Scientocracy: The Tangled Web of Public Science and Public Policy

Science has long been the key to objective knowledge. Some of that knowledge, for instance, information about nutrition, climate change, hydrology, geology, and ecology, influences our daily decisions. Science also informs governments that seek to define risks and mitigate dangers. The popular notion is that science is a force for good and that knowledge derived from theory and experiment gives rise to technological advancement, improving everyone’s lives. This, however, is not always the c...