https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="❓" title="Rotes Fragezeichen-Symbol" aria-label="Emoji: Rotes Fragezeichen-Symbol">Question to all my colleagues/friends/contacts who are scientists: have you ever been able to convince someone that they strongly believe is maybe not true?

Example: if my dentist tells me that Earth is flat, I can try to give him physical arguments, ... https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⬇️" title="Pfeil nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach unten">

... I can try to explain him mechanisms that would not be possible in a flat Earth... But probably he would have read many webpages with fake theories and arguments, and ask a bunch of questions oriented toward this theory. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⬇️" title="Pfeil nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach unten">

Some of the questions could probably be answered directly, while other would require a bit of research, and this has 2 drawbacks:
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="1⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 1" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 1"> as a scientist, you maybe don& #39;t have plenty of time to start researching on other topics, just to try to convince somebody...https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⬇️" title="Pfeil nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach unten">

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="2⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 2" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 2"> even with the best, scientifically sound replies to their questions, what is the probability that they change their mind?
I& #39;m too pessimistic on this aspect and would say: it& #39;s close to zero.https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⬇️" title="Pfeil nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach unten">

Why do I think that?
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="1⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 1" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 1"> I might not be able to communicate well enough my reasoning to the person.
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="2⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 2" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 2"> The person is hearing, but not listening (as they already know they won& #39;t change their mind, why shall they listen). https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⬇️" title="Pfeil nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach unten">

So how do we change that?
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="1⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 1" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 1"> Better training in communication for scientists: nothing new, that& #39;s something that have been talked about a lot in the past. Universities and institutes often offer that kind of training. Shall be do better/more? Yes, for sure.
Will that be enough?

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="2⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 2" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 2"> Training the non-scientists. Make sure people know that not all scientific journals are the same, not all scientists are honest, conflicts of interests exist, data manipulations exist, ... https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⬇️" title="Pfeil nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach unten">

And also a good one: "correlation does not imply causation".
Example: "I& #39;ve eaten this and then I was not sick anymore".

Probably part of this education can be at school, then we certainly need excellent scientific journalists, able to debunk fake stuff. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⬇️" title="Pfeil nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach unten">

So all in all it& #39;s a blend of:
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✅" title="Fettes weißes Häkchen" aria-label="Emoji: Fettes weißes Häkchen">scientific culture
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✅" title="Fettes weißes Häkchen" aria-label="Emoji: Fettes weißes Häkchen">critical mind
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✅" title="Fettes weißes Häkchen" aria-label="Emoji: Fettes weißes Häkchen">open-mindedness
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✅" title="Fettes weißes Häkchen" aria-label="Emoji: Fettes weißes Häkchen">communication skills
...