I don’t know enough about the debate over wind power to weigh in on this subject. I mean, I know a little bit but not enough that I feel qualified to try and change anyone’s mind. But this read, How bad science stifles rational debate about wind power, is interesting nonetheless because it references the important discussion about how and where people get their information. Though the writer wants to call out bad science, I prefer to call out bad thinking. When people are referencing special interest groups, they aren’t referencing science at all, they’re referencing a PR campaign. I was never allowed to submit papers using Greenpeace or the World Wildlife Fund as references, even though my faculty was more bohemian than most, because it was understood that those types of organizations were out to promote a certain worldview regardless of how well those views aligned with the real world (Clay Shirky has a great Ted talk about how once you create an institution, it’s first goal becomes survival which feeds into this conversation as well). I’m not saying their views don’t necessarily align with the real world, just that there are more trustworthy sources of information out there.

That’s why I think that the wind power article has it all wrong on two fronts. 1) To call what special interest groups publish science is wrong and 2) the problem isn’t the science (although science will always have its problems) but people’s lack of ability to do critical thinking or to be able to think big enough (something I like to call thinking meta) to realize their own biases. I see this kind of stuff everywhere now. Here’s another good example from Miller-McCune magazine about ultra-marathon runners who, despite solid evidence telling them that ibuprofen actually increases their inflammation at the doses they’re taking them, continue to pop them like candy: Convincing the public to accept new medical guidelines.

I’m still trying to finish an article about how to research complex topics as objectively as possible but it’s tough because it’s impossible to write about that kind of stuff and have it not be super boring.