The Mistrust of Science (Caltech commencement address, The New Yorker)

Atul Gawande · 10 Jun 2016

Atul Gawande did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Science is a commitment to systematic thinking through testing and observation, not a major or a career

Their wordsScience is not a major or a career. It is a commitment to a systematic way of thinking, an allegiance to a way of building knowledge and explaining the universe through testing and factual observation.
Our reading
Pseudoscience is the form of science without the substance

Their wordsPseudoscience is the form of science without the substance.
Our reading
Rebutting bad science does not work and commonly backfires

Their wordsThe evidence is that rebutting bad science doesn’t work; in fact, it commonly backfires.
Our reading
Asserting the facts of good science, with the narrative that explains them, works where rebuttal may not

Their wordsRebutting bad science may not be effective, but asserting the true facts of good science is. And including the narrative that explains them is even better.
Our reading
The virtues of science live far more in the community than in the individual scientist

Their wordsKnowledge and the virtues of the scientific orientation live far more in the community than the individual.
Our reading
How you think matters even more than what you think

Their wordsEven more than what you think, how you think matters.

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The other pieces are the ones whose claims are worded most like this one's. That measures language, not agreement: they may argue the opposite.