The late Michael Crichton, a medical doctor and award-winning screenwriter (“Jurassic Park”) had this warning about people who would “follow the scientific consensus” back in 2003 when he gave a lecture at the California Institute of Technology.
I regard consensus science as an extremely pernicious development. Historically, the claim of consensus…is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled….
The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus. There is no such thing as consensus science. If it’s consensus, it isn’t science. If it’s science, it isn’t consensus. Period.
Michael Crichton, PhD, MD, author, screenwriter and academic.
