Scientific skepticism is undergoing a period of reorganization. Long confined to debates about the paranormal or pseudosciences, it now finds its way into broader arenas: climate politics, artificial intelligence, public health. The lines of fracture no longer run solely between “the knowledgeable” and “the ignorant,” but between worldviews where trust in research is negotiated on a case-by-case basis.
Scientific skepticism and political identities: a recent shift
The French Political Science Association (AFSP) has launched a survey titled “Who doubts science?”, focusing on the “new faces” of scientific skepticism. The framing chosen is significant: it is no longer about analyzing a deficit of knowledge among the public, but about examining how distrust in science functions as a marker of political identity.
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This shift has been observable since the Covid crisis. Positions on vaccination, mask-wearing, or the origin of the virus have aligned more with partisan divides than with levels of education. The AFSP survey treats skepticism as a structured social phenomenon, with its own group dynamics, media channels, and electoral uses.
At the same time, several recent studies explicitly incorporate religious factors and spirituality into the analysis of trust in science. The question is no longer “Do people understand the scientific method?” but rather “What affiliations determine what they accept as true?”.
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To keep up with these ongoing debates, the news on skepticnorth.com regularly compiles significant events from the French and English-speaking skeptical community.
False media neutrality and science: the Mac Lesggy case
Host Mac Lesggy, a television figure associated with scientific popularization, has sparked a wave of criticism from researchers. The central complaint: a stance presented as cautious and balanced that, in reality, relativizes established scientific consensus, particularly regarding climate and agriculture.
This case illustrates a broader mechanism. “False neutrality” involves giving symmetrical weight to positions that do not have the same degree of scientific validation. A television panel that pits a climatologist publishing in peer-reviewed journals against a commentator without technical expertise creates the illusion of an open debate. The result is a confusion between opinion and verified data.
The problem is not limited to a single host. The media format of “for and against” is structurally unsuitable for scientific questions where the level of evidence is asymmetrical. Newsrooms that persist in this format contribute, often unintentionally, to fostering a comfort skepticism among the public.
Artificial intelligence and research: what the results really show
Discourse on AI in research oscillates between two extremes. On one side, the announcement of a total revolution in the scientific method. On the other, a rejection in the name of rigor. The available data paints a more nuanced picture.
AI is already transforming specific research tasks, but the gains remain primarily operational. Processing large databases, identifying patterns in medical imaging, accelerating molecular screening: these applications are concrete and documented.
However, the available data does not allow us to conclude that AI is changing the scientific methodology itself. The formulation of hypotheses, the design of experiments, and the critical interpretation of results remain human skills. The risk for the skeptical movement is twofold:
- Overestimating the capabilities of AI to the point of delegating critical judgment to opaque statistical models, which amounts to trading a human bias for an algorithmic bias
- Underestimating real gains and rejecting by principle tools that improve the reproducibility of certain experiments
- Ignoring the issue of model transparency, while algorithmic opacity poses a direct epistemological problem for peer verification
Structural fragility of research and crisis of trust
Public trust in science does not solely depend on the quality of scientific communication. It is also linked to structural factors that the skeptical community would benefit from examining more closely.
Several recent analyses connect the crisis of trust to the increasing dependence of research on private patents, declining public budgets, and what some authors describe as “post-truth” logics applied to scientific policy. When a public laboratory relies on industrial funding to carry out its work, the perception of independence deteriorates, even if the results are rigorous.
This phenomenon particularly affects France, where public research has been facing documented budgetary constraints for several years. Skepticism towards science is also fueled by the precariousness of researchers, which weakens the system’s ability to produce solid results and defend them in the public space.
- Dependence on private funding fuels suspicion of conflicts of interest, even when they do not exist
- The reduction of permanent positions pushes towards rapid publications, sometimes at the expense of reproducibility
- The weakening of public research institutions leaves the field open to private actors and biased think tanks
Rational skepticism, as practiced in specialized associations and media, would benefit from integrating this institutional dimension. Questioning a pseudoscientific claim remains useful. But ignoring the material conditions under which science is produced amounts to treating symptoms without examining the causes. The defense of the scientific method also involves defending the structures that make it possible.