EDITORIAL

SCIENCE AND SNAKE OIL While perhaps not as determinedly – some might say wilfully – sceptical of mainstream science (and most other modes of human enquiry) as was Charles Fort, FT readers would probably err on the side of caution when confronted with supposedly definitive scientific answers to complex problems: the mantra of “FollowThe Science” repeatedly trotted out during the Covid pandemic to justify a host of major public health interventions must have set a few fortean eyes rolling (see Ian J Kidd’s reevaluation of Fort’s New Lands on pp.48-49 for some relevant discussion). Still, while one might charitably put such attempts to justify policy made on the hoof with an appeal to an outmoded idea of a definitive scientific ‘truth’ down to the genuine difficulties of addressing a novel…

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Fortean Times (Digital) - 1 Issue, 444

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