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July 23, 2021

What is Truth?

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.

I don’t know about you but I am finding it frustrating talking to people who do not believe in objective truth anymore.  

For example I wrote this article about getting vaccinated because it is becoming increasingly clear that people are hesitant to get vaccinated.  I see that it is due to misinformation and a lack of faith in the health care system.  Also I am not sure if some people understand the difference between facts based on scientific research and peoples opinions.  Even when a doctor says something about a health concern it is still his/her opinion, we  hope it is a well informed opinion but sometimes it may not be.  When advice is backed up with well done scientific research then we can be assured that what we are hearing is truth.

Research has become quite confusing you almost need a separate degree in statistics in order to determine if the scientific methods used were appropriate and therefore non bias.  So I get it, it is very unclear to people who are scared of what is happening in the state of our world today. Maybe this heightened sense of fear is contributing to folks being able to more easily believe in conspiracy theories.  

“Humans experience the world from a perspective. The contents of an individual’s experiences vary greatly with his perspective, which is affected by his personal situation, and the details of his perceptual apparatus, language and culture.” ~  https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scientific-objectivity/#ObjeFaitFact

Another factor influencing peoples mistrust in the health care system might be that it is fore-mostly based on making profit. It is completely understandable the hesitancy of people to trust and I also think it is important for us all to ask questions. 

Science is science and opinion is opinion and they are different.  

I see people and I have been guilty of doing this myself, we go online looking for the answers we want to see and we will find it because there is someone else out there with the same opinion as you and then we are emboldened in our thought. For example if I am scared of getting the vaccine I can search online and find case reports of serious adverse affects and there are some and this is the case with any medical intervention including “natural” therapies.  

“Objectivity in science is an attempt to uncover truths about the natural world by eliminating personal biases, emotions, and false beliefs. It is often linked to observation as part of the scientific method. It is thus intimately related to the aim of testability and reproducibility.” ~ Google search for definition of Objective truth in science

There is always some risk in almost anything we do or ingest.  In health care research we look at hundreds of thousands of people from all different ages, sexes and other factors that may change the evidence.  We look at the data objectively there are rules put in place to take out the bias. The researchers in well done trials are blinded to what their patients have received and in that way are not biased to the results they report.  This is the way actual risks are determined of a given thing being studied.  Then researchers and other scientists look at the data to determine if the benefits out way the risks or vice versa or if something needs to be further studied.  

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