The next step is to find out if the evidence can be verified. Can its accuracy be tested?
In the scientific community, any new trial is only accepted once other researchers have tested it and produced the same or similar results. As Thomas Huxley, a prominent 19th century biologist, put it: “The man of science has learned to believe in justification not by faith but by verification.”
It should be the same in public debate. When a public figure, in any field, makes a claim they want believed, they should be able to provide verifiable evidence.
If they can’t, can you take what they say on trust?
