How and when I trust science, when would you trust science?

When something drops on my head, it is gravity that brings it down. When I travel to the USA, the shortest route is over Iceland, the world is round. I did not get polio, measles or whooping cough, my parents had me vaccinated. I worked in computing, most of the women were better then the men, my observation, I am happy working for women.

When I read articles in Wikipedia, I know that I can trust it up to a certain level because there are citations indicating that something is true or that a given opinion is held. Its neutral point of view means that equal weight is to be given to opinions but not when it flies in the face of proven facts, the science about a subject. The best news; when scientific papers are retracted, we start to know about this and act upon it in Wikipedia. The nonsense, the preconceptions, the paid for science is to be removed once it is retracted.

In the Netherlands a prominent scientist has been tasked to root out those medical practices that are proven not to work. His work will be hard he will have to deal with vested interests, ingrained practices and a public that wants everything to be as expected. People will still be vaccinated, some medications will no longer be available, some treatments will not be there, they do not work even when you are desperate for them to work..

That is me, now you, when can you trust.. Well it is good to be wary, just consider the numbers. When a politician says he was effective because many drug dealers went to jail, ask yourself why should they be in jail, did your community end up safer? If not, not much was achieved. When scientific papers show the numbers of junks go down when substance dependence is treated as a medical and not as a criminal issue. Wonder what this meant for the communities these people come from. Seek out the numbers and you are no longer talking politics but considering the science of it.

A lot of so called science defends points of view that do not fit facts on the ground. This can be tricky/tough to understand because the difference may be local versus global. World wide, temperatures go up. Our climate is no longer stable and yes, in the USA it has been cold lately.. not so in Europe, Africa, Asia. One thing to consider, is it truly science, peer reviewed and everything or is it to shore up a point of view.. A tell tale is when it is from a "research institute" / "policy institute" paid for by an interested party.
Thanks,
      GerardM