It's not a mentalist trick. Not even the result of an artificial intelligence algorithm. Simply, undergo a scientific check-up. State your opinion out loud on vaccines, autism, fracking, climate change, nuclear energy, or genetic modification of foods, and we'll tell you who you vote for.
It doesn't matter if we have no idea about uranium fission or attenuated antigens: the vast majority of us will not hesitate to defend our idea and attack those who think differently on scientific topics we have no clue about. Because, in recent times, society has put on the white coat without spending a minute in college. Scientific knowledge has left the technical debate to jump into a more polarized political debate than ever before.
This is a theory of science that, paradoxically, has just been addressed by science itself. Dan Kahan, a law and psychology professor at Yale University, is the author of the so-called Cultural Cognition Theory, which can be summarized as: "Modern society no longer evaluates scientific facts rationally or data for their accuracy, but based on how they fit into their values and beliefs (...) Evidence not only informs but also threatens or reinforces group identities."
This theory explains why more and more populist leaders resort to pseudoscientific ideas to mobilize their bases. And why they point to scientists as alleged members of elites who conspire to harm the average citizen, as they did before with journalists, intellectuals, or judges.
The latest to do so was Donald Trump with his bizarre proposal to solve the autism problem. His recipe is to remove paracetamol from pregnant women and adjust the vaccines for children. The scientific explanation from the US president was devastating: "There is a rumor, I don't know if it's true or not, that in Cuba they don't have Tylenol (paracetamol) because they don't have money for it and virtually have no autism." A statement that was quickly refuted by the World Health Organization, as well as thousands of healthcare professionals worldwide.
It's not the first time a president has put on the white coat. It's not even the first time Trump has done it. It happened during Covid and almost every day with climate change. Why? "Because science is identified with progressivism, with elites educated in universities living in urban environments and having comfortable incomes," explains Luis Miller, a senior scientist at the Institute of Public Goods and Policies of the CSIC and author of the essay Polarized. The politics that divide us (Deusto). "What is left for Donald Trump or Santiago Abascal? Well, appeal to the anti-climate, anti-university, and anti-science working-class vote."
Anti-science, more generously known as pseudoscience, is particularly democratizing. "The discourse against climate change is held by Trump but can also be held by your mother," notes Miller. Its symptoms are the absence of verifiable evidence, preventing experiment replication, and therefore making statements that cannot be proven false. Sometimes it uses confusing scientific language to give an appearance of legitimacy, but other times it settles for (too) simple language.
"Traditionally, science was the area that inspired the most confidence in citizens. Other institutions like politics and justice were falling, while science was a good that had been protected... until now," warns Miller. And what is the objective of attacking scientists? "For Trump, it's a way to end the entire cognitive system, with progressive cultural elites, with the university...".
As a result, according to a survey published in Science, 81% of scientists who reported on Covid in the media had experienced some form of harassment. Citizens feel attacked by science when it conflicts with their political, economic, or ideological interests, while developing distrust towards scientific institutions and regulatory bodies, as Dan Kahan's theory points out.
After all, for most citizens, many scientific advances remain "an act of faith," unable to determine on their own whether they are true or not. "I am a scientist at CSIC and I simply have to believe things about medicine and astronomy because I don't understand them and can't touch them," admits Miller.
However, the anti-science discourse is slowly taking hold. According to a survey by the BBVA Foundation last year, two out of 10 Spaniards do not believe that science is "the most objective knowledge." In another survey by the same organization this year, 21% of Spaniards admitted to using homeopathy, 14% reflexology, and 8% reiki, not to mention that 13% believed in the effectiveness of healers to treat serious illnesses.
The issue, furthermore, "is not new." History shows a close relationship between pseudoscience and power to defend their interests. Rasputin healed with his hands, just as former presidents Evo Morales (Bolivia) and Hugo Chavez (Venezuela) advocated shamanic medicine, using leaves from a bush called chilca to relieve joint pain and recover from surgeries, even though their effectiveness was not supported by modern science.
The Nazis were particularly amusing in this regard. They managed to develop a whole theory about a cruel Jewish race and a superior Aryan race. The SS sought evidence that Aryans had origins in Atlantis or Tibet. They falsified archaeological findings to reinterpret Germanic myths. They believed in esoteric runes and conducted inhuman experiments in concentration camps.
From the USSR comes the term Lysenkoism, used precisely to denote the subordination of science to politics. And all because Trofim Lysenko, a Soviet engineer from the former USSR, was backed by Stalin after promising to increase crop yields by cooling the seeds. Things didn't go well despite governmental support that included silencing critical scientific voices.
Putin is no exception. In addition to being very concerned about longevity and announcing an imminent Russian cancer vaccine, the belief in a secret science being developed in the West to eliminate them is popular in the Kremlin. Putin publicly mentioned that he had detected "foreign agents collecting biological material from Russian citizens," suggesting it could be used to create selective viruses to attack Russian or Slavic DNA.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, even presented documents and maps to accuse the US of developing biological weapons in laboratories in Ukraine, where infected insects and birds were designed to release viruses in Russia. Then we are surprised that Kim Jong-un has his seats cleaned after sitting down.
There is no altruistic pseudoscience. Everything has a purpose. By denying climate change, Trump aligns himself with companies that want to continue using fossil fuels, or with voters who refuse to bear the cost of a transition that significantly impacts the working class. Meanwhile, in the case of vaccines, the American president cultivates very different interests: "With them, he positions himself as the great defender of individual freedom," summarizes Miller.
"Nonsense abounds," says Vicente Baos, a family doctor, professor of medical pathology, and expert at the European Medicines Agency. "The time to trust experts is over, and we are establishing a parallel truth. Appointing Robert Kennedy (environmental lawyer and outspoken anti-vaccine advocate) as head of the Health Department is like appointing Miguel Bosé as Minister of Health."
Vaccines, perhaps the best example of modern pseudoscience, are not exclusive to the far right, populisms, or quirky dictatorships. Oprah Winfrey, a perennial Democratic candidate, once brought model and actress Jenny McCarthy and her ex-boyfriend Jim Carrey to her show to spread their anti-vaccine hysteria. Specifically, against the MMR vaccine, which they blamed for their son's autism in front of 40 million Americans. Additionally, for five seasons, Winfrey featured Mehmet Cengiz Öz, a cardiothoracic surgeon who advocated for homeopathy and energy therapies.
"There is a pseudoscience, or magical thinking, more associated with the right and another more with the left," says José Antonio Pérez Ledo, a science communicator and creator of programs such as 'Escéptico' on EITB and 'Órbita Laika' on La 2. "On the left, we have the New Age of the 70s, holistic medicine, and natural alternative therapies: with magnets, quartz... Also alternative pedagogy, schools based on no pedagogical evidence beyond three types from Northern Europe. Or being in favor of everything organic and against everything genetically modified when, in reality, everything is genetically modified. While the right has other neuroses: flat-earthism, climate denial, creationism, chemtrails..." Ledo goes further and even argues the existence of more transversal pseudosciences: "Homeopathy, astrology...".
However, the science communicator is surprised by the ideological shift that has occurred in the US regarding vaccines: "Those who traditionally distrusted pharmaceutical companies belonged to the New Age, and suddenly Trump joins these theses. It is absurd that the US president is against pharmaceutical companies."
Before getting carried away with what Trump is saying about autism, it is worth remembering that not long ago, former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy used an anecdote from his cousin to dismiss climate change. "I know little about this issue, but my cousin I suppose knows. And then he said: I have brought here ten of the world's most important scientists and none of them has guaranteed me the weather in Seville tomorrow. How can anyone say what will happen in the world in 300 years?" "In Spain, it was said that phone waves caused cancer, with no evidence, but the issue was defended in city councils and regional parliaments by politicians from both the left and the right," points out Luis Gámez, president of the Círculo Escéptico, a group of experts dedicated to combating pseudoscience.
"There were people who somatized it, saying they felt unwell, which has as much foundation as being possessed by a demon. The person is not to blame for feeling that way, but they should know that they will be sold the remedy because behind these stories, there is always a business. On a TVE program, it was said that the scent of lemon prevented cancer. That was a historic scandal."
"In pharmacies, Baos points out, they sell us pseudoscience every day, in the form of dietary supplements, probiotics, or mucolytics. 'There are absurd, ridiculous, and out-of-place therapies,' he insists. 'Accepting homeopathy opens the door to magical thinking in health, or using halotherapy for asthma, or bioresonance, or acupuncture. It is ridiculous to think that by pricking a point, my gallbladder will be cured because Chinese vital energy has no correlation with human biology, although it does have a placebo effect."
"Pseudoscience has come to stay, but not today, but centuries ago, even though it is now when the biggest spreader of scientific hoaxes works in the Oval Office. 'The people have always been full of religion, superstition, witchcraft,' says Miller." "What remains to be seen is if science stays among us, or if the politicians keep it... Because we are also them."