Excellent explanation of how science works as it is performed by humans.
I see many posts from science communicators along the lines of:
"Regular guy thinks he is more knowledgeable than the world's leading experts after spending 10 minutes on Google."
While intellectual humility is certainly in short supply, I don't think the main reason people doubt experts is that they think they are more knowledgeable than experts.
It is because they think experts are lying.
You don't often hear people saying to experts, "You don't have sufficient knowledge in the field."
It is more often: "You're a shill" and "Who paid you?"
The doubt usually stems from the idea that experts are motivated to distort the truth for profit or some other agenda. (And this isn't always wrong.)
Understanding the reason for a person's doubt is important because then we can address their actual concerns. We can explain what a "consensus" means in science. We should acknowledge that some scientists do lie and all humans are biased, but also point out that science is designed to correct for these errors.
We should admit that some of their concerns may be valid, and use this as a starting point for considering what needs to be done to rebuild trust in science.
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A 2-minute video expanding on how to effectively communicate with those who don't trust or misunderstand science: https://www.facebook.com/critikids/videos/1240752207014680
