Science used for Public Policy

In class on Thursday, we discussed how uncertainty is a large part of the scientific process. Often times experiments result in more questions than answers, which leads to more exploration. Creativity and different viewpoints are crucial for approaching problems and seeking a more complete understanding of a question. These are many positive outcomes of the uncertainty of science. The negative aspect to uncertainty is when science is used to make public policy. If these observations and beliefs aren’t certain, when is there enough evidence to be used to dictate what people can and can’t do? If the evidence can yield different interpretations, what makes one interpretation more valuable than another? There are many ideas that in retrospect we can see was “wrong” or a bad approach to a situation due to the evidence and observations we have now. It makes me wonder what beliefs the general population holds that future generations will look back on and say “what were they thinking”??