After Trump was re elected as the President of the United States, Science editor H HOLDEN THORP published an editorial in the magazine expressing his views on the crisis and challenges facing scientific trust in the Trump era, with key points including.
There are various reasons for Trump's election: Trump was re elected as the President of the United States, marking the second non consecutive term since the Civil War.
Part of his success stems from the use of negative factors such as xenophobia and gender discrimination. His information resonates with many Americans who are alienated from the US government, social and economic institutions, including science and higher education.
The past and future scientific trust crisis is caused by external political attacks that have seriously damaged science: political attacks on science mainly stem from the destruction of political interests to the truth. Although scientists fought back through social media and cable news, they failed to persuade the public due to the characteristics of the platform (social media computing creates division, cable news relies on conflict), such as nearly 20% of Americans refused to vaccinate COVID-19 vaccine.
Internal issues lead to damage to scientific credibility: when research misconduct occurs, journals, federal agencies, and universities are slow to correct records; Main researchers often attribute problems to students and postdoctoral fellows; Institutions and researchers respond to questions with self-protection and avoidance of truth; Due to fear of political controversy, institutions are unwilling to support correct papers that challenge the positions of certain groups.
All of these make science vulnerable to distrust and attacks, leading to a decrease in public trust in institutions.
The future scientific community needs to address potential challenges. Scientific leaders should cultivate and promote a more inclusive scientific environment. The entire scientific community needs to change its vulnerable behavior, become more open and accessible, showcase scientists updating their views based on new data, prioritize people and public interests over the money and status of the powerful, in order to enhance public trust in science and respond to potential accelerated attacks in the future.
The editor's final summary: "The attacks will continue and may accelerate in the next four years. Although this will be painful, the scientific community should respond in a way that makes these strikes less successful.
