evidence when dealing with public health. But if they generally were, it's unlikely I would have read yet again an article in JAMA in the past 24 hours that ivermectin is ineffective in treatment of covid.
If you haven't come across them previously, the distinguished German sociologists, Max Weber, wrote companion papers on 'Science as a Vocation' and 'Politics as a Vocation', first published in 1919 but widely reprinted in translation. They are a classic, and subtle, exploration of the issues that you deal nicely with in this blog..
Your points are well-taken. The waters are muddied by all those Actual Scientists in regulatory agencies like the FDA, CDC, NHI etc. charged explicitly with policy decisions.
Policy decisions may (in my view SHOULD) be informed by actual evidence when dealing with public health. But if they generally were, it's unlikely I would have read yet again an article in JAMA in the past 24 hours that ivermectin is ineffective in treatment of covid.