Science doesn’t change, our reaction to science does. A scientific test cannot tell us how to run policy, set regulation, or even how to behave. It can help us predict the outcomes of such things, but cannot prescribe treatment. All of the data produced by biased scientists working to shield tobacco could be seen as both accurate and valuable assuming there was no fraud (which their likely was, which means it just isn’t science.) but that data was used to create a reaction in people.

Take Covid as an example. “Science” had a very simple answer. If you wanted to make Covid and most current respiratory illnesses extinct, you could do it in 15-20 days with minimal loss of life. All you need to do is force isolation of every single human being on the planet from every other human being for 15-20 days. Babies separated from their parents, the indigent from their caregivers, spouses from each other. Absolute, total isolation. Covid, flu, common-cold, fully extinct at 2.5 weeks. After that, noshots, no drugs, nothing needed until another virus mutates or jumps to humans.

But that’s not possible to do. Not because “science” says we can’t. Humans say we can’t. Because any break in isolation would ruin the process. So we didn’t. But, we decided that. Then we pushed science to find other options, drugs, screening, masks, social distancing, vaccines.

And it told us what to expect and then we reacted to those things too. Science showed that wearing a mask had a certain effect that we can predict. Then people decided: Do we wear it all the time? Do we wear it some of the time? Do we tell people not to wear a mask in the beginning because we are worried about shortages then reverse that advice once we made sure there was ample supply? Do I make a rant into my phone while sitting in my truck where I call masks ‘face diapers’?

Science doesn’t care. People do.