So a vaccine denier will chair a “safety committee” on vaccines during Trump’s administration. I hate to say it, but prepare yourselves. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Expect climate change and environmental science to be gutted. Expect food science to be devastated. Expect reproductive science to be destroyed. Expect space science to be harmed. The worst is yet to come, and in a post-truth society, rational counter-arguments no longer matter a jot.
What does matter are the consequences. And they may be very severe. Kids dying of preventable diseases, catastrophic storms, flooding and loss of habitat, food safety problems and the curtailment of basic human rights. In a fight between empirical truth and ideology, the truth will win out eventually, but at an enormous cost. If people won’t listen to rational arguments anymore, then the consequences will do the talking instead. Ultimately, the consequences will be Trump’s downfall, for him and all the crooks and cheats who sail in his tawdry warship.
It’s going to be a challenging time for science if not humanity as a whole, but I believe that despite it all, two good things might happen. Firstly, it may spur a sense of creativity; the sort of creativity that only happens in adversity, which changes society in a fundamental way and may have beneficial effects over the longer term. Secondly, it’s going to be a time for great people. Inspirational, courageous, good people who will stand up against the worst of our kind, providing the leadership we need to get us out of this mess.
I am pessimistic about the world we are going into, because as a species, we prefer denial and fantasy over facts and clear thinking. We only ever learn our lessons the hard way. But I do have hope. Amongst us there are many people who have seen plenty of adversity in their lives, for whom their current freedoms have been hard won. This is just the latest in a long line of setbacks. They are already preparing for the battles to come and they will not easily be silenced or mollified. If we cannot be these people, we can support them in their fight.