How scientists should disagree

Reflecting broader societal trends, a lack of civility has crept its way into scientific discourse. It has become routine for scientists who disagree with each other to make disparaging accusations, most commonly that they are “shills” or are being paid off by an interest group. Instead, we should keep four things in mind: (1) Most scientists who disagree with you are well-intentioned; (2) There could be a failure to communicate; (3) “Hanlon’s Razor” — which asserts that we should “never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity” — is probably true; and (4) Like all humans, scientists have pride and do not like to be proven wrong. Most disagreements result from some combination of these. Only rarely should we consider that a disagreement is the result of something more nefarious, like corruption.

Reflecting broader societal trends, a lack of civility has crept its way into scientific discourse. We must reverse this. The scientific community can lead the way toward a more civil society.