When former US Vice President Al Gore testified before Congress last month he used an analogy to describe the challenge of climate change:
"If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say, "Well, I read a science fiction novel that told me it's not a problem." If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame retardant. You take action".
With this example Al Gore was not only advocating a particular course of action on climate change, he was also describing the relationship between science (and expertise more generally) and decision making. In Mr. Gore's analogy, the baby's parents (i.e. "you") are largely irrelevant to the process of decision making, as the doctor's recommendation is accepted without question.
But anyone who has had to take their child to a doctor for a serious
health problem or an injury knows that the interaction between patient,
parent, and doctor can take a number of different forms. In my new book
The Honest Broker: Making Sense of Science in Policy and Politics
(Cambridge University Press), I seek to describe various ways that an
expert (e.g., a doctor) can interact with a decision maker (e.g., a
parent) in ways that lead to desirable outcomes (e.g., a healthy
child). Experts have choices in how they relate to decision makers, and
these choices have important effects on decisions but also the role of
experts in society. Mr. Gore's metaphor provides a useful way to
illustrate the four different roles for experts in decision making that
are discussed in The Honest Broker.
The Pure Scientist - seeks to focus only on facts and has no
interaction with the decision maker. The doctor might publish a study
that shows that ibuprofen is an effective medicine to reduce fevers.
That study would be available to you in the scientific literature.
The Science Arbiter - answers specific factual questions posed by the
decision maker. You might ask the doctor what are the benefits and
risks associated with ibuprofen versus acetaminophen as treatments for
fever in children.
The Issue Advocate - seeks to reduce the scope of choice available to
the decision maker. The doctor might hand you a packet of a medicine
and say "give this to your child." The doctor could do this for many
reasons.
The Honest Broker of Policy Options - seeks to expand, or at least
clarify, the scope of choice available to the decision maker. In this
instance the doctor might explain to you that a number of different
treatments is available, from wait-and-see to taking different
medicines, each with a range of possible consequences.
